Granada Hills softball loses again to Carson in epic pitchers’ duel in Open Division final
LONG BEACH – A year ago the CIF City Section Open softball final featured Granada Hills Charter losing a slugfest in extra innings against Carson.
Both teams returned to this season’s final but delivered a very different game, as the Colts won 1-0 in 14 innings at Long Beach State on Saturday night.
Pitchers’ duel doesn’t begin to do justice for how well the pitchers for both teams performed in the title game.
Both pitchers threw complete games as Lehigh commit Addison Moorman allowed four hits and struck out 19 for Granada Hills while her counterpart, Carson’s Giselle Pantoja, struck out out 17 and didn’t allow a hit until the 12th inning. She surrendered only one hit over 14 innings.
“Addison pitched amazing,” said Granada Hills coach Ivan Garcia. “Obviously (Pantoja) pitched amazing. She kept us off-balance the whole game.”
Carson (18-7-2) took a lead on a home run down the left field line by senior Alana Langford. She hit the full-count pitch out after fighting off multiple two-strikes pitches.
“It’s just very frustrating because these girls worked really hard this year,” said Garcia. “We really thought we were ready to make that leap. We’ve been here in the past, and we’ve lost to them twice now by one run. It’s extremely frustrating.”
Moorman set the tone for Granada Hills, quickly retiring the side in order to open the game. She had a pair of strikeouts in the inning.
Pantoja pitched around a pair of first-inning walks, recording two strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.
After hitting the leadoff batter in the top of second, Moorman struck out the next three hitters to put the Highlanders (28-3) back on offense.
Pantoja added two more strikeouts in the second.
The pitchers continued to trade zeroes in both the hits and runs column. Neither side recorded a hit until the top of the seventh and the Highlanders went hitless the first 11 innings before Sam Esperanza singled.
Granada Hills nearly broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. After drawing a walk, Malia Plourde looked to have scored on Jeniece Jiminez’s line drive down the right field line, but it was eventually ruled a foul ball, leaving both teams still looking for their first hit.
The Colts finally changed that when Langford drilled a double deep to left-center field with one out in the top of the seventh. It was the first hit for either team.
Moorman retired the next two hitters, stranding the runner at second.
Earlier in the day, top-seeded Garfield captured the CIF-SS Division 1 crown with a 5-2 win over No. 3 Kennedy.
Chatsworth, the top seed in Division 2, beat No. 2 Marquez 12-2 to win its first section title since 2018.