Northridge Sweeps Pair From UCSB : College softball: Matadors open 2-0 for the first time since 1985. Windmiller, Blake pitch one-hitters.

Gary Torgeson would like to think of it as a good omen.

The Cal State Northridge softball team swept UC Santa Barbara, 4-1 and 3-0, Saturday in a nonconference doubleheader at Santa Barbara, and for the first time since 1985 the Matadors are 2-0.

“And we won (the NCAA Division II championship) in ’85 too,” said Torgeson, Northridge’s coach.

The 14th-ranked Matadors certainly looked like solid contenders against Santa Barbara (1-3).

Right-handers Amy Windmiller and Kathy Blake each threw a one-hitter. Senior Missy Cress and junior Beth Calcante each hit a 210-foot home run, junior Jen Fleming and freshman Scia Maumausolo each doubled off the fence in the alleys and the Matadors had 12 hits.

“I can’t say enough about them,” Torgeson said. “They’re going to be a fun team to watch this year. With some luck, we’ll give ‘em a run (for the championship).”

In the opener, Fleming paced the Matadors’ eight-hit performance, going three for four with a run-scoring double in the fifth inning that gave Northridge a 2-0 lead.

Fleming scored from second two batters later on Tamara Ivie’s line-drive single to right field, and Shannon Jones hit a liner to left that drove in Ivie and gave the Matadors a 4-0 lead.

Windmiller (1-0), a junior transfer from Sacramento City College, lost her bid for a no-hitter in the sixth on an infield single by Ginny Mike.

Mike, a freshman from Camarillo High, slapped a chopper into the hole on the left side and barely beat the throw by shortstop Vicky Rios.

Windmiller, who struck out nine, then lost her shutout when Margo Melendez scored on a sacrifice fly to deep center by Alison Brickner.

In the second game, Calcante ripped a two-run home run to center field in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. Calcante, who hit 10 home runs last season, is the Matadors’ all-time leader with 14.

Northridge scored again in the fourth. Pinch-runner Kari Hazlett, running for Maumausolo who had lined a single up the middle, scored on Denise Swank’s two-out single to right.

Blake (1-0), who last season became the Matadors’ winningest freshman pitcher with a record of 25-7, had no trouble against the Gauchos.

Krissy Kyriazis managed an infield single in the first inning, but Blake faced the minimum over the next six innings.