ARIZONA POLISHES OFF SLUGGISH CSUN : ARIZONA 8-5, CSUN 1-0.Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer The question of the day, posed by Cal State Northridge softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' coach Janet Sherman: ``How could you not get up to play U of A?'' Sherman was referring to Arizona, the defending national champion and top-ranked team. Here was a chance for the 19th-ranked Matadors to show they belong with the nation's elite. Instead, they displayed little intensity in dropping a doubleheader Wednesday, 8-1 and 5-0 at Northridge. The second game was stopped after five innings INNINGS, estates. Lands gained from the sea by draining. Cunn. L. Dict. h. t.; Law of Sewers, 31. to allow Arizona (23-2) time to catch a plane home. ``A very lackluster lack·lus·ter adj. Lacking brightness, luster, or vitality; dull. See Synonyms at dull. Adj. 1. lackluster - lacking brilliance or vitality; "a dull lackluster life"; "a lusterless performance" performance'' was how Sherman described the effort. ``If you said, `We're playing the defending national champions,' you'd have never known it because we went through the motions. We're not going to beat many teams, let alone them, with that production.'' Lack of production was more like it. Here's an example: First baseman Chelo Lopez earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors after batting .545 in weekend doubleheaders against Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. She had six hits, including three home runs, and nine RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in . Against Arizona, she was 1 for 6. Arizona pitchers didn't throw her anything she hadn't seen before, she said. Rather, she didn't adjust. ``I don't think my bat showed up,'' she said. For the day, Northridge (11-7-1) managed just six hits. The problem throughout the season has been the intensity level. It was low Saturday against Long Beach State, resulting in a loss and a tie. It was high Sunday against Fullerton, resulting in two victories. On Wednesday, any intensity came from Arizona, especially former local standouts Nancy Evans (pitcher from Hoover High) and Nicole Giordano (outfielder from Saugus). The senior Evans (12-0) won the first game with seven strikeouts and added a solo home run off reliever Jessica Creith. Giordano had three hits and two runs scored. ``It felt so good to be at home,'' Evans said. ``It was nice to be back with some of my family and friends.'' The Wildcats batted around in the fifth inning in·ning n. 1. a. Baseball One of nine divisions or periods of a regulation game, in which each team has a turn at bat as limited by three outs. b. innings (used with a sing. and scored five times to break open a 2-1 game. Leticia Pineda provided the big blow, a three-run homer off Tara Glaister (5-5). In the second game, four players, including Evans, drove in runs off Cheri Shinn (4-2). Giordano added another single and finished 4 for 6. Northridge, meanwhile, stranded strand 1 n. The land bordering a body of water; a beach. v. strand·ed, strand·ing, strands v.tr. 1. To drive or run ashore or aground. 2. four runners in scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on off Becky Lemke (1-2). ``We need to get to that level where we play great,'' said Glaister, who gave up nine hits and seven earned runs earned run n. Baseball A run scored without the aid of an error, used in computing earned run averages. Noun 1. earned run - a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team . ``We've shown we can play great. We know we can do it because we've done it. We just need to get to the point where we can do it every time.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Arizona's Katie Swan swan, common name for a large aquatic bird of both hemispheres, related to ducks and geese. It has a long, gracefully curved neck and an extremely long, convoluted trachea which makes possible its far-carrying calls. is tagged out by Northridge's Traci Gallian to halt a five-run fifth inning. Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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