SHAKY DEFENSE TRIPS UP HART; FIVE ERRORS COSTLY IN QUARTERFINALS : CERRITOS 5, HART 2.

Byline: Brian Dalziel Daily News Staff Writer

Everything Hart High softball coach Cathy Giordano was hoping her team wouldn't do Thursday, the Indians did.

Hart, which has played sound defense for most of the season, completely collapsed in the Southern Section Division II quarterfinals, making five errors and host Cerritos took advantage for a 5-2 victory.

The second-seeded Dons (24-7) face either third-seeded Corona or Kennedy in the semifinals Tuesday.

``It was a total letdown on defense,'' said Giordano, whose team finished the season 23-6-1. ``They just broke down.''

Sure the defense broke down, leading to two unearned runs. But the offense wasn't any better through the first five innings as junior left-hander Jessica van der Linden (17-5) retired the first 11 batters and allowed one walk through the first 17.

But then, down 2-0, Hart's bats came alive in the sixth.

With one out and runners on second and third, Carly Caldaronello managed a bloop single that landed just inside the right-field line. That scored pinch-runner Stacey Holbrook, who was running for Kortney Downen, who doubled to left to begin the rally.

Starting pitcher Lindsey Kontra, who didn't figure in the loss, hit a high chopper over the pitcher's head, but second baseman Julie Hoshizaki managed to get Kontra out at first.

But Kristin Lueke scored from third, making it 2-2.

``What's amazing is we couldn't hit her (van der Linden) all those innings and all of a sudden we do,'' Giordano said. ``I was very happy with the way we came back.''

The comeback didn't matter in the bottom half of the sixth.

Cerritos, which had runners on in every inning and ended up leaving nine on base, put together its own rally. With runners on second and third and two outs, van der Linden helped her own cause, doubling to left-center field off relief pitcher Amanda Fortune (11-3-1), scoring two runs to break the tie.

Lauren Johnson followed, and on the first pitch singled to center, increasing Cerritos' lead to 5-2.

Van der Linden, who finished with six strikeouts, retired Hart in order to close the seventh.

``(Kontra and Fortune) didn't pitch a bad game,'' Giordano said. ``We just made mistakes.''