'All good things come to an end': Granite Hills' historic season cut short in quarterfinal

The 2023 season was a historic one for the Granite Hills softball team.

Despite finishing in third place in the Desert Sky League standings, the Cougars racked up three playoff victories in a row to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

The Cougars were knocked out of the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 playoffs by Ganesha, which went on to capture the title, and all it did was make the team even more determined.

“These guys are hungry, they’re tired of being kicked around and talked about as being not as equal as everybody else,” Granite Hills head coach Don Shaub said Thursday afternoon after the season came to an end with a 15-1 loss at home to Ganesha in the quarterfinals of the Division 6 playoffs. “They took it hard and they came out and they were saying, ‘Coach we’re going to win league.’”

Over the last two decades, the Cougars have routinely found themselves near the bottom of the league standings. Last season’s playoff appearance was their first since 2016.

Shaub has seen almost all of it first-hand as he has been with the program on and off since 1999.

After last season’s playoff run, the Cougars’ overall goal was to make it back to the playoffs but Mia Vazquez knew this was the year for the team to make history again by winning the DSL title for the first time.

More: Here's the rundown on each local baseball team competing in the CIF-SS playoffs

Vazquez, a four-year starter and the team’s starting pitcher, had seen the team climb from back-to-back fourth-place finishes her freshman and sophomore years to the quarterfinals her junior year.

If there was going to be any time to win the DSL for the first time in program history, it had to be this year for Vazquez.

“I knew we were capable of doing it but we just came up short a couple seasons. Honestly, I knew we were going to take DSL,” Vazquez said.

Midseason turning point

The road to the league title was not smooth sailing at the beginning. The team began the year 5-4-1, with the final loss being a 7-0 shutout against Serrano.

With league games right around the corner, Shaub knew the team had to learn from that loss to Serrano and change things moving forward.

“I think it was that shutout that kicked it into gear for them,” Shaub said.

Granite Hills won 12 games in a row after that loss and did not get shut out again for the rest of the season. By the time the team won their 12th game in a row, they had already clinched the DSL title by starting with a 10-0 record.

All good things come to an end

With the DSL title in hand, Granite Hills made it back to the playoffs. The team dominated Flintridge Prep 11-1 in the first round and beat Lancaster in an offensive shootout 12-10 to reach the quarterfinals against the No. 1 seed in the division.

Ganesha had been perfect so far this season going into the game with a 19-0 record and a run differential of plus 288.

More: Here's the rundown on each local softball team competing in the CIF-SS playoffs

Ganesha proved those stats right with the 14-run victory Thursday afternoon.

Vazquez, who has pitched over 85% of the team’s total innings this season, pitched all seven against Ganesha. Despite the high score, Shaub never had a thought of pulling Vazquez.

“I wasn’t going to pull her out of what could be her final game,” Shaub said.

After what was Vazquez’s final appearance for Granite Hills, she says that she will remember capturing the DSL title for the first time in school history and the love she had for her teammates and the love they all had for each other.

“All good things come to an end. We still made school history twice in a row,” Vazquez said.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 'All good things come to an end': Granite Hills' historic season cut short in quarterfinal