There’s Rhyme and Reason as Northridge Earns a Split

In desperate need of inspiration, especially after getting swept at home against mediocre Pacific last Sunday, Cal State Northridge pitcher Cheri Shinn opened up her creative mind. And opened up some eyes.

In a three-page poem she presented to her teammates before Thursday’s doubleheader against sixth-ranked Long Beach State, Shinn wrote that the Matadors have the talent to achieve whatever they want, but not without an attitude adjustment.

Give Shinn an A for effort and give the 18th-ranked Matadors a B for execution--physical and mental--after they split with the 49ers, the favorites to win the Big West Conference title.

The Matadors rallied to win the first game, 2-1, but didn’t rally enough in the second game and lost, 5-4.

After being outhustled by Pacific, the Matadors (8-5-2, 1-3 in Big West Conference play) welcomed some hustle of their own with a sixth-inning rally in the opener. Chelo Lopez, who failed to get a hit in four at-bats against Pacific and has been fighting a sore back, showed that she was, indeed, back.

With the Matadors trailing, 1-0, in the sixth inning and Shinn on second base, Lopez drove Tammy Dietrich’s outside pitch just inside the right-field foul pole for a 2-1 lead.

“She smoked it,” Shinn said.

Long Beach State Coach Peter Manarino was less enthusiastic.

“We had no business giving up that home run,” he said. “You can’t put the ball across the plate against someone like Chelo.”

The home run was the third this season and 21st career for Lopez, who took sole possession of third place on the Matadors’ all-time list.

Tara Glaister (4-3) struck out eight batters, walked three and gave up three hits for the Matadors, who were halfway to forgetting about last Sunday.

In game two, they seemed to forget everything, as Long Beach State (18-6, 1-1) jumped on the Matadors in the first two innings for five runs, two of them earned.

The 49ers’ 5-0 lead, capped by Amanda Favorite’s two-run home run off Shinn (4-2) in the second inning, appeared untouchable until a wild fourth inning by Northridge.

The Matadors scored four runs on three hits, three pitching changes and two illegal pitches called against Long Beach State, but left the bases loaded.

But the Matadors came no closer than 5-4, getting only a single from Jodi Borenstein the rest of the way.

“Physically, we’re unstoppable, but we don’t always come to play mentally,” said Coach Janet Sherman, whose Matadors play host to third-ranked UCLA in a doubleheader Saturday. “We’ve got to play 14 innings. We didn’t today, so we didn’t win both games.”