CSUN Loser in a Split Decision : Softball: Sherman frets after No. 8 Matadors are unable to sweep unranked Long Beach.

Losing repeatedly to unranked teams can prove fatal come playoff time in college softball.

Cal State Northridge Coach Janet Sherman knows all about that. It’s the eighth-ranked Matadors who apparently can’t grasp the concept.

After splitting a nonconference doubleheader Wednesday with unranked Long Beach State, Northridge might learn that lesson the hard way next month when the NCAA tournament committee decides who’s in and who’s out.

“I told them, ‘If we continue to play like this, you won’t have to worry about rescheduling your finals (around regional playoffs) because you’ll be home to take them,’ ” Sherman said.

Northridge lost the opener, 2-1, in a game that wasn’t nearly that close, then rebounded for a 3-0 victory in the second game. But by then, the damage had been done. It was the Matadors’ second loss to the 49ers (23-20) and third loss to an unranked team.

Northridge, runner-up to Arizona in last year’s Women’s College World Series, leads the Western Athletic Conference by percentage points, but there are 14 games remaining--10 on the road. Only the conference champion is assured a regional berth.

The Matadors (29-12), who have split their last three doubleheaders, were uninspired and flat in the first game. And with star Scia Maumausolo (.472) slowed by a pulled right hamstring, which she injured against Fresno State on Saturday, this could be the beginning of the end for Northridge.

“Maybe this could be a wake-up call,” Sherman said. “It better be because we cannot lose any more games.”

The Matadors’ saving grace in the opener was a two-out solo home run in the seventh by freshman Chelo Lopez, who went four for six in the doubleheader.

“Coach (Sherman) told us after we lost the first game that this loss could come back to haunt us,” Lopez said.

Two hits by Lopez in the first game were the only ones Northridge could muster off sophomore right-hander Amy Miner (10-5), who faced just three batters over the minimum.

“We came out very lackluster and I don’t know why,” Sherman said. “I asked them why and I didn’t get any answers. We haven’t been this flat all year. Pitiful sums it up.

“Last year’s team could play flat and win, but we can’t because we’re not good enough.”

The 49ers, who average six hits a game, chased starter Jen Richardson with runners at first and second and none out in the second. Richardson gave up singles to four of the first seven, but no runs, before Sherman pulled her in favor of freshman Christina Baioa.

Baioa (7-3) escaped the second, but found trouble in the third. Kristyn Frady, a North Hollywood High product, ripped a riseball to left for a home run. Nina Lindenberg followed suit in the fifth with a solo home run to left-center to give the 49ers a 2-0 lead.

Maumausolo, relegated to the designated-hitter role because her injury prevented her from catching, proved irreplaceable despite being less than 100%. She leads the team in 11 offensive categories and Northridge cannot afford to have her out of the lineup.

In her first at-bat of the second game, she fouled off four pitches then slugged the fifth over the fence in right-center for her seventh home run.

“We’ve got to get her healthy,” Sherman said. “And we’ve got to get her in the frame of mind to hit as the designated player.”

Jennifer Parker walked to start the second. She was sacrificed to second by Richardson, took third on a groundout by Kelly Toovey and scored on Tamara Silvera’s two-out infield single.

Northridge added a run in the third on four consecutive singles. Richardson’s liner to right drove in Lopez, who started the rally with a chopper up the middle.

Kathy Blake-Small pitched a two-hitter in the nightcap and struck out six.

Blake-Small (15-5) notched her eighth shutout and attributed her effort to the two days of rest she had following 26 innings of work against Cal State Sacramento and Fresno State last weekend.