Granada Hills softball reflects on memories after losing to Carson in City Open final

SOUTH GATE — Granada Hills pitcher April Anaya did all she could to find the strike zone and put her team in a position to compete in the CIF LA City Section Open Division championship game.

The effort from Anaya was valiant, but Carson’s loaded batting order and the swift right arm of a rising junior turned a supposed clash of rivals into a rout.

Carson put together a pair of four-run innings and two two-run innings to start the game, helped by two-run home runs from Ashannalee Titalii and Anaiyah Popoalli, as the Colts defeated Granada Hills 12-1 in five innings.

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“This is a mature group of girls,” Granada Hills coach Ivan Garcia said. “This was unfortunately a day where we didn’t play our best, but they’ll take it on the chin and learn from it.”

Carson (21-7) won its its sixth City title overall. The game Friday was the fourth year in a row the Colts and Highlanders met in the finals, and with the exception of 2025, the Colts have won each time.

“We’ve had a great deal of up and downs this year,” Garcia added. “From the very beginning we had to find our way as a team to now. We had to fight. We’ve lost and won together. But they are a great group of kids.”

Travel troubles for Granada Hills

Granada Hills (18-11-1) had its troubles exacerbated by the 40 miles it traveled to arrive at Legacy High School with major traffic on the 5, 101 and 405 freeways. The travel was major compared to Carson, which traveled 13 miles.

“The really long bus ride made us tired,” Anaya said. “We tried to take naps but we weren’t on a charter bus, we were on a yellow bus and it was harder to rest.”

Silencing Highlanders hitters

Carson junior Isabella Campos effectively spun her curve ball and kept Granada Hills off balance. While Granada Hills started each inning with its leadoff hitter reaching base, each time Campos successfully silenced the next three hitters for the Highlanders.

Granada Hills’ 2-4 hitters were a combined 0 for 12 in the first four innings before senior first baseman Elysse Diaz broke through with an RBI double to drive in her team’s lone run.

The loss stung for Granada Hills, which was trying to repeat as City champs after taking the title from the Colts last season.

Carson was the opponent Granada Hills wanted to see in the finals again this season.

Relationships built by Anaya

“We were excited, we practiced and we were prepared,” Anaya said. “We were obviously bummed out that we had to play on Friday. We wanted to beat them so bad but it didn’t turn out our way. They played amazing and hats off to them. They did a great job.”

The relationships Anaya and her teammates created will long outlast the sadness from getting outplayed Friday.

“Last year was our foundation and this year we had to build that chemistry and it clicked right away,” Anaya said. “In the four years our chemistry was our best and we connected to the very end. Whenever someone made a mistake, we’d tell them to shake it off, and whenever anyone had success we yelled and cheered. We played our hearts out.”

Legacy of Zoe Justman

Granada Hills senior Zoe Justman put her arms around her teammates as the game ended her high school career and she begins her college softball journey at UC Santa Barbara.

Justman, following in the footsteps of her older sisters Ava, Emily and Sophia, was a team captain this season. Ava and Emily were part of a pitcher-catcher battery that helped Chatsworth capture the 2018 City title while older sister Sophia played outfield and graduated in 2017.

Zoe remembered more about how her sisters acted in losses than in victories.

“They could be upset, they could cry and they definitely taught me about winning and losing and the real goal is to always be learning whether you win or lose,” Justman said. “I feel like every time in a game like this where you lose, there’s something to learn character-wise. A game like this makes us 10 times stronger.”

Justman recalled the oath she gave to herself after assuming the captain’s role before the season started.

“Win or lose, these are my girls and I have to take responsibility,” Justman said. “I made an oath at the beginning of the year that I would take care of them. That’s what I have to do, and I wanted to say something to them alone. I’ll always be there for them. This isn’t over.”