Hart Maintains High Level, 6-0

Coach Cathy Giordano of Hart High knew what she was doing when she scheduled the Foothill tournament just three days before resuming Foothill League softball play.

The Indians rose to the level of their competition Saturday against Foothill, the No. 1 team in the nation, and their concentration carried over into a Tuesday game against Saugus.

Megan Ivey (5-4) of Saugus pitched well enough to beat many opponents, but Hart teed off on her fastballs en route to a 6-0 victory at Saugus High.

Hart (15-2, 4-0 in league play), ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll, can take sole possession of first place by beating No. 3 Valencia on Thursday at Newhall Park.

“I don’t expect to win any league game this easily, especially not against a team like Saugus,” Giordano said. “But we were hitting the ball extremely well [Tuesday].

“Seeing that Foothill pitcher three days ago definitely helped prepare us for [Tuesday’s] game. Only two batters struck out all game, which tells me we were making contact with the pitches in the strike zone.”

While Hart lost to Foothill, 1-0, in the semifinals of the Foothill tournament Saturday, Saugus lost by the same score in 11 innings to Meredith Cervenka of Crescenta Valley in the final of the San Fernando Valley tournament.

But the Centurions had a much tougher time trying to solve left-hander Lindsey Kontra (7-1) of Hart, who allowed two hits and no walks with five strikeouts.

“She was on her game,” Giordano said. “She gets up for these kinds of games. These girls all know each other and they don’t want to lose to their rivals.”

Hart scored the only run it would need on an RBI single by Lorian Jenkins in the second inning.

Casey Pickard added a run in the third after Kontra reached base on an error and the Indians broke the game open in the fifth on Nicole Delfino’s three-run double. Erin Krallis added an RBI single.

Jaclyn Holden had both hits for Saugus (10-8, 2-2), ranked sixth.