Cervenka Remains a Streaky Pitcher

Meredith Cervenka of Crescenta Valley High is on a tear.

The junior right-hander has pitched 187 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. She finished last season with 166 consecutive innings, the fifth-best season mark in state history.

Cervenka (3-0), who has 39 strikeouts in 21 innings this season, remains well behind state overall leader Lindsay Parker, who pitched 268 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run from 1993-94 for La Canada.

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Westlake had 21 hits in its first two Hart tournament games and appeared to have turned a corner offensively.

Then week two of the season began. And it wasn’t pretty for the Warriors, who lost all three of their games last week because of a lackluster offense.

After getting only three hits in a loss to Dos Pueblos on Tuesday, Westlake managed only seven hits in two Hart tournament games Saturday.

“We’ve got a lot better hitting team than we showed,” Coach Darwin Tolzin said.

Against Hart in a semifinal, Westlake had three hits off Amanda Fortune in a 1-0, eight-inning loss. Fortune, who struck out four, retired 15 consecutive batters during a stretch from the second to seventh innings.

“They kept telling me, ‘We’re right on her,’ ” Tolzin said. “Well, when you’re popping up to the second baseman, you’re not right on her.”

It didn’t get any easier for Westlake in the third-place game. Anna Russell of Harvard-Westlake pitched a four-hitter in beating the Warriors, 3-1.

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With Hart committing only two errors in its first four games, Coach Cathy Giordano wasn’t the least bit concerned about the Indians’ defense.

Until Saturday.

The Indians (6-0), ranked No. 3 in the region by The Times, committed seven errors in Hart tournament games against Westlake and Highland, yet managed to win both.

Giordano seemed to excuse Hart’s three errors against Westlake in an eight-inning, 1-0 semifinal victory. It was the four errors the Indians committed in a 5-4, eight-inning victory over Highland in the final that sounded an alarm.