PREP SOFTBALL : Griffin Pitches, Hits Simi Valley to First Championship

Simi Valley High’s Sara Griffin hit a home run and pitched a one-hitter to beat Los Alamitos, 1-0, in the Southern Section Division I championship game Friday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

It is the first softball title for the Pioneers, who finished runner-up to Cypress a year ago.

Griffin wasn’t going to let her team lose to Los Alamitos (24-2). The junior right-hander, hit a towering home run over the left-field fence to break a scoreless tie in the sixth.

Just before Griffin stepped up for her third at-bat, she heard a chant coming from the bleachers in left field, “Home run, Home run, Home run.”

It was a group of friends reminding her of the promise she made before the game started.

“She told us before the game that she was going to hit a home run and give me the ball,” Tom Ferralli said.

She kept both promises.

Griffin (20-1) struck out 10, walked two and faced just two batters over the minimum.

The Pioneers (26-1-1), ranked No. 2 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, wasted scoring opportunities in the third and fourth innings by stranding Kris Lufkin and Tracy Hansen, both of whom tripled.

Lufkin led off the third with a triple, but was thrown out trying to score on a ground ball to first baseman Debbie Wilson.

Hansen tripled down the right-field line with one out in the fourth, but Los Alamitos pitcher Carrie Dolan struck out Dayna Skinner and Yody Roached to end the inning.

DIVISION IV

Atascadero 2, Temecula Valley 0--The Greyhounds (26-2) got four of their seven hits in the eighth inning to score two runs and held on to beat Temecula Valley (23-4-2) in the Division IV championship game. Atascadero broke open a scoreless tie with four consecutive singles with one out in the eighth. Melanie Tate’s single drove in Christine Skoda for the only run the Greyhounds would need.