This time, there was no need for a comeback.

Having traveled nearly 250 miles for this CIF Northern California Division IV baseball semifinal, third-seeded Santa Clara took command with three runs in the first and senior pitcher Drew Diffenderfer did the rest.

Two days after overcoming a five-run deficit to edge Oakland Tech in walk-off fashion, Santa Clara rolled past second-seeded West Valley of Cottonwood 6-0 to advance to the final today at home against fifth-seeded Menlo School.

Diffenderfer needed 81 pitches to finish a complete-game gem. He struck out five, allowed five hits and walked none.

Jaxton Chao had three hits, drove in two runs and scored once and Connor Houle had two hits, including a double, knocked in a run and scored twice for Santa Clara (29-3).

Dominick Chavarria also had two hits for the Bruins, who will take their storybook season to the final day.

One week after capturing its first Central Coast Section baseball championship, Santa Clara will play for its first NorCal title.

Chao opened the semifinal with a single to left, stole second and scored when Houle singled to center. Houle later scored on a passed ball, and John Kepner made it 3-0 when he crossed the plate on Greg Salgado’s sacrifice fly to center.

Kepner’s double in the fourth brought in Houle to widen the advantage to 4-0. Chao’s single to center in the seventh knocked in Kalani Tesimale and Salgado to complete the scoring.

No. 5 Menlo School 15, No. 1 Woodland Christian 11 (8 innings): It took two days, two trips to the Sacramento area and eight innings to complete, but Menlo School achieved its mission.

After their semifinal game at Woodland Christian was delayed because darkness on Thursday night — with Menlo leading 15-11, no outs and two strikes on the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the eighth — the Knights traveled back to the Sacramento area on Friday morning.

They got the three outs they needed but only after Woodland Christian — which had overcome a 10-5 deficit to tie the score 11-11 — loaded the bases.

Chuck Wynn had two hits, two walks and knocked in three runs and Jack Freehill, Liam Widner and Renner Barnett each drove in two runs to lead Menlo (23-8).

Barnett drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth with the sacrifice fly. Wynn’s single knocked in Fletcher Cahill. An error on the play also brought in Nikhil Pathak. Another error made it 15-11.

In the bottom of the eighth, a hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases with two outs. Freehill ended it with a strikeout.

Division II

No. 2 St. Francis 2, No. 6 Acalanes 0: Senior right-hander Landon Kim was bringing it for St. Francis. Only problem for the Lancers, so was Acalanes sophomore Austin McManamon. Kim had a no-hitter for 5 2/3 innings before Ando Butner broke it up with a clean single to right.

Still, neither team had scored.

St. Francis finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, using the legs of freshman shortstop Landon King to manufacture a run, and went on to win to advance to the final.

King led off with an infield single. He stole second and then, not satisfied to merely be in scoring position, took off for third. The throw got past the Acalanes third baseman and into left field. King got up and made his way home for the first run of the game.

“I knew I could get it if I got a good jump,” King said.

The Lancers added a second run that inning when Jack Leeper walked, stole second and scored on Tanner Wall’s single.

Kim, suddenly gifted with a lead, went back out in the top of the seventh and retired the first two batters he faced before Jimmy Cusumano singled and Drew Asadorian walked. But Kim, not to be denied, got a strikeout to end it, a St. Francis victory in the semifinals.

St. Francis (22-10) will play at Yuba City today for the title. Wagle said Ian McMahon would start that game.

McManamon finished with a seven-hitter for Acalanes, walking one and striking out three.

“Mixing it up, hitting almost every spot, throwing three pitches for a strike,” Acalanes coach Andrew Merken said. ”That was probably the biggest game he ever pitched in and he stepped up and really kept us in the game.”

— Glenn Reeves

SOFTBALL Division I

No. 2 Del Oro 6, No. 3 St. Francis 5: The magic ran out for St. Francis in this epic NorCal Division I semifinal in Loomis.

But just barely.

As they did when they rallied with two outs for a walk-off win over Rocklin on Tuesday, the Lancers were on the brink of another dramatic comeback, this time in the top of the seventh against No. 1 seed Del Oro.

The Mountain View school loaded the bases with one out and had the strength of its order coming up. Jaime Oakland, the team’s top hitter, grounded into a fielder’s choice to cut the margin to 6-5.

Oakland then stole second, putting runners at second and third for Peyton Tsao, who had a team-leading 20 extra-base hits this spring, including seven home runs.

But Del Oro got the sophomore to pop out in the infield, ending St. Francis’ season one game shy of reaching the regional final.

Instead, Del Oro will play host to second-seeded Oak Ridge on today for the championship.

St. Francis gave a valiant effort.

The Lancers (28-4) scored two in the first. Del Oro responded with three in its half of the first. St. Francis scored one in the third and another run in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.

Division II

No. 2 Salinas 1, No. 6 The King’s Academy 0 (8 innings): Katia Nesper, TKA’s dazzling junior left-hander, was at her best again in the NorCal semifinals. But as good as she was, it wasn’t quite enough.

Gigi Rossi doubled to center with one out in the bottom of the eighth, driving home Isabella Hernandez with the only run of the game and sending Salinas to the CIF NorCal Division II final today at 2 p.m. against No. 4 seed Liberty. Salinas will host.

Hernandez opened the eighth with an infield single and stole second. One strikeout and one hit batter later, Rossi hit the double that sent everyone home.

Nesper has been brilliant all season. She has a 16-2 record for the Knights (22-8). Her only other defeat came against Willow Glen in April. She has a 0.33 ERA and 249 strikeouts in 126 1/3 innings. At the plate, she hit .306.

No. 4 Liberty 17, No. 1 Vanden 10: Liberty unleashed a 20-hit attack against top-seeded Vanden.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, Liberty (25-4) scored eight runs in the second and three in the third to go on top 11-2. The Vikings (22-5) never got closer than five runs after that.

The Lions did damage up and down their lineup. Taylor Jennings had three hits, scored four runs and smacked her 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the seventh. Madison Tuttle drove in three runs, had three hits and scored twice. Kaitlyn Macias had a two-run triple, two hits and two runs scored. Kelsie Skaggs had a double and three RBIs. Jewel Cooper had four hits and Savannah Page added three.

Division IV

No. 1 East Nicolaus 1, No. 4 Northgate 0: The defeats don’t get much tougher than the one pitcher Ashley Herman and her Northgate teammates suffered in the CIF NorCal semifinals on Thursday.

Herman, a junior right-hander, took a one-hitter into the bottom of the sixth inning of a scoreless game. She allowed a leadoff triple to Lilly Smith, then Stevie Knight followed with a sacrifice fly for the only run of the game.

Herman was outstanding for the most part. She walked no one and struck out eight. She has an ERA well below 2.00, and is 9-3 for the season.

In addition to her sacrifice fly, Knight, who will continue playing softball at Abilene Christian University in Texas, was the winning pitcher. She yielded five hits, walked two and struck out seven.

Division V

Biggs 11, Miramonte 6: A near-storybook season ended for the Matadors when they squandered a 4-0 lead by yielding back-to-back five-run rallies in the fifth and sixth innings.

Miramonte led 4-0 in the top of the third. Abby Warren singled home the first two runs, then Lucy Daoust doubled for two more. The Matadors were still ahead 4-1 when Biggs, a school of 177 students located between Sacramento and Redding, erupted for the two five-run innings.