Softball: Hart’s a hit, and a winner, at the Thousand Oaks tournament

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If history is an indicator, a participant from the Thousand Oaks tournament will go on to win a Southern or City section championship, but it’s not always the tournament winner. That’s good news for Thousand Oaks, which was the runner-up to Hart on Saturday in the T.O. championship.

Still, you’ve got to believe that players today would rather be in Hart’s shoes after it scored a 3-1 victory over the host Lancers. Victory came behind the pitching of Destiny Rodino -- who gave up five hits and struck out 12 -- and the hitting of Heather Zimmerman and Jessica Shults. Zimmerman hit a two-run home run in the third inning, and Shults hit a solo homer in the sixth. A full account of the game can be found in the Daily News.

Hart (22-4), No. 9 in The Times ranking, has now won 17 of its last 18 games, including a split with its Foothill League rival, No. 5 Valencia. Hart was beaten by the Vikings on Thursday, 2-1.

It was a terrific day all around for the Indians, who won their semifinal over No. 24 Riverside Poly, 12-0. Eighth-ranked Thousand Oaks reached the final with a 1-0 victory over No. 25 Oak Park.

Hart was in last year’s T.O. tournament, which is the last major tuneup before the playoffs. It was a runner-up to Valencia for last year’s Southern Section Division I title and came into this season as the third-ranked team in the Southland. However, an early -- and uncharacteristic -- loss to Highland in the Hart tournament dropped the Indians way down in the pecking order of the The Times top 25.

There were other losses, to eventual champion Pembroke Pines (Fla.) and Garden Grove Pacifica in the Nike Faster to First tournament, but since then, Hart has been nearly perfect.

Going into the final week of the regular season, that’s not a bad way to be. Hart will try to become the first tournament winner to also win a section title since it happened in back-to-back years, Chaminade in 1999 and Cerritos in 2000.

-- Martin Henderson