Granada Hills Interrupts El Camino Real’s Softball Tradition

Everyone agrees that all winning streaks must come to an end. But the El Camino Real High softball team was able to delay the inevitable for nearly 12 years--until this week, when Granada Hills ended the Conquistadore streak with a 1-0 victory in a West Valley League game.

Right-hander Brandy Brennan (3-1) threw a one-hitter and struck out nine Monday as Granada Hills handed El Camino Real (5-4, 1-1 in league play) its first league loss since 1979.

The Conquistadores, winners of seven City Section 4-A Division championships in the past eight years, had won more than 100 consecutive league games, according to Jonathan Spiro, El Camino Real’s athletic director.

Taft was the last West Valley opponent to beat the Conquistadores in league play.

“We have eight new faces out there,” El Camino Real Coach Neils Ludlow said. “They don’t really understand the tradition.

“I don’t like to lose, but the sun came up today and I’m pretty sure it will come up tomorrow.”

Granada Hills (3-1, 2-0), whose only loss this season was a nine-inning decision to Sylmar, had come up short against the Conquistadores for more than a decade. But when the Highlanders scored the winning run in the bottom of seventh on Jeanine Jex’s double, the tables, however slightly, had turned.

The Highlanders were well aware of El Camino Real’s streak, Granada Hills Coach Carolyn Gunney said.

“They were excited by the win because they wanted to beat top teams this year, and El Camino Real is certainly a top team,” she said. “I just told the girls to keep it (the win) in perspective. We have the rest of the season to go.”

The freshmen: Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers said freshman Ryan Hankins will start at second base today when the Pioneers play host to Royal in a Marmonte League game.

Hankins is the younger brother of former Pioneer Mike Hankins, who plays in the New York Yankees’ organization. Ryan Hankins will become the fourth freshman in two seasons to play for Simi Valley, which is off to a 10-2 start and is ranked third in The Times’ regional poll.

Last season, Ryan Briggs (second base), Kevin Nykoluk (right field) and Bill Treadway (pitcher) played as freshmen.

Nykoluk, who bats second in the lineup this season, starts in right field and is batting .412 (14 for 34). Briggs, who starts at shortstop when Brian Vasey pitches, leads off and is batting .318. Treadway is the Pioneers’ No. 2 starter and is 3-0 with a 1.17 earned-run average.

Hankins, who will start in place of Mike Cardenas, earned the promotion after hitting two triples and a home run in the championship game of Simi Valley’s junior-varsity tournament last weekend.

Add Simi Valley: The Pioneers won their pool and were 3-1 in the Arizona Spring Classic, but inclement weather forced them to come home without a trophy.

That doesn’t mean the Pioneers--namely combative Coach Mike Scyphers--won’t do everything in their power to see that the semifinal and championship games are played.

“Our kids are disappointed because we felt we had the best team there,” Scyphers said. “I’ll propose a deal where some weekend we can drive out there and get the four teams left to play the rest of the tournament.”

Rain left the Pioneers in limbo for two days, forcing Scyphers to change flight plans twice and delaying the team’s departure a day, which added $1,000 in expenses. It also left the players to entertain themselves in the rain.

“They were sliding around in an all-grass gully (near the team hotel),” Scyphers said with a laugh. “It was about 10 at night and really cold out, but they got into the shock aspect of sliding in the water and jumping in the Jacuzzi.”

No love lost: Bad blood continued to boil between Santa Clara and Santa Paula last week. The teams, which staged a brawl last season, met last Friday for the first time since that fight.

With Santa Paula holding a 3-0 lead, Joey Ramirez collided head-on with Santa Clara’s catcher. Ramirez was ejected immediately for not sliding, and when the Santa Clara catcher expressed his unhappiness at the collision, he too was ejected.

That was it. Two quick ejections and no punches thrown. A quick thumb sometimes can be a little preventive medicine, it seems.

For the record, Santa Paula won, 6-0, to move to 3-1 in league play. The teams will meet again May 10 in a Frontier League finale.

Holding his tongue: Entering play this week, San Fernando had lost three consecutive games for the first time in Coach Steve Marden’s memory. But who’s counting?

One never knows.

Two weeks ago, Marden said he could not recall losing to Chatsworth in his tenure as coach. Former Chatsworth Coach Bob Lofrano then phoned Marden to remind him that the Chancellors twice had defeated the Tigers in the 1980s.

“I’m not going to say whether we’ve ever done it before or not,” Marden cracked. “If I do, somebody will jump up and say, ‘Hey, I remember. . .’ ”

Add San Fernando: Left-handed pitcher Canto Franco is the third Tiger in as many seasons who appears to be suffering from some sort of senior curse.

Three years ago, right-hander Frank Serna suffered through a sub-par senior season in which he finished 7-5 with an earned-run average of 2.43. Serna, now a San Fernando assistant, was an All-City Section selection as a sophomore.

Last season, big things were expected of left-hander Hector De La Cruz, who was 6-1 with a 3.42 ERA as a junior. But De La Cruz hurt his arm in the off-season and finished 2-4 with a 4.74 ERA.

Franco seems headed in the same direction. As a junior, he was 8-1 with an ERA of 1.90. Entering the week, Franco was 1-3 with a 3.28 ERA.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech, Brian Murphy and Jeff Riley contributed to this notebook.