Penn Valley Majors grab Area II crown

Penn Valley’s Little League major division All-Star team put an exclamation point on its romp through District 11 Area II tournament competition Wednesday night.

Leaving no doubt about its Area II supremacy, Penn Valley received another exceptional all-around team effort and in the process posted a 6-1 win over Grass Valley at Pioneer Park in Nevada City to wrap up the area championship.

The win – PVLL’s fourth straight in post season play - gives the PVLL 11-12-year-olds the Area II major division title and will move the team into the District 11 championship series which will begin Saturday night at Tri-City Little League Park in Rocklin.

Penn Valley’s opponent for the title series is yet to be determined. That’s because Auburn handed previously undefeated Rocklin an 11-2 spanking Wednesday night to force the “if necessary” game tonight for the Area I crown.

Game Two of the title series – if it’s needed – will be played on Monday at 7 p.m. in Nevada City.

A third game – if it’s also needed – would shift back to Tri-City on Tuesday for the title also at 7 p.m.

Whichever team wins the District 11 crown won’t have to travel far because the Sectional tournament,  which will begin on Thursday, July 19, is also scheduled at Tri-City Park in Rocklin.

In Wednesday’s game, manager Rich Benevento’s team spotted Grass Valley a 1-0 lead but then roared back with a six-tally outburst to basically seal the win.

“The kids really played a great game tonight,” said Benevento. “We wanted to come in focused and our defense was outstanding once again.”

Penn Valley’s big third inning started when Mac Lujan ripped a double and Joe Benevento followed with a bunt single to put runners at first and third.

Both Lujan and Joe Benevento came around to score on passed balls to give PVLL a 2-1 advantage.

Dusty Zeisler then followed with a big triple for a RBI and he came around to score on an error.

The big inning then continued with Jared Cook’s single preceding a triple by Kyle Cota and an ensuing RBI Travis Hansen two-bagger.