COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Northridge Wins Title With Softball Sweep

The Cal State Northridge softball team breezed to a doubleheader sweep Friday over host Southern Utah and clinched the Western Athletic Conference championship.

The Matadors (43-6-1, 18-2 in WAC play) also set two individual records during the 9-1 and 10-0 victories.

Catcher Missy Cress had three doubles, a Northridge single-game record, in the second game, which ended after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Left fielder Beth Calcante drove in three runs in the two games, giving her a single-season record 49. Beth Onestinghel (47 in 1988) held the old mark.

Northridge automatically qualified for an NCAA regional berth to be announced Sunday. Southern Utah fell to 7-36, 2-20.

In other women’s softball games:

Orange Coast College 3, Antelope Valley 0--Jill Bishop pitched her 11th shutout in a Southern California regional playoff game at Antelope Valley.

Nicole Shammus had two hits and drove in two runs and Becky Elcock had three hits. Orange Coast will play at 2 p.m. today in the championship game.

Stephani Rogers had three hits and drove in three runs as Orange Coast defeated Desert, 4-1, in an earlier game.

Cypress 2, Canyons 1 (10 innings)--Kristi Richerson singled with two out and the bases loaded in the 10th inning for host Cypress (46-18). The Chargers had beaten Bakersfield, 3-2, in 11 innings earlier. Kerry Moloney’s RBI single in the 11th was the winner against Bakersfield.

MEN’S TENNIS

The two Pierce College entries that reached the state tournament were eliminated on the first day.

Al Martinez, the Brahmas’ No. 1 singles player, fell to Henrik Wagner of Canada College, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round at DeAnza College in Sunnyvale.

In doubles, Philip Leonhardt and Vanja Nadali won in the first round, 6-2, 6-4, over Daniel Smith and Glenn Te of Mission College, but lost in straight sets in the second round.

Erik Berg and Jeremy Driscoll of Saddleback beat Leonhardt and Nadali, 6-4, 7-5.