Granada Hills beats ECR to take control of WVL race
WOODLAND HILLS >> Granada Hills senior Franky Luster remembers a switch flipping during her sophomore year. That season, the Highlanders finished second in the West Valley League behind El Camino Real, then were shut out 10-0 by ECR in the City Section softball championship game.
“I really can't put my finger on it,” Luster said, “but my sophomore year we made it to the championship against El Camino and I think we realized, we can do this. We can be in the championship every year and that kind of sparked a fire for us.”
The Highlanders could be on track for another championship appearance. They beat ECR 9-4 on Friday afternoon to stay unbeaten in the West Valley League and to take sole possession of the league lead.
The win fanned Granada Hills' competitive fire a little bit more. Although this year's group is young — Luster is the team's only senior — they're accountable, focused and have put adequate pressure on themselves.
“The core group that leads us is phenomenal,” coach Ivan Garcia said. “It's really almost less (work) for us as coaches because they just hold each other accountable. They're always on, like `Hey, this is not acceptable. This is not what we want to do.' And that has really paid off.”
Sophomore pitcher Addison Moorman threw a complete game and improved to 8-4, supported by an offense that poured on the runs in the fourth inning.
The Highlanders (13-4 overall, 3-0 West Valley League) scored two runs in the first inning on a groundout by Samantha Esparza and an RBI single by Malia Plourde.
El Camino Real's Anne Hoke hit a solo home run to make it 2-1.
Jasmine Siriano hit a triple in the fourth inning for the Highlanders, then beat the throw home on Lainey Brown's single. Jocelyn Jimenez and Vivian Acosta hit RBI singles, then Plourde topped off the scoring in the inning with a two-run double to make it 7-1.
“We had a freshman, Zoe Justman, get a clutch hit up and ... once it starts to snowball, we were able to get five or six runs going,” Garcia said. “And then we reverted it back to being aggressive and swinging at the first pitch and things like that.”
The Royals (7-7, 2-1), who have won the City Section Open Division title the past three seasons, returned one starter this season. Coach Jodi Borenstein embraces games like Friday's to make her team better.
“I'd rather a game like that than to beat a team by 20 runs,” she said. “We want to play good teams and that's softball. That was softball out there today and we love it.”
Garcia has been coaching the varsity team for six years, and he says it's taken every one of those years to build Granada Hills into what it is now. Before his varsity tenure, he coached the JV team.
The Highlanders won their last City Section title in 1981, but have made championship appearances as recently as 2021 and 2019. The success has attracted talent, and Garcia has designed competitive practices to keep that talent growing.
“Fun and competitive,” Luster said. “We play games. And sometimes we'll be like, who scores the most runs and we get very competitive when it comes to that, but it makes us play 10 times harder and focus more when you know when we're competing with each other.”
Granada Hills' losses were Cypress, Millikan, Westlake and Moorpark, which are all either ranked or getting a mention in the latest CIF Southern Section polls. The schedule is another part of the effort to challenge the Highlanders more and continue building their reputation.
“A reputation that `Granada is the place,' and we want to be known that way,” Garcia said.