Arkansas Considers Northridge to Be a First-Rate Opponent

Cal State Northridge added itself once again to Arkansas’ A-list on Thursday.

Arkansas, a fourth-year Division I program, claimed its first postseason victory with a 5-0 rout of Northridge in a first-round game of Regional Three at Oklahoma.

Northridge first landed on Arkansas’ milestone list on Feb. 19 when Razorback pitchers Rachel Talley and Tammy Kincaid combined on the school’s first no-hitter in a 1-0 victory over Northridge.

At this rate, Arkansas is champing at the bit to play the Matadors again.

“I’m going to call and see if they want to play us [next season] right now,” Coach Carie Dever-Boaz joked after the regional victory.

“But the last time we went to the West Coast, it took us 19 hours to get there from Arkansas [because of flight delays] and we weren’t driving. So they’re going to have to come to us.”

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Parisa Plant, a Chatsworth graduate, scored the winning run for Oregon State in the Beavers’ 1-0, 10-inning first-round victory over Northwestern.

Plant, a senior outfielder, led off the bottom of the 10th with a chopper into the hole which shortstop Tami Jones couldn’t handle. Plant was credited with a single and later scored from second on Brynnen Guthrie’s double to left-center field.

Jones, the 1996 City 4-A player of the year from El Camino Real, had a two-out single in the fourth inning.

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Coach Kirk Walker continues to build on his record-setting season at Oregon State.

Walker, who grew up in Woodland Hills and attended Seventh-day Adventist Academy in Northridge, has recorded more victories than any Oregon State coach. The program started in 1975.

Walker broke Ellen Margolis’ record of 145 coaching victories (1981-85) earlier this season and got his 169th victory Thursday.

Voted the 1999 Pacific 10 Conference coach of the year, Walker has lost more games (184) than he has won during his six-year career with the Beavers, but he is 85-44-1 in the last two seasons.

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Oregon State upset top-ranked Washington, 1-0, in Seattle in a nine-inning Pac-10 finale May 13.

Five days later, sophomore outfielder Michelle Notaro was rewarded.

Notaro, a Westlake graduate, went two for three against the Huskies and was granted her 18th start in Oregon State’s first-round regional game.

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Play was suspended for 10 minutes during the first inning of the Oklahoma-Harvard game when Leah Gulla of the Sooners was hit in the face by a riseball thrown by Chelsea Thoke of Harvard.

Gulla suffered a broken nose and might not play again in the tournament.

Oklahoma won, 11-0, in a game called after 4 1/2 innings because of the eight-run rule.