Benicia High’s softball team reached the Sac-Joaquin Section championship round for a third straight season after squeaking past Vista del Lago, 2-1, in Wednesday’s semifinal elimination game at the Sacramento Softball Complex.

The No. 5 seeded Lady Panthers (22-6), who already have one loss in the double-elimination portion of the Division III bracket, needed to beat No. 3 seed Ceres (22-4) twice on Thursday to capture the championship banner. Ceres beat Benicia, 1-0, in 10 innings on Tuesday.

“Why not us?” said Benicia manager Kristin Grubbs. “We’ve gotten this far. We just have to keep playing our game. No matter what they throw at us, we just have to come out and play.”

It was No. 7 seed Vista del Lago (24-6) which drew first blood in Wednesday’s elimination game. Lady Eagles leadoff hitter Cherise Silvan opened the game with a base hit, went to third after a couple of ground balls and scored on a two-out single to left by Morgan Hawkins.

But Benicia answered right back in the bottom of the first. Annika Johnson stroked a one-out single, went to second on a base hit by Chelsea Mari and scored on a double down the right-field line by Shelby Thompson to tie the score.

“That was huge,” Grubbs said. “It brought the game back to an even playing field again. This team doesn’t stress out too much. They’ve been here before and have played high-caliber softball for most of their lives.”

The Lady Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Thompson roped a two-out double, went to third on a base hit by McKenna Gregory and scored on a passed ball. Gregory took it from there, not allowing a run over the final six innings and striking out 10 in a complete-game effort.

“She’s been a workhorse on the mound,” Grubbs said of Gregory, who has pitched all 37 1/3 innings for Benicia in the postseason, thrown a no-hitter and struck out 43.

“She wants that ball and wants to give everything she has.”

Thompson went 3-for-3 on the day while fellow senior Allie Bullock went 2-for-2.

Former Lady Panther second baseman Katie Vretzos played for Vista del Lago and went 0-for-4. Vista del Lago eliminated No. 1 seed East Union and No. 2 seed Oakdale before getting eliminated by Benicia.

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