Pitcher to Mother: the Perfect Windup : Slaten Puts Energies Into Raising Family After All-American Career at Northridge

She was considered among the most potent softball pitchers in the country, one of a select few invited to try out for the 1987 U.S. team that would compete in the Pan American Games.

It was, at that time, the highest honor a softball player could achieve--the equivalent of being asked to try out for the 1996 Olympic team. Few would balk at that kind of opportunity.

But Kathy Slaten, a four-time All-American at Cal State Northridge, decided to pass on the offer. She was halfway to her personal goal and wasn’t about to derail now.

“When I started softball, there were only two things I really wanted to accomplish in my life,” she said, as she watched her three children at play in the back yard of her Simi Valley home. “One of them was a scholarship for softball and the other goal was to get married and have children.”

Mission accomplished.

Slaten, who owns all of the career pitching records at Northridge except hits allowed, married her high school sweetheart four months after pitching in her final college softball game in 1986, and she was pregnant with her first child a year later.

“That was Kat,” said Lori Shelly-Castellano, a former Northridge teammate. “She was set on what she was gonna do and that was starting her life with Aaron [Ayala].”

Shortly after Slaten led the Matadors to their fifth consecutive Division II championship game, the hard-throwing right-hander with the funky windup walked away from the pitching circle and down the aisle with Aaron Ayala. And she hasn’t looked back.

Well, maybe just a glimpse or two.

*

After an incredible high school and college career, it’s no wonder Slaten had little difficulty walking away from the game. Been there, done that. That was her motto.

One the game’s most-dominating riseball pitchers began in Newbury Park youth leagues at age 10. A year later, she was throwing windmill, which was altogether new in 1974.

By the time she reached high school, she was already grabbing headlines, leading La Reina High to three consecutive Southern Section Division 1-A championship games. The Regents came away with titles in 1980 and ’81.

The honors didn’t end there.

Slaten, who decided on Northridge because she wanted to stay close to home, led the Matadors to Division II titles in her first three seasons.

“It’s unfortunate she was a Division II pitcher because she didn’t get the recognition she deserved,” said Gary Torgeson, Slaten’s former coach. “She was right up there with the [Debbie] Dooms and [Tracy] Comptons.

“She had every muscle in her body working with the pitch.”

Dominating doesn’t seem a strong enough word to describe Northridge’s finest.

Consider these record statistics:

Slaten pitched in 177 games, completing 145. Ninety-seven of her 123 victories were shutouts, 20 were no-hitters. She struck out 1,537 in 1,222 innings, more than twice as many as any other Northridge pitcher.

“She was dominating, without question,” former teammate Nancy Lucero said.

“She was a hard worker. She put a lot of time and effort into the game.

“But when she left, she left.”

And no one could make her change her mind.

*

Slaten has always been hard-nosed.

In fact, her unorthodox delivery in college was a direct result of her frustration with a rule that stated the pitcher must present the ball (show the ball outside the glove) before each pitch. In a grossly exaggerated move that became her trademark windup, Slaten stood on the rubber with feet together, arms stretched high above her head, the ball in one hand and her glove on the other. An annoying windup from a pitcher annoyed by the rules.

“She was very feisty,” Shelly-Castellano said. “A true fighter.”

She often dealt with people the same way. When she and Torgeson went nose to nose, which former teammates say happened with some frequency, Slaten made sure she held the trump card. Which, as it turned out, didn’t always play in her favor.

Once, while facing Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in her senior season, she watched an opposing batter rip one of her pitches down the foul line and over the fence. Foul ball, no big deal, right? Not according to Torgeson.

“I remember Coach Torgeson yelling from the dugout, ‘Why don’t you throw her another home run pitch?’ ” Slaten recalled. “Well, that was the end of the game for me because I was like, ‘Well, I’ll show you.’ And the next thing you know they had 12 hits.”

And San Luis Obispo had earned a place in the Northridge record book for most hits by an opponent in a game. By day’s end the Lady Mustangs had 16.

“[My teammates] were so worried he was gonna . . . kick me or something,” she said. “I’ll always remember that game.”

For the most part, though, Slaten and Torgeson enjoyed an amiable working relationship. In fact, she lived with him and his family one summer because she had nowhere to go when her mother and father moved out of town. Torgeson even helped her get a job with at Northridge Park.

But what Torgeson and others rarely could do was get Slaten to change her mind once it was made up. There is but one known exception.

After leading the Matadors to their third consecutive Division II title in her junior year, Slaten announced she would not return for her senior season. At the time, she was quoted as saying, “I’m not coming back and I don’t see any reason why in the future I’d change my mind. Softball was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of pressure.

“When the pressure started to outweigh the fun, I thought it was time to quit.”

But Slaten, who developed carpal tunnel syndrome in her pitching wrist during her junior season, did return. Not so much for Torgeson or even the love of the game, but for the friendships she had developed on the playing field. She wasn’t ready to give those up.

Those friendships continue to blossom. Beginning with her freshman season in 1983 and every year since, a group of former players spend a weekend in Big Bear and rehash old “remember when” stories.

Like the time during a trip when one of the Matadors mischievously set off a fire alarm in a Las Vegas hotel and casino. Each player denied doing it and all were sworn to secrecy.

Or, the time the Matadors lost the Division II championship game to Stephen F. Austin, 1-0, in Slaten’s senior year? To commemorate the disappointing loss, Slaten, with teammates in tow, went directly to a bar after the game to numb their sorrow. Afterward, they stumbled up to Slaten’s hotel room to watch a superstitious Slaten burn her bra and be rid of softball forever.

“Kat had one weak, measly bra,” Lucero said. “After the end of the season that thing was shot and she just wanted to get rid of the thing. I think she even had safety pins on the poor thing.”

There were plenty of memorable moments in Slaten’s storied career but none she is more fond of than the day she was inducted into the Northridge Hall of Fame in 1992.

To her surprise and delight, several of her former teammates attended the awards ceremony to see her take a much-deserved bow in the name of Northridge athletics.

Shortly after her arrival, Slaten told Shelly-Castellano that she was disappointed the rest of the team couldn’t be there.

“Then we went to the bar and all of a sudden I look up and there’s about 15 of my teammates. I just started crying,” Slaten said. “That’s when I really realized that these girls truly liked me.”

“Next to having children, that was the best feeling.”

*

After nearly 10 years away from the game Slaten is finding her way back to softball--mainly because of her children.

Slaten started giving pitching lessons last year and already has about dozen students, including her two oldest children.

“[Softball] only interests me now because I know it interests [my kids].”

And Aaron Jr., 7, and Anastasia, 6, are their mother’s biggest fans. “Tasi will say, ‘My mom is famous, you know.’ ” If 19-month-old Dominick could talk, he might say the same thing.

But Slaten insists she has mellowed and lost the competitive nature that once was interpreted as prima donna-like. Still, she maintains her perfectionist attitude.

After encouraging her daughter to pitch for a visitor, she softly but sternly directs Anastasia further: “And do it right. Don’t kick your leg out.”

Anastasia delivers her first pitch and swings her right leg around behind her in an exaggerated motion as if carving a pirouette. Well, of course she is going to do exactly what her mother tells her not to do. It’s in the genes.

“Tasi, don’t do that,” Slaten pleads.

“Tasi, are you gonna be a better pitcher than me?” her mother asks.

Anastasia nods her head deliberately, blinks and with a poker face looks off into the distance. And it is obvious where she gets her confidence.

Look for the sequel in 2005.