It was a bleak Wednesday for Benicia Little League’s three youngest all-star teams as two squads were shut out and eliminated and another suffered its first loss in controversial fashion during District 53 Tournament action.

Benicia’s 11/12s fizzled out with a 9-0 loss to Napa National in Fairfield and finished 2-2 overall. Alex Dehzad hit his ninth home run in four games for Napa National and teammates Nick Shuttish and Ethan Hemmerlin also homered. Hunter Griswold’s single with one out in the sixth inning was Benicia’s only hit of the night.

“We got two wins and I was proud of the boys,” said Benicia manager Mike Meitz of his Majors all-stars. “They all played good and hung in there. We played as well as we could but the better team won.”

Benicia’s 10/11 all-stars also fizzled out, managing only two hits in a 5-0 loss to Sonoma in an elimination game at Community Park. Benicia (2-2), which came in averaging 10 runs per game, couldn’t figure out Sonoma pitcher Anders Mathison, who threw 65 pitches in 5 1/3 innings before turning things over to Jayden Fillipi to wrap up the shutout.

“We did the best we could do and hats off to the Sonoma team,” said Benicia manager Robbie Saitz. “Good pitching beats good hitting and their guy did a fantastic job.”

Devin Mason and Dominic Naratil accounted for Benicia’s only two hits, both singles. Sonoma broke open a close game with three runs in the bottom of the third thanks to a RBI double by Gavin Rognlien and singles by Dom Girish and Robby Sangiacomo.

“We played some good baseball and hopefully we take this and get better,” Saitz said.

Benicia’s 9/10 all-stars were a win away from reaching the championship round but lost an 8-7 heartbreaker to host St. Helena in a battle of previously unbeaten teams.

Benicia fell behind 7-0 in the fourth inning but got right back in it when they batted around for six runs, capitalizing on a single, two hit batters, a RBI walk, an error, two failed fielder’s choices and a two-run double by T.J. Peters. Logan Lee’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth scored Vaughn Goshert to tie things at 7-7.

St. Helena regained the lead in the stop of the sixth. Charlie Carpy and Charlie Knight opened the inning with back-to-back singles and, after an out, Brent Isdahl singled to load the bases. Miles Harvey followed with a go-ahead RBI single.

But Benicia battled back again in the bottom of the sixth. Xander Estrada singled to start the inning and Angel Martinez was hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second with no one out. Estrada appeared to steal third base but was called out on a bang-bang play, and the umpires wouldn’t overturn the call despite a loud protest by Benicia. A walk put runners at first and second with one out, but a strikeout and ground out ended the game.

“I thought we were in a good position and then we got a bad call,” said Benicia manager Jay Matteson. “It was a frustrating way to lose.”

Benicia’s youngest all-star squad (3-1) had to take on Tri-Valley in a loser’s bracket game Thursday and must now win four straight to capture the District 53 championship banner.

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