Benicia Little League’s 9/10 all-stars battled their way into today’s District 53 championship round after victories over Tri-Valley and Suisun Two in St. Helena.

Benicia (5-1) dusted off Tri-Valley last Thursday, 12-7, then eliminated Suisun Two, 16-1, in four innings on Friday to set up a rematch with host St. Helena for the championship. St. Helena, which handed Benicia its only loss of the tournament last Wednesday, is unbeaten and must be defeated twice to be denied the District 53 title.

“It’s an awesome feeling and it’s pretty outstanding,” Benicia manager Jay Matteson said of his team’s postseason run. “We just keep rolling on.”

Benicia trailed Tri-Valley 4-1 after one inning but got stellar relief help from pitcher Patrick Fernandez, who allowed only three runs over the next 4 1/3 innings to help his team battle back. Tied 6-6 in the fifth, Benicia batted around and scored six runs to blow the game open. A two-run double in the gap by T.J. Peters highlighted the outburst, and nine-year-old Nathan Salas closed things out by pitching a solid sixth inning.

Benicia needed only three innings to score 16 runs against Suisun Two on Friday. Jacob French and Jake Matteson led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back doubles to tie the game 1-1. Xander Estrada singled home Matteson, Fernandez and Angel Martinez each added singles, and Ryan Malte doubled to make it 6-1. Matteson doubled off the wall in a four-run second inning, and Benicia added six more runs in the third thanks to an Estrada double and singles by Peters and nine-year-old Kelly Harms.

Vaughn Goshert pitched all four innings for Benicia, allowing only three hits with four strikeouts. French and Martinez each scored three times.

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