CSUN to Field a Few Jarring Reminders

After 14 games on the road, the Cal State Northridge softball team finally will play its home opener when 20th-ranked Missouri visits for a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.

Northridge’s next 10 games--doubleheaders against Southern Utah, Utah, Kansas and Ohio State follow Missouri--are at home and Coach Gary Torgeson is hopeful the Matadors will prove tougher than usual to defeat on their diamond.

The reasons: unusual surroundings.

The Northridge softball field is adjacent to a field of portable trailers that are serving as classrooms while the university attempts to recover from the damage of January’s earthquake.

“I hope that’s a home-field advantage,” Torgeson said. “There’s still enough destruction to see and enough talk about the quake going around. If that takes a little focus off the game for some teams, then that’s a plus.”

Torgeson, whose team was 27-4-1 at home last season, said the Matadors have grown used to the distraction.

“We practice in the middle of it,” he said.

*

Andre Chevalier was riding the crest of a wave of hoop hoopla.

He had just capped a brilliant four years as a Matador by scoring a personal-high 38 points to eclipse a Northridge career scoring record that stood for 32 years.

He was smiling. He was laughing. He described the Matadors’ 95-87 victory over San Diego State using such terms as “lovely” and “perfect.”

Yet in the excitement it was obvious that it was difficult to place his own individual accomplishments into perspective so quickly. As soon as Chevalier arrived at the visiting team’s locker room, he was doused by a celebratory bucket of ice water.

Chevalier was still dripping when reporters arrived and began volleying questions. There was little time to reflect. But for Brooklyn McLinn, Chevalier’s senior backcourt mate, there were a few moments to pause.

As Chevalier talked about his record performance and a big win for the Northridge team, McLinn sat close by, deep in thought.

“I feel funny right now,” he said. “Just listening to Andre talk, in my mind my whole career is fast-forwarding through my brain.”

That career started five years ago when McLinn, a part-time starter at Taft High, tried out for the Northridge team as a non-scholarship player.

A year later, he quit. The year after that, he tried out again, and played his way back into favor.

McLinn, a 6-1 southpaw, was a full-time starter his last two seasons. He finished his career with 131 three-point baskets in 375 attempts, both school records. He is second on the all-time list with 134 career steals, including 61 this season--one shy of the single-season record.

“To think where I started the things I’ve been able to accomplish,” he said. “It’s a happy feeling.”

*

Northridge players not only offered up the ball to Chevalier, they offered their playing time.

Robert Hill, Chevalier’s understudy at point guard, approached Cassidy before the game and offered to sit as long as it took for his friend and tutor to get the scoring record.

“He said he didn’t care if he didn’t get to play a minute,” Cassidy said. “He wanted Andre to get every chance possible to get the record. That was a very unselfish attitude on Rob’s part and I think most of the team felt that way.”

The sentiment seems appropriate because Chevalier spent most of his four seasons trying to set up teammates for points rather than score them himself.

In addition to the scoring record, which now stands at 1,311 points, Chevalier owns Northridge career standards with 481 assists, 184 steals and 396 free throws.

*

Northridge’s victory over San Diego State marked the Matadors’ first in a Division I season-ender.

The three previous seasons, Northridge lost to California, 99-78; Brigham Young, 100-68, and the University of San Diego, 82-51.

“It feels good to win a season finale for a change,” McLinn said. “We’re used to getting blown out by 30.”

CAL LUTHERAN

A Coach’s Advice

The Kingsmen baseball team is off until March 20 when it plays Linfield (Ore.) College.

Coach Marty Slimak gave his players the entire week off from practice for a spring break, asking them to return next Monday to resume workouts.

Not many stayed around campus.

“Half the team is in Mexico and the other half is in Vegas,” Slimak said. “I hope we have a team when it’s time to come back. I also hope none of the guys got married in either of those places.”

*

Cal Lutheran hasn’t skipped a beat with Slimak, the former pitching coach, taking over as skipper for Rich Hill.

The Kingsmen are 10-2-1, 9-0 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

But despite the fast start, Slimak has found opportunities to second-guess himself.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in your first year or your 10th year, there are always situations when you second-guess yourself,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re Sparky Anderson. Second-guessing yourself is part of baseball.”

Around the Campuses . . .

* Seniors Damon Ridley and Paul Tapp have moved into 16th and 17th on Cal Lutheran’s career scoring list with 969 and 946 points, respectively. Ridley has averaged 17.9 points a game during his two seasons as a Kingsmen, and Tapp has averaged 8.8.

* Rupert Sapwell ranks 14th on Cal Lutheran’s career rebounding list with 432. Sapwell is averaging seven rebounds a game this season.

* The Master’s point guard Andy Thompson has 45 assists in his last four games.

* Shannon Jones leads the Northridge softball team with a .429 batting average, 15 hits, nine runs batted in, two home runs and a slugging percentage of .629.

* Kathy Blake, is the fifth Northridge pitcher to win 50 games. Blake, a junior, has a career record of 51-11. She can tie Heather Lindstrom for fourth place on the school’s career win list by defeating Missouri on Saturday.

* Tannel House moved to seventh on the all-time Matador lists in the long jump and triple jump with her victorious performances in Saturday’s meet against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Irvine and USC. House leaped 20 feet 1/4 inch in the long jump and 39-8 1/2 in the triple jump.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.

Getting With the Program

Cal State Northridge announced the signing of 10 more football recruits this week--seven high school players and three from junior colleges. The Matadors, 4-6 last season, have brought in 14 new players during the past month.

“We still are not finished with our recruiting process, but I think we’ve put together an outstanding class,” Coach Bob Burt said. “This will probably prove to be the best high school recruiting class that we’ve had in years. . . . We focused very hard on the inside front seven positions on both sides of the ball.”

The recruits:

Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Experience Jeff Bodholdt DL 6-3 255 Fr. Irvine High Albert Contreras LB 6-0 233 Jr. Valley College Marty Crowder OL 6-4 230 Fr. Hart High Anthony Fernandez DL 6-4 257 Jr. Citrus College Mike Greslie LB 6-3 225 Jr. Valley College Dan Lazarovits DL 6-4 245 Fr. Taft High Tom Narey OL 6-4 285 Jr. Gavilan College Virgil Nelson DL 6-2 250 Jr. Citrus College Chris Ohman OL 6-4 245 Fr. Diamond Bar High Joe Pierro LB 6-1 215 Jr. Fresno City College Shane Shafer LB 6-2 212 Fr. Hart High Mark Venturine DB 5-11 180 Sr. Crespi High/Oregon State Steven Vlasic TE 6-6 220 Fr. Thousand Oaks High Joseph Webster OL 6-2 255 Fr. Claremont High