FULL CIRCLE
Forget about the streak.
Never mind the controversy.
Meredith Cervenka of Crescenta Valley High established herself as a dominating pitcher long before the talk of her streak of innings without allowing an earned run.
It doesn’t matter if she sets a state record in the Falcons’ next game on April 18, or if she did or didn’t allow an earned run against Arcadia on March 25.
The one truism is Cervenka, a junior, has dominated her competition. Period.
Surely, no record is needed to validate that in the minds of opponents who have struck out 621 times in 394 innings.
No one cares to dispute her 11 shutouts in 14 games this season.
The truth about Cervenka’s ability is locked in the hundreds of pitches she has thrown on an almost daily basis since she was 10.
Validation is for parking stubs, not pitchers like Cervenka who have little to prove at the high school level.
Cervenka knows all this. And she knows setting an individual record in a team sport doesn’t make her the best pitcher to ever step into the circle.
But she can’t help it. She’s closing in on a staterecord for consecutive innings without allowing an earned run..
“It’s just something I’d like to have,” Cervenka said. “It just looks good. It’s like an extra.”
The cherry on top comes at a price. Cervenka has endured an emotional roller-coaster ride for the last couple of weeks.
Four days after Cervenka & Co. defeated Arcadia, 5-3, in a High Desert tournament game, Cervenka learned Coach John Nowa of Arcadia declared one of Arcadia’s runs was earned.
Controversy ensued.
On the play in question, ruled a batter who later scored had reached base on an error when a ground ball went through the legs of first baseman Mandy Yaeger.
Nowa said the ball skipped through the infield, to the right of Yaeger and ruled it a hit.
Since Arcadia was the home team, and therefore the official scorer in the eyes of National Federation rules, the streak was over.
“I was so mad because it wasn’t fair,” Cervenka said. “When I found out I just started crying because I was so mad.”
But, one day after telling The Times the run “was earned,” Nowa recanted.
“I’ve checked with my kids and I’ve checked with the parents and it’s kind of 50-50 as to what they saw,” Nowa said. “As far as I’m concerned, if it’s that controversial, let them have it.”
And, with those words, the streak continues.
“When I found out I got the streak back I was way excited,” Cervenka said. “What that coach did, I have a lot of respect for him.”
But the saga of the on-, off-, on-again streak doesn’t end there.
If Cervenka sets the state record, she will do it against Arcadia. Adding to the melodrama, Arcadia is the home team.
“That’s awesome,” Cervenka said, chuckling. “Bring it on.”
Cervenka is one inning shy of the record 268 set by Lindsay Parker of La Canada from 1993-94. Parker played for Fresno State and helped the Bulldogs win the national title in 1998.
And if there wasn’t already enough humor in this story, here’s a kicker: Parker didn’t even know she held the record until this story broke in newspapers about a week ago.
“There’s a sense that we didn’t even get to enjoy knowing that [Lindsay] had the record,” said Tom Parker, Lindsay’s father and a former coach at La Canada.
“I called Lindsay in Fresno and asked, ‘Did you know you had a [state] record? And she said, ‘No.’ ”
No one would like to see Cervenka break Parker’s record more than . . . Tom Parker, who has been Cervenka’s pitching coach from the beginning nearly seven years ago.
“There’s no conflict of interest,” Tom Parker said. “This is like having one daughter breaking another daughter’s record.”
Parker cautions neither his daughter nor his student should rest their visor on this record.
“A record like this is so subjective to those who kept score,” Parker said.
“This particular record is only achieved with two factors: you have to have an exceptional pitcher and you have to have a weak schedule.”
The Rio Hondo and Pacific, the leagues in which La Canada and Crescenta Valley play, are not the most competitive in the region.
“Neither one of them would have achieved this record if they had gone to a high school in Orange County,” Parker said.
Regardless of whether Cervenka sets a state record, or the national record, which is 393 1/3 innings, she will be the region’s top recruit next season.
And college coaches won’t be asking for her resume. They’ll be asking for her signature on their letter of intent.