2 Shutouts by Northridge Put a Clinch on Chapman

There were clinches all around in the Cal State Northridge softball team’s sweep of Chapman College in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. doubleheader Saturday at CSUN.

First, in a pregame ceremony to honor the seven seniors playing their last regular-season games, the Lady Matadors exchanged tearful bear-hugs.

And by virtue of their 4-0 and 3-0 victories, the Lady Matadors sewed up their seventh consecutive conference championship.

But those clinches were nothing compared to the one Debbie Dickmann put on the Lady Panthers.

The sophomore right-hander threw a no-hitter in the first game, striking out six, while walking none and thoroughly dominating the Chapman batters.

“I was on,” said Dickmann, who is 20-3. “I put the ball where I wanted to all day.”

Just two Chapman batters reached base, and only as a result of two errors. The first miscue was by first baseman Pam Smith and the second was a throwing error by Dickmann.

But after that one-out mistake in the second inning, Dickmann retired the last 17 batters she faced to notch her second consecutive no-hitter and her third of the year. She no-hit Cal State Dominguez Hills in her last outing.

“She’s something. She’s really doing a job,” Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson said. Thanks to Dickmann’s effort and a four-hit shutout by Delanee Anderson (11-4) in the second game, Northridge rolled right over the Panthers (36-24, 9-11 in conference play).

“I’m so glad we won like this today,” said Lisa Martin, who had two hits in the second game. “This team is so great together. We just have so much drive, so much energy and so much heart that I don’t see how anybody is going to beat us.”

CSUN (49-11, 18-2) is the defending national champion in Division II and Martin was looking toward the NCAA regionals, which will take place Saturday and Sunday at a site to be determined.

Northridge will compete in the four-team West regional along with Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Sacramento and a fourth team to be determined.

Torgeson believes the Lady Matadors will be ready.

“This is a good team,” he said. “What we want to do is take the momentum of these wins into next weekend. It’s important to go in as a winner, and now we can do that.

“I really feel that, right now, we’re ready to play with anybody.”

The Lady Matadors didn’t just play with the Lady Panthers. They toyed with them.

Lisa Hall was 3 for 3 and Beth Onestinghel was 2 for 3 to lead the Lady Matadors’ 10-hit assault in the first game. Northridge scored single runs in each of the first three innings and another in the fifth.

Lisa Erickson scored the first run after being hit by a pitch and advancing to second on a passed ball. She went to third on a groundout by Onestinghel and scored on a single to center by Smith.

In the second inning, Hall scored from second on a base hit by Lesley Plank, and in the third, CSUN scored on three hits and two Chapman errors. In the fifth, Onestinghel reached on a base hit to right, as sacrificed to second and scored the final run on a single to left by Hall.

In the second game, Northridge scored all three runs in the first inning on three hits and two errors.