Benicia’s Senior League all-stars earned an automatic bye through the District 53 championship and open the Section 1 Tournament on Thursday against North Oakland-South Oakland at the Rincon Valley Little League site in Santa Rosa.

Benicia is one of only three teams in the tournament, joining host Rincon Valley and District 4 champion North Oakland-South Oakland.

“It’s kind of a disadvantage that we haven’t played any games yet together, but the advantage is we didn’t have to burn a bunch of pitching to get here,” said Benicia 15/16 manager Keith Lederer. “Some of these teams that had to go through Districts might not have all of their pitchers eligible by the time Sections starts.”

Lederer has 16 players to choose from, many of whom will be playing for Benicia High’s varsity baseball team next spring. Kyle Hanson-Regalado and Anthony Lopez will do the bulk of the starting pitching and are expected to bat in the middle of the lineup.

“They have a lot of experience and they’re two of our harder throwers,” Lederer said. “And they can throw multiple innings.”

Jordan O’Connor and Jake Webb may be called upon to pitch, with Zac Taugher pegged as a closer. Nick Derouaux, Hanson-Regalado, Lopez, Taugher and Webb all played for Benicia’s Senior all-stars last year.

“We’re 16 players deep so we have a good number of pitchers,” Lederer said. “It’s just a matter if we can all get on the same page in a short amount of time. I think we have the talent to get through Sections. I like our chances.”

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