Granger Strikes Out 40, but Still Loses, 1-0

Even the most objective in the crowd cringed. It was happening to Valencia High School’s Michele Granger again.

Granger, one of the nation’s best softball pitchers at any level, had put in a monumental two-day performance in the Southern Section 3-A semifinal game against La Mirada, keeping her high school career alive with each pitch she threw.

She had struck out 38 batters Tuesday, in a game that was suspended with a scoreless tie after 23 innings because of darkness.

When the game resumed Wednesday at Cerritos College, Granger promptly struck out two more to bring her game total to 40, her season-strikeout total to 449, and her career total to 1,635.

But in the bottom of the 25th inning Wednesday, 20 minutes after the game restarted, La Mirada’s Robin Manestar got on base when Valencia’s second baseman Olivia Garcia dropped the ball while covering first. Then La Mirada pitcher Dena Mullins got on base when Valencia’s first baseman Danette Davis first bobbled Mullins’ sacrifice bunt and then overthrew first to allow Manestar to go to third.

Like the sequel to a B-movie, there was little doubt what was going to happen next.

Rose Garces, with two strikes against her, got a base hit down the left-field line, scoring Robin Manestar from third, giving La Mirada a 1-0 victory, and ending the most outstanding pitching career in high school softball.

The victory gives second-seeded La Mirada its first trip to the 3-A final. The Matadors (26-2) will face top-seeded Kennedy in Friday’s championship game at 8 p.m. at Mayfair Park.

La Mirada received an outstanding effort from Mullins (20-2), a junior who struck out 26, gave up 10 hits and retired the 6 batters she faced Wednesday.

It was the third straight year that Valencia, which finished the season 23-7, was eliminated in the semifinals because of errors. Last year, the Tigers lost to Diamond Bar on an unearned run in the 15th inning.

Though her teammates wept, Granger, who gave up five hits in the 5-hour 6-minute game, handled the finale the way she has handled both the lows and highs of her career. Matter-of-factly.

“I’m always disappointed to lose,” Granger (22-4) said. “But even if we won, you wouldn’t see me jumping all over the place.”

Granger, who has signed a letter of intent to play at California, holds national records in single-season strikeouts, career strikeouts, career no-hitters and has tied the records for single-season no-hitters and consecutive strikeouts in a game. She has unofficially set records for both career and single-season perfect games.

The 40 strikeouts against La Mirada, however, were not close to a record. Two years ago, Dede Weiman of Gahr High had 53 strikeouts in a 29-inning game against St. Joseph.

And while Granger has won championships on the national and international level, including a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games, she never won a Southern Section title.

But Granger never put much emphasis on that goal. And, when it was no longer possible, she kept it in perspective.

“I thought about it last night and figured if we were lucky, we were lucky,” Granger said. “A game like this is going to come down to mistakes.”

The loss may have actually been harder on her teammates than on Granger.

“I think there’s a lot of added pressure,” Valencia Coach Debbie Fassel said. “There has been so much written about her accomplishments and the elusive high school one, it puts pressure on the kids. . . . Now we’ll be back to normal.”

Granger has always felt any loss was her own fault, even if caused by an error, because she shouldn’t have allowed the ball to be in play in the first place.

“I let my team down,” she said. “Obviously, I’m not real happy.”

In the City 4-A final at Cal State Northridge, Beth Silverman pitched a two-hitter as El Camino Real of Woodland Hills won its fifth championship in six years by beating San Pedro, 5-0.