SOFTBALL: INDIANS HAVE IMPRESSIVE START.

Byline: Gerry Gittelson Staff Writer

Hart High's softball team was 5-2 entering Thursday's Foothill League opener against visiting Burroughs, and the record is impressive considering the Indians continue to experiment defensively.

Besides utilizing two pitchers, including freshman Destiny Rodino (3-1, 0.42 ERA), Hart has alternated third basemen Paige Pointkowsky and Kaitlin Vitek and shortstops Danielle Duhart and Jessica Shults.

Whatever Hart's doing, it's working. The Indians have yet to allow more than three runs in a game.

"We're doing really well," said Duhart, one of three seniors on the Indians' roster. "Our pitchers are holding their own, and we're doing a great job defensively behind them."

Shults, a freshman, leads Hart with a .481 batting average and one home run.

"Jessica is our leadoff hitter, and I like batting second because she's always on base," Duhart said.

Now that league play has started, Hart is looking to keep pace with powers Valencia and Saugus.

The Indians were just 15-13 last year and barely made the playoffs, but Duhart believes this group can make a bigger impact under first-year coach Steve Calendo.

"I definitely think we'll compete," she said. "It's different this year, but everyone has adjusted, and it's working out."

--Big Sis: Duhart's sister, Erica, a former Hart standout who received All-Western State Conference honors at College of the Canyons, has transferred to San Diego State, where she is concentrating on academics and not playing softball. The move has given Erica a chance to reunite with San Diego State pitcher Christina Ross, a former Valencia rival and close friend.

--Court not in session: Hart's Amanda Sreden has been limited to nine at-bats because she missed the first part of the season while playing basketball, helping the Indians to the Southern Section Div. I-A girls' title and into the Southern California Regional semifinals.

--Sreden was 1 for 4 in a 1-0 loss to Chaminade of West Hills in her last game - only the second time she has had more than one at-bat in a game.

--Focus is on softball: By committing early to defending national champion Michigan, Valencia junior Jordan Taylor can focus on pitching instead of recruiting, and she entered Thursday's game against Saugus with a 7-1 record, 0.26 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 53 innings.

"I think the best thing is not so much that I committed early, but that I committed to my favorite school, because Michigan was my first choice all along," Taylor said.

--Mother knows best? For years, Taylor's mother, Marjorie, has kept a scorebook every game.

"I started a long time ago so I wouldn't talk to Jordan while she pitched," Marjorie Taylor said. She is Valencia's official scorekeeper this year, and she maintains she's "tough but fair."

"I'm fair on everyone, but I'm actually a little rough on Jordan," she said. "If I wasn't, she'd probably have a zero ERA right now."

Taylor has been credited with two earned runs.

"One of them was kind of a close call, but after talking it over with some people, we decided to give her the earned run," Marjorie said.

--Add Taylor: Taylor's hitting days are over because Valencia always uses a designated hitter in the pitcher's spot when she pitches. But she was a good hitter as a freshman on the junior-varsity team two years ago, leading the Vikings in home runs and RBIs.

--Scott on break: After Santa Clarita Christian's most successful softball season - it reached the Div. VII semifinals - veteran coach Darcy Scott has decided to take some time off for family reasons. Her daughter, Kaysa, was born five days after the end of last season.

Diana Simmons has taken over for the Cardinals.

"I do miss softball," Scott said. "I was planning on coming back, but it was just too hard to fit everything in."

Kaysa, who's 9 months old, took her first steps Sunday.

"I still coach part time for the junior high volleyball team," Scott said. "It's a lot less stressful. But I do miss coaching softball, and I miss the girls on the team."

Gerry Gittelson, [phone]

gerry.gittelson(at)dailynews.com