Simi Valley Inches Past Ocean View, 2-0 : High school softball: Sixth-inning squibber stays fair, breaking a scoreless tie. Pioneers advance to title game.

If softball is often a game of inches, Tuesday’s Southern Section Division I semifinal between Simi Valley and Ocean View came down to a fraction of that.

That was the distance keeping a bases-loaded squibber off the bat of Dayna Skinner from rolling foul down the third base line.

The infield hit in the sixth inning broke a scoreless deadlock, allowing Simi Valley to go on to a 2-0 victory at Golden West College.

With Simi Valley pitcher Sara Griffin (20-1) in control, the Pioneers (25-1-1) advanced to Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. championship game against Los Alamitos at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Griffin out-dueled Ocean View sophomore Kathy Ponce (16-3) for the Pioneers’ third straight playoff shutout.

Griffin struck out eight, walked one and retired the last 19 batters to complete a one-hitter.

“Griffin was on as much as she has been all season,” Simi Valley Coach Suzanne Manlet said.

“Even after the long bus ride, we were really pumped up for this one. We really wanted it.

“We beat an excellent team in Ocean View.”

Ocean View threatened to score only in the first inning. Catcher Allison Murphy singled with one out. Griffin fanned Ponce and walked Raquel Willson then struck out Jennifer Hatcher to end the threat.

Ocean View had no baserunners the rest of the game.

“Usually, against a great pitcher, you’ve got to get to her early,” Ocean View Coach Doug Myers said.

“It’s just one of those things. We weren’t able to score. (Griffin’s) a tough girl to get consecutive hits against.”

Ponce was just as effective against the Pioneers for the first four innings.

“Early in the game, everyone was tense and uptight,” Manlet said. “Once we relaxed and stayed within ourselves, we started getting hits.”

In the fifth inning, Simi Valley’s batters started to connect. Skinner and Lisa Church singled and advanced to second and third on Julie Difatta’s bouncer to the mound.

But the threat didn’t materialize when pinch-runner Nicole Newhart was picked off third by Ocean View catcher Willson to end the inning.

Ocean View (22-7) and Ponce finally got into a jam they couldn’t get out of in the sixth.

Consecutive one-out singles by Jenny Conmay, Griffin and Tracy Hansen loaded the bases. Ponce got Jennifer Roache to ground to second for a force at the plate, but Ponce and Seahawk third baseman Jennifer Hatcher had no play on Skinner’s spinning chopper 18 feet down the third base line.

They could only watch in frustration as the ball came to rest a fraction of an inch from foul territory while Griffin scored the game’s first run.

“It was the only thing they could do,” said Myers. “A ball with that kind of backspin is gonna go foul nine times out of 10.”

Simi Valley padded its lead in the seventh. After yielding singles to Church and Difatta, who advanced on Jessica Cunningham’s grounder to shortstop, Ponce hit Griffin with a pitch that bounced first into the dirt.

The umpire ruled it a wild pitch and waved pinch-runner Jasmine Budhu home from third for the final 2-0 score.