Jun 29, 2008

Foster City's offense looks unstoppable

Benevides leads way with 3 hits, fine performance on hill

By John Mylod / Daily News Correspondent

Foster City banged out 17 hits and got solid pitching from Jordan Benevides to beat Menlo-Atherton 10-3 Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Little League District 52 10-and-11-year-old All-Stars Tournament at Fairway Park in Pacifica.

"There's really not a weak spot in this lineup," Foster City coach Dan Stewart said. "The boys have been working hard, and it shows."

Foster City rallied in the first two innings but left five runners on base and failed to score. Everything changed in the third as Foster City broke open a scoreless game with six runs. Benevides led off with a double to left-center. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Casey Cheng drilled a curveball over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead.

"He has the easiest home run swing I've ever seen," Stewart said. "You can't coach something like that. That's a natural swing."

Foster City was just getting warmed up as seven of the next eight batters reached safely. Greg Yu singled, Brandon Wong walked and Danny Millstein reached on a bunt single to load the bases for Ben Ujihara. Ujihara's single scored two more and the lead was 4-0.

"(Ujihara) is a good contact hitter, and he's not afraid to be aggressive up there," Stewart said.

Foster City scored two more in the inning and was looking for more when it was cut down at third by Jessica Koenig. With one out, Benevides picked up his second hit of the inning - a single that loaded the bases for Cheng. Cheng, who had already homered in the inning, drilled a 1-2 pitch, shoulder high, between third base and shortstop. Koenig lunged to her left to snag the line drive and raced back to third to double up the runner.

On the mound for Foster City, Benevides was cruising. The tall righty had allowed just two baserunners before running into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. JR Hardy and Brandon Fischer both reached on infield singles. After a walk to Koenig, Benevides walked pinch hitter James McLean to plate Menlo-Atherton's first run. Benevides avoided the big inning by inducing a 6-3 double play and striking out the final batter.

Leading 6-2, Foster City got both runs back in the top of the fifth on back-to-back, two-out RBI hits by Cheng and Yu.

Menlo-Atherton tallied its final run on a hit by Hardy, who had two of Menlo-Atherton's four hits.

Foster City picked up its final two runs on a two-out hit by Benevides. Benevides, Cheng and Ujihara all had three hits for Foster City. Adam Hagazy and Yu had two hits each.

In picking up the win, Benevides pitched five innings and reached the Little League tournament limit of 85 pitches. He gave up two earned runs while striking out eight.

"He never wants to get off the field," said Stewart, who coaches Benevides on his Foster City Mariners team. "He was one of my aces on my majors team."

With the opening-round loss, the road to the championship will be more difficult for Menlo-Atherton. It will take seven straight wins in 12 days to take the crown. The long road begins tomorrow at noon at Fairway Park, where Menlo-Atherton will play the loser of between San Mateo American and Pacifica American.

Foster City can take the crown with four straight wins. Its plays Redwood City National (who had a bye in the opening round) today at noon at Fairway Park.