LOS GATOS >> Right when Watsonville High’s youth-laden softball team built some momentum Wednesday, the team’s Central Coast Section playoff game abruptly ended.

The No. 2 seed Wildcatz rallied for their first run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but ran out of steam — and outs — in their 2-1 loss to the No. 3 Woodside Wildcats in the Division IV semifinals at Los Gatos High.

The result wasn’t what the Wildcatz wanted, but the effort was.

” ‘Stay calm and be aggressive,’ ” said Wildcatz coach Patrick Rodriguez, on what told his players after the defeat. ” ‘Even after a great season, as long you come in and give it 150 percent, and you leave knowing you have nothing to regret, we’re good.’ I felt like they did. We can build off of that.”

Woodside (15-11 overall) advances to its second section title game in school history and first since 2021, when it suffered an 8-5 loss to Gilroy in the D-III final. The Wildcats face No. 8 Palma (10-14-1) for the championship at San Jose City College on Saturday at 10 a.m.

“This is a gritty team,” Wildcats coach Alexa Daines said. “And we’re a young team. We graduated six seniors last year, the biggest class we’ve ever had. But this is a young, hungry team that’s really trying to rewrite some of our previous years’ history. And they battled. It was a true team effort. Our defense really showed up for Hannah (Walker, the winning pitcher).”

The Chieftains, the fifth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, have posted a pair of 3-2 wins in the playoffs, eliminating No. 1 Notre Dame of San Jose in the quarterfinals and No. 5 Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco in the semifinals.

The Wildcatz, the sixth-place finisher in the Gabilan Division, see their season end at 14-14.

The Wildcats, who tied for fourth place in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division, have held opponents to a run in both of their playoff games. Woodside ousted No. 6 San Lorenzo Valley 7-1 in the quarterfinals.

The Wildcats scored twice in the top of the first inning against Watsonville — Ava Baker smacked a two-out double to right center field to drive in Carolina Ong and Vanessa Carlos — and never relinquished their lead.

“Right off the bat I definitely thought it was over (the fence),” Baker said. “It hit nice barrel, very nice. And when I got to first base I thought their center fielder and right fielder, either one of them was going to catch it. I was like, ‘Oh, dang it. That’s so close.’ And it dropped. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ It was very exciting. A very exciting game, too.”

Watsonville junior Mia Espinoza drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the first and freshman Isabella Ruiz followed with a single, but both runners were stranded on base after Walker induced an inning ending groundout to second base.

Walker retired 16 batters in a row, a streak that begin with the final out of the first and ended in seventh. She gave up four hits, one walk, and one earned run in her complete-game win. She struck out four batters.

“She worked so hard in the offseason, in the summer and fall,” Daines said. “It’s just a full team effort. She wanted this start and she has really earned that moment. She has done an incredible job and the defense has really picked up behind her.”

Junior pitcher Amelia Martinez shook off the inauspicious start in the first inning. Woodside had someone reach base in each of the first five innings, but Martinez and the Wildcatz kept their opponent from adding to their lead.

Martinez retired the final eight batters she faced in succession. She gave up six hits, two walks, and two earned runs in her complete-game outing. She struck out eight batters.

The Wildcatz never stopped giving it their all, and they finally broke through in the seventh.

“I feel like we all just came together,” Martinez said. “We didn’t want the season to end to end in a shutout, especially with one of our main captains (Jillian Lerma) being a senior. We really wanted to give a fight and give her a ring.”

In Watsonville’s final at-bat, Espinoza opened with her second single of the game. Ruiz and Martinez both hit fly outs, but they did so on two of the Wildcatz’s hardest hit balls, which helped fire up their dugout.

Left fielder Marisa Calderon robbed Ruiz of extra bases on her over full-extension grab while racing toward the foul line, and Carlos, playing right field, made a charging catch to retire Martinez.

Sophomore Esperanza Sigala followed with a two-out single to left, which advanced Espinoza to second base, and pinch hitter Ashley Jimenez followed with an RBI single to left field on an 0-2 pitch to drive in Espinoza.

The Wildcatz barely finished celebrating their new-found offense when Woodside first baseman Elizabeth Severin snared a line drive from pinch hitter Calina Casillas in foul territory to end the game.

Casillas was retired on the first pitch she saw, a trend for the aggressive Wildcatz. Watsonville hitters saw three pitches of less in 20 of their 26 total plate appearances.

While a few Wildcatz let their emotions flow in their post-game meeting, they exited feeling proud about their season and optimistic about the future. The team graduates just one senior starter, Lerma, a shortstop.

“I thought we had a really good season,” Martinez said. “We fought hard, being in, some people would say, the toughest division. We had a young team. We had one starting senior, and three starting freshmen, and two sophomores. We fought hard, I’d say.”