Fresno State Regards CSUN’s Ivie as Poisonous : Entering Doubleheader, Bulldogs Itching for Revenge After Last Year

Her teammates call her Bam-Bam. Her opponents know her as one of the Bad Girls of the Cal State Northridge softball team.

Tamara Ivie doesn’t really care what she’s called--just as long as she isn’t misunderstood.

Ivie became the focal point of scrutiny when Northridge and Fresno State faced off in a best-of-three series in the NCAA regional championships last season. Ivie hit a two-run home run in the third game that stood up for a 2-0 victory and gave the Matadors their first berth in the Division I College World Series at Oklahoma City.

While her home run blast was memorable, it was her trot around the bases that embittered the Bulldogs and their several hundred fans who attended the series at Northridge.

After swatting an outside curveball over the right-center-field fence in the first inning, Ivie circled the bases jumping, thrusting her fists into the air and pointing randomly in celebration.

The Matadors poured out of the dugout and held a celebration party at home plate replete with hugs, high-fives and hand-slaps. But it didn’t end there. After the rest of the team returned to the dugout, Beth Calcante, who scored on Ivie’s homer, corralled the slugger for one more bow. Both dropped to a knee near the foul line, pointed at the Bulldogs and shouted in celebration once more.

Coach Gary Torgeson was warned by the umpires against taunting, a notice he thought was unjustified. So did Ivie.

“I think that was ridiculous,” she said. “(We got a warning) because I was excited that I hit a home run. If everybody took it as I meant it, then it would have been no problem.”

Today at 1:30 p.m., the Bulldogs return to Northridge for a key Western Athletic Conference doubleheader and emotions are sure to run high.

Northridge (42-7, 17-3 in WAC play), ranked third in the country, trails Fresno State (43-12, 19-3) by one game. The sixth-ranked Bulldogs share first place with ninth-ranked Utah (41-9, 19-3).

Although the Matadors finish WAC play with doubleheaders against Fresno State and Sacramento State this weekend, the focus is on the Bulldogs.

And because of the bad blood between the teams and that both are virtually assured a playoff berth, beating each other is everything--and the conference title can take a back seat. “I think to (our players), beating Fresno twice would be more than any trophy they could win,” Torgeson said.

When the Matadors played in Fresno six weeks ago and earned a split, the doubleheader was shown on cable television in the Central Valley. Earlier this week, Ivie and her teammates saw a tape of the telecast in which the commentators harped on Northridge’s bad-girl image, according to Torgeson.

The announcers also reported that Ivie had simulated firing six-shooters with both hands after the infamous homer last year.

“Oh, OK. Yeah, that’s what I did,” Ivie said sarcastically. “It’s like rumors. It’s like they don’t even know what I did. It’s like they said, ‘OK, let’s just make up that it was guns that they were shooting.’

“I guess they really hate us up there.”

Perhaps Ivie’s energetic home run trot simply played into the bad-girl image, a reputation that has followed Northridge in recent seasons. Truth be told, the Matadors’ quick climb in the Division I ranks has everything to do with intimidation and aggressive play.

“I’d have to say that that was kind of the mentality I wanted to set last year and it worked,” Torgeson said.

Northridge moved up from the Division II ranks in the 1990-91 season. Torgeson’s first Division I recruiting class included first baseman Ivie, left fielder Calcante and center fielder Jen Fleming--all of whom helped bring Northridge to national prominence with their gritty, aggressive style of play.

“Without the three of them, I don’t think we would be where we are today,” Torgeson said.

Ivie balks at the bad-girl image because she feels her aggressiveness is misunderstood.

“There’s some girls on the team that shouldn’t cuss when they cuss,” Ivie said. “But there is sometimes when you have to be aggressive on the field. Men can be that way, but women can’t. We’ve come too far to have people thinking that way. Why can’t women be as aggressive as men?”

Ivie applies her feminist philosophy in other areas of her life. Last fall, she had a color tattoo--a two-inch likeness of the cartoon character Bam-Bam--drawn on her right shoulder blade. But she wasn’t exactly a pioneer in that department. Teammates Fleming and Kelly Hunt also have tattoos in the same place.

“Isn’t that something?” Torgeson said. “It’s a trendy thing. Men do it. I guess the girls feel they can do it, too.”

Ivie, who routinely plays about 30 feet from the batter, is a tower of intimidation at 5-foot-11. And her statistics alone speak volumes. Ivie leads the team with 60 hits, 40 runs, five triples and 16 walks. Her .423 batting average and 37 runs batted in rank second.

“(Opponents think I’m mean) just because I creep up in their face and I supposedly give looks that I don’t know I’m giving,” she said. “I’m not mean. I’m just an aggressive player. I don’t mean to be mean, it’s just my adrenaline pumping.”