Northridge Prospers and Suffers From a Split Personality : Softball: Lopez drives in all of Matadors’ runs in doubleheader with Sacramento.

To explain what happened to the Cal State Northridge softball team Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader split with Cal State Sacramento is to describe the kind of day it was for freshman Chelo Lopez.

Lopez hit her first grand slam in the fifth inning of the opener to provide the Matadors with a 4-1, come-from-behind victory.

In the nightcap, Lopez doubled home Scia Maumausolo with the go-ahead run in the 13th inning of a scoreless game.

But Lopez, who drove in all of Northridge’s runs, also struck out four times.

“It was memorable, but it was the day from hell too,” Lopez said.

The same might be said for the entire Matador team, which committed eight errors in 21-plus innings, the last of which led to Northridge’s 2-1 loss in 15 innings.

Northridge (39-15, 20-5 in the WAC) has a 2 1/2-game conference lead over Utah (26-18, 17-7) and Sacramento (40-12, 18-8) with three games to play. The Matadors outhit Sacramento, 19-11, but the defense played inconsistently.

With the score tied, 1-1, Sacramento’s Gina Givogri led off the 15th with a safe line drive to right-center field. As Givogri rounded second, right fielder Jessica Cunningham threw short to second baseman Lee Ann Taylor. The ball skipped by Taylor, and by the time shortstop Julie Sessler retrieved it, Givogri was rounding third, but holding.

Sessler, in shallow left field, turned and threw home to catcher Maumausolo. The throw took a short hop and bounced off Maumausolo, landing 15 feet from the plate.

Givogri bolted and slid head-first across the plate, where she was greeted by a dog pile of celebrating teammates.

“I figured (Givogri) was going home,” Sessler said. “She was at full speed when she rounded second. (But) it was my fault, I shouldn’t have thrown it.”

Said Northridge Coach Janet Sherman: “(Maumausolo) was in position to do what she was supposed to do. Sometimes you get the hop and sometimes you don’t. And this time we didn’t.”

The defeat spoiled a strong outing by Northridge pitcher Jen Richardson, who allowed only three hits in the first 10 innings. But Richardson tired in the late innings, and was replaced by Kathy Blake-Small in the 14th.

Blake-Small (21-8), who pitched a two-hitter in the opener, faced six batters in relief, surrendering one hit.