THE COLLEGES / MIKE HISERMAN : Rookie Coach Leads CSUN Like a Veteran

Janet Sherman thought they could, she thought they could, she thought they could. . . .

They did.

That’s the Cal State Northridge championship softball season in a nutshell.

A fairy tale, really.

The Little Softball Team That Could, engineered masterfully by Sherman, a rookie head coach.

It’s been a long season. Fifty-six games--Northridge winning 41 of them.

Perhaps it’s time to pull another descriptive phrase.

Lets try Janet Sherman, Western Athletic Conference coach of the year.

If the title fits, wear it.

Sherman earned the honor and Wednesday it was announced that she got the award.

She thought she could, she thought she could. . . .

She did.

Sherman, of course, was ecstatic . . . about Northridge catcher Scia Maumausolo receiving recognition as player of the year.

And about four other Northridge players earning all-conference honors.

Her own award?

Oh, that was nice, too.

“What I’m really happy about is the players getting their due,” Sherman said. “That’s what’s enjoyable for me.”

Typical.

For so long Sherman toiled behind the scenes as assistant at Northridge it is difficult for her to step out for a bow.

Besides, there still is plenty of work to be done.

Northridge is going back to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.

Don’t believe it?

Six months ago, neither did just about anyone else. Northridge’s reign among the elite teams in the nation was deemed short-lived.

The team that advanced to the NCAA championship game was no more.

Beth Calcante, gone. Jen Fleming, gone. Amy Windmiller, gone. Tamara Ivie, gone. Shannon Jones, gone. Their eligibility exhausted.

Coach Gary Torgeson, who guided the Matadors to 16 consecutive postseason appearances and back-to-back berths in the World Series, gone.

Northridge’s chances of a third consecutive WAC championship presumably gone, too.

Funny thing was, Sherman, her staff of assistants and her players didn’t embrace and run with the ready-made excuse.

First-year coach + inexperienced team = mediocrity was not in the equation.

Pausing during the middle of practice this week to reminisce a little, Sherman recalled making a prediction which, at the time, might have been attributed to blind enthusiasm.

“I was cocky and said we were going back to the World Series and winning it,” she said. “And I kept saying it because [the players] needed to believe that for us to do it.”

A self-fulfilling prophecy. Almost.

Northridge, picked to finish no better than fourth in WAC preseason polls, finished first and has earned the right to play host to a regional tournament beginning Friday on the Matadors’ home field.

Win the regional and go to the World Series.

Sherman thinks the Matadors can. She hasn’t been wrong yet.

If only she had a little more time to enjoy it.

Lately, Sherman has been getting to work just after dawn and leaving well after dusk.

The other day an associate asked her if she is ever going to allow herself a smile.

“I didn’t realize I wasn’t smiling,” Sherman said. “I’m enjoying this every day.

“It’s been a tremendous amount of work, but it’s been fun. I just want it to last at least another few weeks. I’d say I’m very happy. I’m just not satisfied.”

She is so very unlike Torgeson, a hell-hath-no-fury-like-me coach who ranted, raved, and did whatever else it took to motivate the unruly masses of unpolished talent he annually recruited and molded into champions.

And yet she is so very much like him.

A workaholic. Fiercely loyal. A motivator.

Why, when it’s been warranted, she’s been even known to yell a little.

“Janet wants to win more than anybody I know,” said Kelly Ford, a Northridge assistant. “If she could put on a uniform and play, she’d do it.”

Not so long ago, Sherman was doing exactly that, first at Granada Hills High, where she was all-league and the catcher for a City championship team, then at UCLA, where she lettered four years and helped the Bruins win back-to-back national championships in 1984 and ’85.

She is only 30 years old.

Northridge has a long tradition of winning in softball.

It could get much longer.