While Benicia High’s softball team remained unbeaten in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs with a 5-3 win over Merced last Saturday, the Panther baseball team is on the brink of elimination after a heart-breaking 7-6 loss to Vanden.

The top-seeded Lady Panthers (26-4), trying to become the first Benicia High team in any sport to win back-to-back SJS championships, erased a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs to turn back No. 5 seed Merced (22-7) in a winner’s bracket game at the Sacramento Softball Complex. Allie Bullock went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Shelby Thompson went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI for Benicia. Pitcher McKenna Gregory threw a four-hitter and earned her third win of the postseason.

The Lady Panthers take on No. 2 seed Elk Grove on Monday, with the winner advancing to Wednesday’s championship round.

Benicia’s baseball team had a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday against Solano County Athletic Conference rival Vanden, but the Vikings rallied for four runs to shock the Panthers in the first game of a best-of-three semifinal series at American River College. Vanden, this year’s SCAC champion, has beaten Benicia in all four meetings this season and looks to eliminate the Panthers when the series resumes Monday.

Isiah Saguar scored on a wild pitch to give the Panthers (18-11) a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, and Benicia increased its lead an inning later when Xian Covington-Hunt singled home Alex Osterholt and Taylor Greene singled home Anthony Altman. Vanden (21-7) closed to within a run in the bottom of the third, but Saguar answered back for Benicia with a two-run double to make it 5-2 in the fourth inning. Up 5-3 in the sixth, the Panthers added to their lead when Caleb Van Blake singled in Greene.

But the lead didn’t hold. Vanden’s Jared Vitug led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and Alejandro Lara followed with an RBI single to right. Tyler Reames walked and Petey Torres singled to make it 6-5. A walk loaded the bases and Hadari Whatley stroked a one-out, two-run single to right to end it.

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