Benicia Little League’s 11/12 Majors all-stars had their backs against the wall in the District 53 Tournament in Fairfield were still alive and kicking through Tuesday.

Benicia opened the tournament last Thursday with a convincing 12-2 victory over Suisun in five innings. Connor Maio pitched a complete game, allowing only three hits and one earned run while striking out nine. Teammate Justin Palacios clubbed a two-run homer to highlight the offense.

But Benicia ended up dropping into the loser’s bracket after losing 16-4 to Sonoma on the Fourth of July. Hunter Griswold gave Benicia an early 3-0 lead with a three-run homer, but Somoma quickly responded with four runs in the bottom of the first and went on to hit three three-run homers in a dominating performance.

“It was ugly,” said Benicia manager Mike Meitz.

Benicia bounced right back with a convincing 14-4 victory over Middletown on Monday. Griswold, Santana Urias and Andrew Foley combined on the pitching duties and all three threw less than 35 pitches to remain eligible for the next game. It helped that Benicia had a commanding 8-0 lead early.

“We had to be real careful with our pitch counts and it was fortunate that we took a commanding lead early,” Meitz said. “That was an all-around team win. Everybody contributed at the plate.”

Benicia took on Napa National in a loser’s bracket game on Wednesday night, with the winner advancing to face Fairfield Pacific and the loser getting eliminated.

Sharing is caring!