Slugging Sisters : CSUN’s Lopez, Maumausolo Have Different Approaches, but Both Pack a Punch

NORTHRIDGE —  At first glance, Cal State Northridge softball players Chelo Lopez and Scia Maumausolo could be mistaken for sisters.

They are similar in size and strength, and also in their quiet demeanor and humble disposition.

But make no mistake, Lopez and Maumausolo are as different as two people should be.

For starters, Lopez is an only child, adopted five days after her birth in Torreon, Mexico, by Ruben and Ruth Lopez. She displays the spoiled-child syndrome on occasion, Ruben Lopez confesses, but “we couldn’t love that kid anymore than we do. She has been the greatest kid.”

The third of four daughters, Maumausolo learned to compete at an early age in a house full of athletic girls.

Based on their disparate backgrounds, it is easy to understand why Coach Janet Sherman thinks the greatest difference between the power-hitting pair might be their work ethic.

Lopez is easily distracted and some say lazy. Maumausolo puts in extra effort and is constantly striving to improve her game.

“I think it’s the different upbringing,” Sherman said. “Scia’s always been pushed and Chelo hasn’t had that.”

Nonetheless, Lopez and Maumausolo form one of the most-feared 1-2 punches in college softball. Entering Northridge’s opening game in the NCAA Division I regional tonight at 7 against Southwest Missouri State (34-20) at Cal State Fullerton, they have combined for 31% of the Matadors’ hits, 42% of their runs batted in and 70% of their home runs.

Maumausolo, a 5-foot-9 senior catcher who is batting a team-leading .456 with 43 RBIs, leads the team in nearly every offensive category for the second year in a row. She holds school career records with 36 doubles, 45 home runs and 162 RBIs. This season, she also broke her own school record for home runs with 16.

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After two years, Lopez, a 5-foot-11 sophomore first baseman who is batting .397 with 39 RBIs, is on pace to threaten Maumausolo’s career marks. Comparing her first two seasons with Maumausolo’s, Lopez has put up similar--and sometimes better--numbers.

But in order for Lopez to find her way to the top of the school’s career charts, she must dramatically improve in the next two years.

That’s what Maumausolo did. After batting a respectable .297 in her first two seasons, she busted out last year, batting a school record .482.

“I learned a zone my junior year,” Maumausolo said. “I remember striking out six times [in a row] and not knowing when to swing, and it will never feel that way again.”

Maumausolo struck out 56 times in her first two seasons, but only twice as a junior. She credits her improvement to extra hours of practice, improved visualization and sheer determination to be a better ballplayer.

That is where Lopez needs a nudge. “We’ve pushed her from Day One,” Sherman said. “And she has responded. [But] by the time they’re juniors, they should be able to push themselves.”

Next year, Lopez will be expected to light her own fire, and she knows it. But after batting .341 in two seasons, she’s already got a head start on Maumausolo in that department.

But Lopez, who bats cleanup behind Maumausolo, clearly shuns comparisons because they bring unwanted pressure.

“I hear people talking about it and I feel like I have to do better if not the same as her just to be looked at as good,” Lopez said. “It’s just hard being compared to a player of her caliber.”

Lopez’s physical likeness to Maumausolo is the reason Sherman had Maumausolo play host to Lopez on her recruiting trip two years ago.

“When you’re a big girl, you could be very intimidating,” Sherman said. “And I wanted Chelo to see how well Scia fit in with everybody.”

The similarities aren’t only physical. Both players--Maumausolo at San Diego Mt. Carmel and Lopez at Torrance North--were mostly overlooked by recruiters in high school, and took only one visit--to Northridge.

“When I came in I was scared to death as far as knowing that I was good enough to make it,” Maumausolo said. “I knew that I can hit the ball, but I didn’t know--compared to other people--how good that would be.”

Ditto for Lopez, who still struggles occasionally with self-doubt.

“Sometimes I try to hide it, but there are times when I have doubts about my ability,” she said. “But then other times I’m fine.”

Maumausolo became more confident last year, about the time she stopped swinging at bad pitches. But not all of those bad pitches led to strikeouts. At least one ended up about 260 feet beyond the plate--a home run on a tomahawk swing at a riseball a foot above her head in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Oklahoma State, 1-0, in the championship game of the Fullerton tournament in her freshman year.

“She can hit balls where you say to yourself, ‘How did she hit that?’ ” Sherman said. “And Chelo is starting to do that, too.”

If Lopez continues to pursue Maumausolo’s lead, success is sure to follow.

“She’s gonna learn that hard work is going to pay off,” Maumausolo said. “And I think she sees that this year.”

All she has to do is look at her mirror image.