Granada Hills Reaches Title Game : Softball: Highlanders beat El Camino Real in City 4-A semifinal.

Jessica Creith and her Granada Hills High teammates didn’t begin to feel the pressure until the seventh inning.

After grabbing a one-run lead midway through a City Section 4-A Division softball semifinal against top-seeded El Camino Real, the Highlanders played solid defense for three innings and held on to win, 1-0, Tuesday at South Gate Park.

In the seventh, Granada Hills players felt their nerves tighten.

Creith, who had thrown just 10 balls outside the strike zone in the first six innings, threw her first three pitches in the seventh inning over Latoya Williams’ head.

After Williams grounded to second baseman Stephanie Imada, Imada wasn’t comfortable risking an error, so she ran to first to make the putout.

Eventually Creith and her infield settled down, and the fourth-seeded Highlanders were able to upset the Conquistadores.

“We were all getting a little nervous out there,” Creith said. “We lost twice to them because of errors, nobody wanted it to happen again.”

Granada Hills (15-5) will face third-seeded San Pedro in the championship game next Tuesday at UCLA’s Easton Stadium. It will be the first section final for the Highlanders since 1991.

That was also the last time the Highlanders defeated El Camino Real, the defending section champion and winner of seven of the past 10 titles. Before Tuesday, Granada Hills had come tantalizingly close this season, losing two one-run games.

“I don’t think one team is necessarily better than the other,” Creith said. “It’s just this time we didn’t make the mistakes.”

Granada Hills took advantage of two errors to score in the bottom of the third. Lead-off batter Tiffany Snyder reached on a wild throw to first by third baseman Liana Baca.

Two batters later, first baseman Lisa Brende dropped a low throw from Baca on Creith’s grounder.

Snyder scored from third after shortstop Ramona Shelburne made an over-the-shoulder catch of a pop fly, but couldn’t recover in time to make an accurate throw.

The Conquistadores (19-2) had plenty of chances to score, getting five hits off Creith (15-5). But El Camino Real had three runners thrown out, including two at home.

In the second, Kristen Gutekunst was thrown out easily at home trying to score on a ground ball.

Two innings later, Brende singled with runners on first and second but Amber Dattilo threw out Shelburne trying to score.

“Usually, I try to go around and try to slide,” Shelburne said. “I didn’t leave enough room and I got caught.”

El Camino Real had one last chance in the sixth when Shelburne reached on an error by Jessica Krone.

Gretchen Vandenberg attempted a sacrifice to send Shelburne to second, but third baseman Missy Miller nailed the lead runner.

“It was one of those things where thinking too much might have hurt me,” Miller said. “I just reacted.”

Tami Jones (14-2) allowed three hits and struck out six for El Camino Real.