Needing one more victory to reach the District 53 championship round, Benicia Little League’s 9/10 all-stars gave everything they had but ended up falling short, losing 8-7 to Tri-Valley in eight innings Sunday in American Canyon.

Benicia (2-2) came back from deficits in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t come up with the big hit in the eighth and was finally eliminated by Tri-Valley (5-1), which advanced to the championship round against unbeaten Sonoma.

“It was the best baseball game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Benicia manager Sean Finn. “It was amazing. Everybody battled and showed their heart. I’m so drained.”

The game featured several lead changes in the first five innings. Benicia jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Myles Cooper and Jaden Mason stroked back-to-back doubles, but Tri-Valley went ahead 2-1 in the third on back-to-back triples and a ground out.

Benicia regained the lead in the bottom of the third. Peyton Rowles led off with a single and went to third on a single by Cooper. Kabir Sihota made it 4-2 when he crushed a three-run homer to center with two outs.

Tri-Valley answered back with three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 5-4 lead, then used a sacrifice fly to go up by two in the top of the sixth. But Benicia refused to lose.

Sergio Urias opened the bottom of the sixth with a single and Carlos Largaespada followed with a double. Lucas Ayers then tied the game with a two-run triple, putting the winning run on third with no outs. Benicia, however, couldn’t put Tri-Valley away as the next two batters struck out, and a pop out in foul territory got Tri-Valley out of the jam.

Tri-Valley scored in the top of the seventh for a 7-6 lead, only to see Mason lead off the bottom of the inning with a tying solo homer over the scoreboard in left field. Two singles early in the eighth put Tri-Valley back up by a run once again.

Benicia had one final effort as Cooper and David Bloom singled with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but a ground out to third finally ended Benicia’s tournament run.

“We kept coming back and battled the whole way through,” Finn said. “When you go extra innings like that and you lose, you show your true character and our kids kept their heads up and shook the hands of the other team. That’s what I was most proud of. No one got down.

“The other coaches came up to us in the parking lot and said they were really impressed with our kids. We really represented Benicia well. We had a lot of class on the field.”

Cooper went 3-for-5 with two runs while Sihota went 2-for-3 with a run and three RBIs. Mason went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs, Rowles went 2-for-5 with a run, and Urias went 2-for-2 with a run.

Benicia used five different pitchers as the two teams combined for 28 hits.

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