The Lone Granger : Valencia Pitcher Leads the Arms Race by a Mile, but That Doesn’t Mean She Always Is a Winner

Figure this.

Michelle Granger, Valencia High School’s wunderkind , left the mound Saturday disheartened and dismayed. She left the mound with 21 strikeouts . . . and a 1-0 loss.

A month ago, she had 22 strikeouts, and lost. Earlier this season, she threw a no-hitter, and lost.

Granger has tried to figure it, and has discovered she is out of place in her little world of drops and risers. She hasn’t played on a team both her age level and skill level since she was fifth grader in a recreational league.

These days, she either strikes out most of the batters or Valencia will lose, a burden she wishes on no one. Or, because she is a 16-year-old sophomore, she must constantly prove herself against club teammates 10 years her superior though not always equal her ability.

“Every team she’s played on, if she didn’t get everybody out, she’d lose,” said Micheal Granger, her father.

“Or, they’d (her coaches) put me on the bench,” Michelle said. “I had to prove so much to everybody. It must be because I’m young. They never thought I could do it.”

Do it, she can. She is one of the world’s fastest pitchers, which:

helped the United States sweep the World Softball championships in New Zealand last winter. She threw two no-hitters and earned a save. Though Granger was the tournament’s youngest athlete, she was named to the All-Star team.

led to 207 strikeouts in 130 innings last prep season, and in seven league games, she allowed just six hits, and one unearned run. She had eight no-hitters and 10 one-hitters. She struck out 36 in 14 innings against Western, breaking the Orange League single-game strikeout record.

Granger’s dilemma is simple, if coping with it is not. In high school, she has the pressure of performing miracles. On the club level, she has the pressure of proving miracles.

“I blame it on myself, and that’s what hurts worse,” she said of the losses. “When you start blaming it on yourself, all the weight goes right on your shoulders. That’s hard.”

Valencia is 4-5 this season in spite of its all-world pitcher.

The club-level pressure? A girl competing successfully in a women’s game is the fodder for bruised egos.

And such is the maze of frustration that has intertwined Granger’s career. A sort of damned if you do, damned if you don’t predicament.

“They didn’t let me pitch until the sixth grade because they didn’t think I was good enough,” she said.

Said former Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sarno: “A lot of (people) have a hard time believing what I’m saying, that I’m working with a sophomore in high school who is probably the fastest pitcher in the world.”

When Granger finally got her chance in the sixth grade, she really showed ‘em--she struck out every batter 12 straight games.

She competed on three traveling teams by the time she was 13 before being recruited by the Raiders, an Orange County club considered one of the country’s best. Still, she never got used to playing against older players.

“I’m out there looking at this old lady growling, and my grandmother just popped into my head,” she said of one particular player. “I couldn’t stop laughing, and nobody could understand.”

She continued to amuse herself that season, pitching 10-no hitters, and four one-hitters. She also entertained the fans and garnered much attention.

“You always get these nice old guys that hang around softball fields an they pick a favorite,” Granger said. “And a lot of people, I don’t know why, they pick me. I was cute when I was little, OK? I don’t know. Little pony tails, freckles, pitching against these ladies.”

There was more to it, though.

Said Sarno: “I’ve worked with a lot of pitchers, and she had the basic speed. You don’t really develop that speed. You either have it or you don’t.”

Said Phil Bruder, coach of the Raiders, the 19-and-under national champions which represented the U.S. in world junior competition last year: “I only saw her throw eight pitches. That was enough . . . I said, ‘We’ve got to get this girl. She’s a phenom at 13.”

Granger joined the Raiders, but discovered that throwing fast wasn’t enough. They weren’t about to let a 13-year-old take over without paying her dues.

“If she (another pitcher) had an off day, it was just one of those days,” Granger said. “If I had an off day, it was terrible. So, I couldn’t have any off days.”

Sounds familiar.

But even Granger admits that there’s something to say about experience. At the Junior World championships, Granger was approached in a hotel elevator by some Chinese players who motioned her to join them in their room. Granger enjoyed won tons as she talked to her hostesses through an interpreter. The Chinese pitcher asked how Granger developed that funny rising pitch.

Never trust a smiling face.

“They always smile no matter what,” Granger said. “They always smile. I was getting nervous.

“On a paper bag, I showed her how to throw a riseball, and she had it the next game.”

And the U.S. batters couldn’t hit it. China defeated the U.S. in the final, leaving Granger just one thought as she accepted her silver medal.

“I made the worst mistake of my life,” she said.

She redeemed herself this year at the world championships in the seventh inning in a game against Canada. Granger was called from the bullpen with the bases loaded, no outs and Canada’s number three, four and five hitters scheduled to bat.

Her first reaction?

“Oh, God!” she said. “If I ever needed help, it was now.”

Her second reaction: “So I took a deep breath and threw the ball.”

That’s all there was to it. Two strikeouts and a short fly ball ended the inning and the U.S. held on for a 2-1 victory.

It was a victory of another sort for Granger.

“Finally everybody believed me,” she said. “It was like I was always doing the same thing, but then finally somebody realized, ‘She can do this.’ ”

Hey, she’s been doing it all along.