Northridge Kicks Bruins in Down Year

Despite the absence of two key starters, Cal State Northridge served UCLA a double dose of humble pie Wednesday.

Northridge needed only 90 minutes to dismiss UCLA on the mercy rule after five innings, 9-0, and then overcame a four-run deficit to win in the seventh, 5-4, in front of 228 at Northridge.

The Matadors (30-15) swept a doubleheader from UCLA for the first time.

This is a year like no other for UCLA (11-16), which has been banned from postseason play this season, stripped of its 1995 national title, put on probation for three years and hit with a reduction in scholarships for the 1998 and ’99 seasons.

All this courtesy of the NCAA, which didn’t look kindly on UCLA giving three soccer scholarships to softball players in 1995 and exceeding the NCAA scholarship limit.

What’s left of that catastrophic mess at UCLA is a handful of walk-on athletes trying to fill the shoes of five scholarship athletes who decided to redshirt this season in order to save their eligibility for years they are allowed to compete for a national championship.

The Matadors, ranked No. 25 in the nation and enjoying a seven-game winning streak, are well aware of UCLA’s troubles, but that didn’t stop them.

Northridge pounded eight hits, five for extra bases, in four innings and Tara Glaister pitched a one-hitter and struck out nine in the opener.

The Matadors scored five runs in the first inning, capped by Lisa Flores’ three-run home run, and added a run in the second on a throwing error.

In the fourth, Ashlie Hayes’ two-run triple and a run-scoring single by Brande Wheeler made it 9-0.

First baseman Chelo Lopez and pitcher-third baseman Cheri Shinn, injured in a doubleheader Monday against New Mexico State, weren’t missed until the second game.

Pitcher Jessica Creith was shaky in her fifth start of the year. UCLA scored three runs in the first when Creith surrendered four consecutive hits.

Glaister returned to the circle to start the second inning and shut down the Bruins until the fifth.

After surrendering a leadoff triple to Laurie Fritz and a run-scoring single by Casey Hiraiwa in the fifth, it was clear that Glaister was beginning to tire.

“I wasn’t tired-tired, but I wasn’t hitting my spots anymore,” Glaister said.

Later in the inning, facing a bases-loaded, one-out situation, Glaister used six pitches to record two strikeouts to end the threat.

Northridge answered in its half of the fifth with two runs on four hits and an error.

Glaister (15-8), who picked up both victories, retired the final six batters.

After Augrista Belford drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, UCLA starter Erin Weiler returned to the circle after a one-inning rest and promptly loaded the bases by surrendering singles to Hayes and Flores. Jamie Moore followed with a hard grounder off Weiler’s shin to score Belford and Maryke Don’s single up the middle tied it, 4-4.

A passed ball score Flores with the winning run.