SAN JOSE >> It never gets old for Valley Christian.

Not for longtime coach John Diatte. Not for the powerhouse program he built and has maintained. And certainly not for the players, who cherish every minute of the big-game experience.

There they were again Saturday night, in their element on the Central Coast Section’s biggest baseball stage, doing what Valley Christian players have done for decades under Diatte.

The San Jose school captured its 11th CCS championship, blanking red-hot Hollister 5-0 in the Division I final at Excite Ballpark behind more brilliance from senior Michael Castaneda, who pitched 6 1/3 innings and drove in two runs to lead the way.

“It doesn’t get old,” said Diatte, whose team is 11-2 in section championship games. “I had the same nerves, the same anxiety, the same intensity, the same passion to be in the game. It was fun.”

It helps to have polished players and Valley certainly has its share of them, starting with Castaneda, the big-game pitcher who breathes confidence when he’s on the mound.

Every time Hollister threatened, Castaneda made the pitch to keep the zero on the scoreboard.

He retired six in a row to start the game and did not give up a hit until Brayon Chavez singled to center to put runners on first and second with one out in the fourth.

“It’s like a guaranteed win when he’s up on the mound,” said shortstop PJ Moutzouridis, the West Catholic Athletic League’s most valuable player. “He’s been one of our hardest workers in practice. On and off the field, he’s such a great person, man. He’s such a special kid. He deserves so much. He deserves this for sure.”

Valley and Hollister will advance to the NorCal regionals that begin Tuesday and could face each other again. Valley is the top seed in Division I, with Hollister seeded sixth.

CCS Open Division softball: Hollister 4, St. Francis 0 >> Hollister’s victory in the Central Coast Section Open Division final became official on the West Valley College scoreboard at 5 p.m. on Saturday, but the Haybalers won the mental game a few minutes after the 3 p.m. first pitch.

It was only one run in the top of the first inning, but when Hollister’s Grace Peffley drove a grounder into right field and a runner across the plate, the Balers got the emotional edge over St. Francis.

“When they scored the run in the first inning, I could feel the energy drop,” St. Francis pitcher Shannon Keighran said. “As a captain, that’s really hard to see.”

It didn’t hurt that Hollister executed a strategy that turned St. Francis’ fearsome bats into popup machines. Starting pitcher Sophia Mariottini pounded the inside part of the plate and dared the Lancers to pull the ball into gaps, something St. Francis was unable to do.

“They beat us in every facet of the game,” St. Francis coach Mike Oakland said. “They pitched better, they hit better, they ran the bases better and they played better defense.”

St. Francis entered the day an unquestioned CCS dynasty, winners of the last two Open Division titles and three of the previous four. They also beat Hollister 10-2 in the regular season. But none of that mattered on Saturday.

The teams enter NorCal regionals as the top-two seeds in Division I. But in what would have been a surprise to most, it’s the Haybalers as the No. 1 seed and the Lancers at No. 2.

NCS Division III softball: Pinole Valley 6, Encinal 1 >> Pinole Valley looked every bit like the No. 1 seed in the first inning, batting around the order and scoring four runs against Encinal.

Melina Mendoza singled in one run, Aneesa Brewer drove in another, senior Milanya Rosales put one across the plate, and Jennifer Ramirez finished the scoring with a single into right.

For a team that had scored a combined three runs in the past two games, the opening salvo felt like a weight being lifted off the Spartans’ shoulders.

“Those first four runs in the first inning were huge just to get their confidence back,” Tatro said. “They were starting to worry. It’d been tough for a while to score.”

Encinal’s season ends with a 15-11 record. Pinole Valley (28-1) is the No. 4 seed in Division III.

CCS Division IV softball: Live Oak 4, Pacific Grove 0 >> No team has been better in the playoffs than Live Oak’s softball team.

Seeded No. 2 in Division IV, Live Oak beat Menlo-Atherton 16-0 in the quarterfinals and Piedmont Hills 16-1 in the semifinals. Both of those games were halted after three innings due to the 10-run rule.

Then on Saturday, the Acorns held on to defeat Pacific Grove and capture the Central Coast Section championship at San Jose City College.

“They definitely found their stride and felt unstoppable,” Live Oak coach Sarah Porras said. “They got into a groove.”

Senior shortstop Dre DeJesus was the offensive star, hitting a double and a triple in three at-bats, scoring two runs and driving in two. Her two-run double in the third gave Live Oak the lead. Ava Chapman’s double brought DeJesus home and made it 3-0. DeJesus tripled in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chapman.

Freshman Hailey Nguyen went the first six innings, allowing only one hit, walking two and striking out 11. Senior Maya Lamar came on to pitch the seventh and picked up the save, but not without some drama, allowing two hits before getting a strikeout to close it out.

Live Oak is the only team in NorCal who won’t start their regional playoffs on Tuesday. As the top team in NorCal Division V, the Acorns receive a first round bye and will host the semifinals on Thursday.

CCS Division I softball: Notre Dame-Salinas 2, Westmont 0 >> Westmont’s 10 seniors had their hearts set on winning a Central Coast Section championship. But not all dreams come true.

Notre Dame-Salinas, a perennial power in CCS softball, scored two runs after two were out in the bottom of the sixth to break up a scoreless duel, and the Spirits went on to win.

Westmont pitcher Elisa Roy had a perfect game for three innings and still had a one-hitter going to the sixth when Notre Dame’s Briana Padilla singled home Hayley Sanders to break the scoreless deadlock. Padilla used aggressive baserunnig to add a second run in the inning.

Westmont (20-9) went down in order in the seventh and set off the Notre Dame celebration.

CCS Division III baseball: Carmel 4, Branham 2 >> The stakes were higher than usual when Branham and Carmel, as both teams lost in section title games last season.

Carmel’s JJ Sanchez remembered the feeling of falling short against St. Francis-Watsonville in the Division IV final when he stepped into the batter’s box in the sixth inning.

The junior delivered with a two-run single to center to break a scoreless tie, and Carmel went on to defeat top-seeded Branham to win the Division III crown.

In the third meeting between the schools in a CCS final — but the first in 34 years — Carmel prevailed in the rubber match.

Carmel won its ninth CCS title in its 15th trip to a final and clinched a spot in the NorCal regionals. The Padres (18-12) hadn’t won a championship in 16 years, losing title games in 2015, 2016 and 2022.

For Branham, it was a tough ending to a 22-win season. The loss Saturday was the Bruins’ eighth.

CCS Division V softball: North Salinas 8, Notre Dame-Belmont 2 >> Not much went right for Notre Dame-Belmont on Saturday, as North Salinas scored a run in the first, another in the third, and then blew the game open with a five-run fourth.

NDB scored twice in the top of the seventh, on a walk and hit by pitch, and still had the bases loaded with one out. But the next two hitters were retired, ending Notre Dame-Belmont’s season at 14-11.

Darren Sabedra, Joseph Dycus, Steven Luke and Glenn Reeves contributed to this report