COLLEGE SOFTBALL / DIVISION I REGIONAL : Titans Face Familiar Roadblock

Cal State Fullerton turned the tables on the Cal State Northridge softball team Saturday, pinning a 1-0 loss on the Matadors in a second-round NCAA regional playoff game.

The third-ranked Titans (44-15) need to defeat seventh-ranked Northridge (43-16) once more to advance to the Women’s College World Series for the first time in seven seasons.

The Titans will get two chances to do it. The regional championship game begins at 12:30 p.m. today at Northridge. If the Titans lose, a second game will be played at 3 p.m.

A year ago on the same field, Northridge sent Fullerton to the losers’ bracket with a second-round victory in the regional, and the Titans had to fight their way back to the championship round. Although the Titans forced a second game in the double-elimination tournament with a 2-0 victory on the final day, Northridge won in a winner-take-all game, 4-0.

Now, the Titans are one victory away from advancing to the Women’s College World Series, which begins May 25 in Oklahoma City.

“I think we’re going to go,” senior catcher Shannon Dolan said after driving in the game’s only run with a single in the first inning.

After losing to Fullerton, Northridge defeated Illinois State, 11-4, nearly 5 1/2 hours later in a losers’ bracket game to advance to the championship round.

Fullerton Coach Judi Garman expected to see the Matadors in the final, but that doesn’t mean she is looking forward to it.

“Today, we got some breaks,” Garman said. “And the run in the first inning certainly helped. [Northridge’s] bunts didn’t work and they couldn’t move their runners. The key was that we executed and they didn’t.”

The Titans wasted little time setting the tone against Northridge, a team they have beaten three times in four games this year.

Fullerton bunched three of their six hits in the first inning to score an earned run off Northridge starter Kathy Blake-Small (24-9) for an early lead.

Chris Zboril, who was two for three, started a two-out rally with a single to left field. Senetha Thomas’ grounder through the left side of the infield set up Dolan’s run-scoring single up the middle.

That was all the Titans needed, because senior right-hander Jennifer Mortensen (22-6) took care of the rest.

“With Jen there was no comparison between [Saturday] and [Friday],” Garman said of Mortensen, who gave up six hits, all singles. “From the first pitch, the ball was just snapping. She was on.”

Mortensen pitched out of jams in the second, third and seventh innings. The most serious trouble came in the third.

With two outs and Northridge’s Julie Sessler at third, Mortensen intentionally walked Scia Maumausolo, who has a .484 average and 15 home runs, to get to Chelo Lopez. But Lopez, a freshman who homered Friday against Missouri, grounded out to shortstop Julie Williams for the third out.