In a game that needed two extra innings and didn’t end until nearly midnight, Santa Clara overcame multiple Branham comebacks on Tuesday to beat the San Jose school 11-7 in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division IV baseball playoffs at Excite Ballpark.

The victory sends eighth-seeded Santa Clara into the Division IV championship game against second-seeded St. Francis SCP on Friday at Santa Clara University.

Santa Clara led 3-1 after three innings and 7-3 after 4 ½ against an opponent that shares the same Bruins nickname.

But fifth-seeded Branham erased both deficits. The San Jose school tied the score 3-3 with two in the fourth and evened the score again with four in the fifth after Santa Clara had taken what seemed like a comfortable lead.

Branham then escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth and got out of a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the eighth.

But Santa Clara wasn’t going to be denied in the ninth. After a wild pitch put runners at second and third with one out, John Kepner singled to left to drive in Connor Houle to give Santa Clara an 8-7 lead. Drew Diffenderfer followed with a line-drive single to right, knocking in Andrew Traffas to make it 9-7.

After a walk loaded the bases, Greg Salgado singled to center to bring in Kepner for a 10-7 advantage. Dominick Chavarria sacrifice fly drove in Santiago Lopez to complete the scoring.

Branham opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Kepner struck out the next batter and then induced two fly outs to end the game. Kepner pitched the final five innings for his team, allowing one run.

The victory improved Santa Clara’s record to 26-3. Branham finished 14-11.

Division IV

No. 2 St. Francis SCP 1, No. 6 Homestead 0: It took Homestead and St. Francis of Watsonville nine innings to settle this CCS semifinal at Excite Ballpark. The Sharks (15-14) fully manufactured the game’s lone run in the bottom of the ninth. It started with a single to center by Mason Borrego. He then stole second with one out and advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, a ground ball was misplayed at shortstop, and Borrego raced home to score the winning run. Homestead finished 13-16.

Division V

No. 1 Menlo School 7, No. 5 Piedmont Hills 5: Menlo scored in every inning, building a 7-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh. Then, suddenly, Piedmont Hills’ bats woke up in a big way. The Pirates plated five runs in the final inning and had the tying run up with one out after Jake Paskert’s triple brought in Christian Bustamante, Logan O’Connell and Toby Torres.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, that was as close as they would get. Jack Freehill buckled down and struck out Josh Gomez, then got Alex Tran to fly out to center to end the game. Freehill also had three hits and two RBIs for the Knights (20-8), who will face No. 2 Monterey (12-17) in the championship game Thursday at Excite Ballpark. Piedmont Hills finished 19-10.

Division VI

No. 2 South San Francisco 6, No. 6 Fremont-Sunnyvale 3: South City scored in every inning but one to advance to the championship game with a win at Santa Clara University. Emilio Oseguera had three hits and two RBIs for the Warriors. Gabriel Martin, Adam Keith and Josh Ornelas also drove in runs as South City (23-5) moved on to play Stevenson in the Division VI final on Thursday at Excite Ballpark. Fremont finished 22-8.

No. 1 Stevenson 12, No. 4 Sobrato 8: Sobrato’s bid to reach the championship game fell short as Stevenson prevailed behind a big game from Phinn Thomas, who went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and scored three runs. Vince Pomo and Austin Pierson each knocked in two runs for Sobrato. Stevenson improved to 18-8. Sobrato dropped to 20-6.

Softball Division I

No. 2 Gilroy 1, No. 3 Saratoga 0: Lele Yslava spun a one-hitter in the circle for Gilroy (20-7) in a game played at Los Gatos High, striking out 14, to lead the Mustangs into the championship game on Saturday against The King’s Academy. Saira Ramakrishnan wasn’t far behind for Saratoga (20-3), allowing two hits and one earned run in six innings. Averi Peters had the lone RBI for Gilroy, scoring Jennie Hernandez on a ground ball. Earlier in the fourth inning, Hernandez walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third. Sydney Riera put some pressure on Gilroy in the top of the seventh, reaching on an error to lead off the inning and later stealing second with two outs. But Yslava recorded her 14th strikeout to end the game on three pitches.

No. 4 The King’s Academy 3, No. 1 Live Oak 0: In the other semifinal at Los Gatos, Katia Nesper did it all for TKA (19-7). She pitched a complete-game shutout with 18 strikeouts and batted in the winning runs with a two-run triple in the third inning. Ava Thompson drove in the other run for the Knights, scoring Mia Bennette with a single to right in the fifth. Live Oak’s season ends at 24-3.

Division III

No. 7 Aptos 9, No. 6 Sobrato 2: Aptos took control early in this battle of high seeds and didn’t let up. The Mariners (17-7) scored in the top of the first, added three in the second and put the hammer down with five in the fourth. Sobrato (12-11) managed two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late. Jordan Bouton had the RBI hit for the Bulldogs, driving in two.

Division V

No. 4 King City 16, No. 1 Independence 0 (5 innings): Ava Sanchez and Skylar Crowell each had a single for Independence, but that was about all the highlights for the San Jose school as King City rolled to a run-rule victory at Hollister High. King City (17-11) advanced to play Soledad or South San Francisco in the final this weekend. Independence finished 17-5.