Benicia High Softball Eliminated from CIF after Winning League

The Benicia High School Panther softball team made a strong run in the Sac-Joaquin Division III tournament but came up a run short in their last game of the season-a season that had its fair share of one run wins, saw the Panthers go on an 18-game win streak and take the Solano County Athletic Conference crown while playing for a new coach.

The Panthers first playoff loss came in the winners bracket final against the eventual D-III champion Bear River Bruins.  The Vallejo Times-Herald reports that the game remained close through the first four innings before Bear River was able to capitalize on some Panther errors and timely hitting to take a 4-1 lead.

The game wasn’t without some controversy as coaches from both teams had discussions with the umpire crew.

“In big games you want to make sure that you’re getting a fair shot,” said Benicia coach Kristin Grubbs.  “They’re (the umpire crew) supposed to be here to facilitate the game.  I think both myself and the Bear River coach felt that there were things that should have been called that weren’t, but that’s the name of the game.”

In their second playoff loss the Panthers weren’t able to overcome an early 2 run rally by Whitney High and eventually lost the game 2-1.  The Panthers beat Whitney earlier in the tournament 1-0.

In that game the Panther’s starting pitcher Kira Knight got into trouble early and was replaced by Danielle Kranz.  Knight had pitched the complete game the day before against Bear River however Coach Grubbs had no worries sending her in to start Tuesday’s game.  “Knight has been our pitcher to go to all season long,” said Grubbs.  “They (Whitney) had seen Kranz for eight innings in Saturday’s game.”

“Whitney played phenomenally,” said Grubbs.  “I don’t want to take anything away from them.  They played a great game.”

Grubbs had nothing but praise for the Panther team noting that it’s hard for a team to come together and take league under a new coach.  “We had a phenomenal season regardless of us not making it to the sectional title game,” said Grubbs.  “We won 18 games in a row.  I don’t want it to be lost on anyone that we had a great season.”

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If there’s something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor JB Davis at 707-628-0051 or email him at benicia@patch.com.