HIGH SCHOOL SPRING SPORTS DIGEST : AN EARLY GLANCE AT TOP TEAMS AND PLAYERS : Softball : El Camino Real to Again Pin Hopes on Silverman

Her statistics couldn’t be more impressive if you doctored the score book.

Last season she was 19-0, pitched four no-hitters and had an earned-run average of 0.06. In 126 innings El Camino Real’s Beth Silverman allowed only one earned run. And with Silverman returning this season as the Conquistadores’ top pitcher, there’s no question that El Camino Real is the favorite to repeat as City champion.

Can anyone hit against this girl?

“Oh yeah, they hit the ball,” El Camino Real Coach Neils Ludlow said of Silverman’s victims. “But not consistently. And when they do make contact, they’re not always hits.”

It might be more accurate to say if they make contact. Last year, Silverman struck out 140 batters. She also led El Camino Real with a .400 batting average, hit two home runs and drove in 19 runs.

Small wonder why Silverman was voted the City MVP and Cal-Hi Sports’ 4-A Player of the Year. El Camino Real has won a state-record 55 consecutive games and four straight City championships.

“I like to think that we’re the favorites to win it,” Silverman said.

Notes

Chatsworth Coach Rich Doran said his team might have a shot at the North Valley League title with pitchers Christina Roopenian and Tina Shimozo. In a scrimmage against Van Nuys, the pair combined for 16 strikeouts. “We’ve always had solid athletes, but we’ve never had a pitcher that could take over a game,” Doran said. “I think now we’re a contender.” . . . Canoga Park probably will suffer this season without De Dow, who shared the league’s MVP award with Silverman. Dow’s successor, Tammy Payne, is good but she is no De Dow, Nakasone said. . . . It looks like another year in which East Valley League teams will compete for the dubious honor of getting beaten in the 4-A City Section playoffs. Last year all four of the league representatives were eliminated in the first round. “We’re way outclassed, to put it bluntly,” said North Hollywood Coach Kerry Redfield, whose team was eliminated by San Fernando. In its first game, Poly was losing, 29-0, to El Camino Real before the game was halted after six innings. “Our league is the weakest 4-A league in the city,” Van Nuys Coach Tony Magnante said. “We’re just not a 4-A league.” Magnante, Redfield and the other league coaches say they want to step down to the 3-A Division. But according to Hal Harkness, director of the Interscholastic Athletic Committee, re-leaguing may not be done. “We’ll listen to a proposal,” Harkness said. “But we want the leagues to be the same for every sport and then divide them into 3-A and 4-A divisions. Next year I’m making a strong proposal to put leagues back into some sort of rationale. We want to put the rivalries back and have teams do better at the box office.” . . . Although his teams have won the Marmonte League championship seven of the past 10 years, Richard Intlekofer will not coach at Newbury Park this season. Intlekofer, whose Panthers have won the league title the past four years in a row, assumed a counseling position, which prevents him from coaching because of a time conflict. “I’ll be back in teaching next year, which would allow me to coach,” said Intlekofer, adding that he is uncertain whether he will return as coach.