SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL / 5-A DIVISION SEMIFINAL : 1 Play Enables Simi Valley to Trip Mater Dei

Call it a big hit.

Or call it a huge error.

Regardless of how the play was interpreted, Simi Valley High scored two runs in the fourth inning on Kathy Beasley’s fly ball to the gap in left-center field to earn a 2-0 victory over top-seeded Mater Dei in a Southern Section 5-A Division softball semifinal at Santa Susana Park in Simi Valley.

Simi Valley (26-2) will make its first appearance in the 5-A title game at Mayfair Park in Lakewood on Saturday against Cypress, a 1-0 winner over La Palma Kennedy in the other semifinal. Mater Dei finished 19-2-1.

The win provided revenge for the Pioneers, who were ousted from the playoffs by Mater Dei the past two seasons.

Simi Valley’s Sara Griffin (16-1) scattered five hits and struck out nine, but had to work her way out of jams in the second, fifth and sixth innings.

The Pioneers managed just two hits off Terri Kobata. But Simi Valley handed Kobata (11-1) her only loss, thanks to the ball hit by Beasley, which was officially ruled a home run.

With pinch-runner Jenny Conmay at second and two out, Beasley ripped a 1-and-2 pitch to left-center field. Left fielder Bernadette Vargas and center fielder Patty Godwin converged on Beasley’s towering fly ball. As soon as Vargas made what looked like an over-the-shoulder grab, Godwin plowed into her and the ball shot out of Vargas’ glove and deeper into the outfield.

Conmay and Beasley scored easily as Godwin jumped to her feet and chased down the ball. Vargas lay motionless on the ground for several minutes but returned to her position.

“It’s Kathy’s favorite place to hit--in the gap in left,” Simi Valley Coach Suzanne Manlet said. “We felt it was a home run because even though she got her glove on it, she went back on it.”

Truthfully, Manlet does not care how it was ruled. She is ruling it the play that advanced Simi Valley to the final.