Penn Valley impressive in All-Star opener

It was an auspicious debut to say the least for Penn Valley Thursday night in the opening round of the District 11 Area II major division All-Star tournament that got underway at Pioneer Park in Nevada City.

With starting pitcher Dusty Zeisler throwing bullets on the mound and his teammates providing the long ball with a pair of first inning home runs, the Penn Valley squad made it look easy in an 11-1 five inning drubbing of Bear River.

The win for Penn Valley moves the Rich Benevento-managed team into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. winner’s bracket contest against host Nevada City.

Bear River, meanwhile, drops into the loser’s bracket and won’t play again until Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

“I thought the kids did a very good job tonight,” said Benevento. “Dusty was strong on the mound and the bats were able to get going early.”

The Penn Valley manager was referring to the early onslaught that his team threw at Bear River when they tallied eight runs in their first two at-bats.

After Zeisler fanned the side in the top of the first, PVLL struck for two runs when leadoff hitter Joe Benevento opened the home half of the inning with a single and ended up at second on an error on the play.

That brought up Roland Pussich for PVLL in the No. 2 spot in the batting order and the hard hitting righty lifted a 3-1 offering just out of the outstretched hand of Bear River centerfielder Josh Toft for a two-run HR and an early 2-0 advantage.

After Zeisler grounded out, Jared Cook extended the lead to 3-0 when he followed with a mammoth home run into the pine trees deep beyond the barrier in leftfield.

Zeisler set the Bear River lineup down 1-2-3 in the second with two more whiffs before PVLL busted the game wide open with five runs in the bottom half of the inning.

In the big second, Ignacio Recendez led off the inning with a walk before Joe Benevento was safe on a fielder’s choice.

With one out, Pussich delivered a two-run single into centerfield that plated Recendez and Benevento.

Bear River then brought its infield in to try and stop the bleeding but Zeisler roped another single that chased home two more tallied. Tanner Vallejo then scored on a passed ball for the last run of the frame.

Bear River scored its lone run of the game in the fourth when Toft doubled, the first hit of the game for BRLL, and then eventually came around after a pair of passed balls.

In the fifth inning, Kyle Cota’s two-run single and another one-bagger by Travis Hansen brought the tournament’s 10-run mercy rule into effect.

Zeisler allowed just one hit in his 76-pitch five-inning effort, which included 13 strikeouts and one walk. Other than Toft’s double, Bear River did not hit a ball to the outfield on the Penn Valley ace.

Both Benevento and Pussich were 2x3 in the win.

In the second game Thursday, Sierra Foothills used four different pitchers and a balanced top to bottom hitting attack to subdue Newcastle, 12-2

SFLL pitchers Matt Paskey, David Campbell, Sam Guzman and Devon Loomis combined to limit Newcastle to just four scattered hits.