Softball Playoffs : El Camino Real Struggles Past Granada Hills

Terrible.

That was how El Camino Real High softball Coach Neils Ludlow said he felt after his team’s City Section 4-A Division quarterfinal win over Granada Hills on Wednesday.

“This is the worst game I’ve seen in five years,” Ludlow said. “The way we were playing I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was just glad to see the third out.”

Although El Camino Real committed five errors and collected only four hits, the defending City champions defeated the visiting Highlanders, 8-4, to advance to the division semifinals against Banning on Wednesday at South Gate Park.

When El Camino Real and Granada Hills met two months ago in a Northwest Valley Conference game, the Conquistadores romped, 13-1.

“Our heads must not have been in the game,” said pitcher Chrissy Peck (20-2), who threw a three-hitter and struck out six.

Even Peck had a rough time. Granada Hills’ baserunners advanced five times on passed balls and a wild pitch and three batters were safe at first on errors.

Granada Hills was just as sloppy. The Highlanders made six errors behind Bonnie Weinberger, allowing El Camino Real (20-2) to score four unearned runs.

The Conquistadores jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first--two of the runs were unearned--and added a run in each of the next three innings to take a 6-0 advantage.

The Highlanders scored all their runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings and pulled to within 6-4 before the Conquistadores scored twice in the sixth to account for the final score.