Hagen Holmes watches as his ball sails over the outfield fence for a grand slam home run in the third inning against Umpqua Valley on Friday afternoon at Clyde Allen Field. The South Coast All-Stars won 11-1 in the first game of the Southern Oregon State Babe Ruth Tournament. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

NORTH BEND — Last summer, the South Coast All-Stars came up just short of a bid to the Babe Ruth regional tournament.

That’s one of the primary motivations at this weekend’s Southern Oregon State Tournament for the team, which returned most of its players this year.

South Coast started what it hopes will be a run to the state tournament title and a berth in the regional tournament in Idaho with an 11-1 win in five innings over Umpqua Valley on Friday at Clyde Allen Field.

Mike Bennett had a stellar outing on the mound and Hagen Holmes hit a grand slam to give South Coast a big lead on the way to the victory in the tourney’s opening game.

The host team now faces Josephine County at 11 a.m. this morning, with the winner advancing to the championship round of the tournament on Sunday.

Josephine County pounded Klamath Falls 25-0 in Friday’s late game.

Umpqua Valley and Klamath Falls meet in a loser-out game at 2 p.m. The winner of that contest advances to another elimination game at 5 p.m. against the loser of today’s first game.

South Coast made sure it wouldn’t be part of the loser’s bracket with its big win Friday.

“It’s really important,” said Bennett, who just completed his freshman year at Bandon High School. “It gets us in the upper bracket.”

To reach the regional tournament, Umpqua Valley must win four straight games.

Bennett did his part in South Coast’s win Friday by allowing just three hits while pitching all five innings. He struck out 10 hitters and made just one mistake — a fifth-inning triple by Dakota Fletcher that led to Umpqua Valley’s run and was the only ball hit out of the infield against Bennett. Fletcher later scored on a wild pitch.

“He threw good,” said Holmes, the South Coast catcher. “He’s hitting his spots.”

Bennett walked just one batter while throwing 56 of his 83 pitches for strikes. Two Umpqua Valley hitters had infield singles and another reached on South Coast’s lone error.

Still, South Coast led just 1-0 before its big third inning.

“We started a little slow — nerves, I think,” said South Coast manager Dan Raybould. “Then the kids settled down, looking for a good pitch. I knew it was just a matter of time.”

Nic Canaday started the big inning with a one-out single that got caught in the wind and fell between two defenders in shallow left field for South Coast’s first hit of the game. Both Tim Raybould and Tito Rangel reached base on dropped fly balls in the outfield to load the bases.

Holmes then crushed a 2-1 fastball from Umpqua Valley’s Josh Kennedy, driving the ball over the left-field fence for a grand slam.

“It was my pitch,” Holmes said. “It was there. I stuck the bat out there and took a shot at it.”

Holmes had scored South Coast’s first run an inning earlier when he reached on an error, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Love, took third on another error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bennett.

South Coast added two more runs in the fourth. Jimmy Mack walked with two outs and stole second, advancing to third when the catcher’s throw soared into the outfield. After Canaday walked, Mack scored on a wild pitch. Raybould then drove Canaday home with a line-drive single to left.

South Coast ended the game with four more runs in the fifth.

Holmes led off the inning by lining a double off the left-field wall. Ryan Johnson was then hit by a pitch from Umpqua Valley’s Zach Welch. Tyler Davidson then hit a fielder’s choice to first and Johnson beat the throw to second to load the bases. Hank Silva then hit a three-run double to right field. Silva scored the winning run on an infield single to shortstop by Mack.

“We hit the ball pretty good,” said Bennett.

South Coast got all six of its hits in the final three innings.

Now the team hopes to finish what it started.

“We’ve been wanting it for three years,” Holmes said. “We want it bad.”

Bennett likes the team’s chances.

“We’re deeper in the pitching staff,” he said, adding that the experience on the team filled mostly with boys who played in the state tournament last year and a season of high school ball this spring helps.

But the team also knows winning the state title won’t be easy.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Dan Raybould said, mentioning the talent on the other three teams, including Josephine County, which denied South Coast a trip to the regional tournament last summer.

“We’ve prepared hard,” Raybould said. “This has been a goal of theirs for a long, long time.”

“It would be a dream come true,” Bennett said.

In Friday’s late game, Jordan Brown scored five runs for Josephine County. Brown had two doubles and a single and also walked twice.

Tyler Spencer also had two doubles and a triple among four hits and scored four times. Garrett Banks, John Guzman and Anthony Cantiello also had doubles and Cantiello scored three runs.

Christian Reyes and Spencer combined for eight strikeouts while keeping Klamath Falls from getting any hits. Klamath Falls had two batters reach base on walks and another on an error.

South Coast 11, Umpqua Valley 1

Umpqua Valley    000    01    —    1    3    5

South Coast    014    24    —    11    6    1

Josh Kennedy, Zach Welch (5) and Tanner Toy; Mike Bennett and Hagen Holmes. 2B—SC: Holmes, Hank Silva. 3B—UV: Dakota Fletcher. HR—SC: Holmes.