As he and his Bennetts Creek Junior All-Stars teammates march into state competition with his teammates on the

pitcher William Hirsch has a simple strategy for everyone to follow.

&uot;I say win every game we have!&uot; he said, practicing with his team at John Yeates Middle School on Wednesday. &uot;That’s a pretty good strategy, isn’t it?&uot;

If the team plays the way it did during the District 6 tournament, the technique shouldn’t be too difficult. After losing its first game 4-2 to Wilson, Bennetts Creek charged through the remaining games, winning by scores of 15-0, 16-1, 18-1, 10-0, and 10-1 (the final two were against Wilson). They’ll head to Mechanicsville (about 20 minutes north of Richmond) July 19 to take on other Va. teams.

Over the week, the team has tried to pull all of its strengths together. &uot;Our defense is the best thing about this team,&uot; says Hirsch. &uot;If we can keep that up, we can win.&uot;

Mike Nelson and Tim Eure, among others, will be heading up the offense.

&uot;I’m just going to get putting in the this like I always do,&uot; said Nelson. &uot;This team is more confident than it’s ever been. Winning the District 6 title helped us believe that we could take the state.&uot;

Eure hit balls against a fence to develop his swing. &uot;I’ve been practicing my hitting a lot lately, because I haven’t been keeping my head down and swinging down at the ball,&uot; said the Nansemond River High School freshman. &uot;I think that if we play in the state like we did in District 6, we’ll be fine.&uot;