Southern Section 3-A : Nava, Osterman Give Garden Grove 1-0 Semifinal Win

A two-out infield single by second baseman Nanette Nava in the bottom of the seventh inning carried the Garden Grove High School softball team to a 1-0 Southern Section 3-A semifinal victory over Woodbridge on Tuesday at Edison Community Park.

The Argonauts, who improved their record to 24-7, will be competing for their first championship when they meet Sonora on Friday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood at 8 p.m.

Leslie Osterman (24-7) earned her fourth win of the playoffs, limiting Woodbridge to one hit. She struck out five, walked one and did not allow a Warrior to advance past second base. The Argonauts had six hits off losing pitcher Sandra Schoonover (10-2).

Garden Grove had missed two scoring opportunities when it finally scored the game-winner in the seventh. Leslie Burke led off with a single and was sacrificed by April Spurlock.

Lisa Newman, trying to move pinch-runner Wena Mendoza to third, then bunted the ball down the first-base line. Schoonover hesitated briefly between the mound and first base, and by the time she fielded the ball, Newman was safe, putting runners on first and third with one out.

Schoonover got Lynn Titzkowski to pop up for the second out, but Nava drove home the winning run when she hit a high hopper to second baseman Neidra Lubanko and beat the throw to first.

“The thing that helped us today was our good fielding,” Garden Grove Coach Paula Cervantes said. “I’m really pleased. The school has been playing softball a long time and had never made it to the finals. It’s about time the girls did something in softball.”

The Argonauts missed a scoring opportunity in the fifth inning. Newman reached on an error and advanced to third with two outs, but Elain Allen flied to left for the final out.

In the fourth inning, Osterman led off with a single, only to be stranded at third when Spurlock flied out.

Woodbridge (24-4), which lost for the second consecutive year in the semifinals, had two chances to score. Jenny Allard doubled with one out in the fourth inning, but was thrown out on a fielder’s choice on the next play.

In the second inning, Tiffany Boyd reached on a two-base error but Osterman retired the next three batters to quash the threat.

In other 3-A semifinal action:

Sonora 1, La Quinta 0--The Raiders (15-7) scored the game’s only run in the sixth inning. Sonora’s Tracee Allen hit a double off Casey Tacason (12-5), moved to third on Lisa Johnson’s bunt, and scored on a passed ball.

The Raiders had six hits, including two by Allen, while the Aztecs’ only hits off Johnson were Tacason’s singles in the first and seventh innings. La Quinta’s Yvonne Cloyd nearly had a homer to right field early in the game, but Kristen Robinson made a fine catch for the out.