SAN JOSE >> Soquel High’s baseball team, enjoying one of the finest seasons in Santa Cruz County history, gave powerhouse Valley Christian all it could handle in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs Saturday.

The No. 7 seed Knights shined on defense and rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a short-lived lead, but the No. 2 Warriors, an 11-time section champion, tallied two runs in the bottom half of the inning and held on for an exciting 3-2 win.

Soquel (25-2 overall), champion of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League for the first time since 2015, suffered just two losses all season, both by one run.

The Knights held their heads high in defeat, but they were mad, too. Mad they didn’t get a better seed after accumulating more power points than any team in the section and then opening the playoffs on the road against a juggernaut. Mad they didn’t get a strikeout call in the bottom of the fifth, that opened the door for the Warriors to retake the lead. This was a winnable game, several Knights said.

“They’re a beatable team,” said Trey Souza, a junior outfielder for the Knights. “We should be in this game. We came in with the right mindset and everything. One call the other way … it’s just a game of what-ifs.”

“We should’ve pulled it off, but it’s baseball, it doesn’t go your way sometimes,” said Jake Escalante, a junior left-handed pitcher and outfielder for the Knights.

They’ll now turn their focus to next season. The Knights graduate five seniors — Gabe Virgallito, Noah Piona, Enzo Goff, Nativo Gonzalez, and Oscar Gutierrez — but return 12 players, including six starters.“I hope we play these people (the Warriors) again and I hope we get our revenge,” Escalante said. “Next year everybody’s going to notice who we are. We’ve obviously lost a big part of our team, our seniors, but we’re coming back hot. We’re not going to let down on nobody.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors (24-6-1) , the runner-up to Junipero Serra in the prestigious West Catholic Athletic League, turn their focus to next week. They’ll face No. 3 Los Gatos (24-4) in the semifinals at Excite Ballpark on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

The Wildcats shut out No. 6 Bellarmine 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

No. 5 Saint Francis (20-9) of Mountain View and No. 1 Serra (24-6) square off in the other semifinal at Excite Ballpark on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Said Knights head coach TJ Moran: “I know we can hang our hat on we deserved to be here. We should’ve pulled this thing off, but … “

Scotts Valley resident Brock Ketelson, a senior left-hander who is committed to Stanford University, was tagged for two runs over 4 2/3 inning. Senior teammate Rohan Kasanagottu, a Fremont resident who is committed to USC, replaced Ketelson and after beaning the first batter he faced, retired the final seven batters in order, four via strikeout, to pick up the win.

Ketelson knows several of the Knights and he wasn’t taking them lightly.

“They can hit,” said Ketelson, noting he didn’t have his best stuff. “They’re just a great team, in general. They have good chemistry and they’re a great group of ballplayers. I knew that coming in; I knew I had to be my best. I went out there and fought the best I could and got what I needed for the team, and Rohan, luckily, he was great behind me and just sealed the deal for us. That was huge.”

Said Escalante of Kasanagottu: “He was amazing. His tunneling with his splitter and his fastball was honestly spectacular. I’ve never seen something like that.”

Ketelson singled and scored in the first inning on Jordan Ortiz’s sacrifice fly.

The Warriors threatened to score again in the fourth inning, but the Knights escaped a bases-loaded jam with a inning ending double play on a ground ball to third base.

The Knights were joyous as they returned to their dugout and carried the momentum into their next at-bat. Their first three hitters — Souza, Escalante, and Cash Moran — reached base in the fifth. Souza scored on Hudson Summerrill’s one-out single, and Escalante scored on Piona’s groundout. Sam Whelan was hit on the helmet by a pitch to reload the bases, but Kasanagottu escaped the jam with a strikeout.

Dylan Hull, Soquel’s second pitcher, induced a groundout to open the bottom of the fifth. The Knights, staffing the game to keep giving the Warriors new looks, brought in Luke Shoemaker.

Ketelson drew a walk on a pitch the Knights believed was a third strike, and Shoemaker beaned the next hitter he faced, Christian Navarez. Both runners ended up scoring. Ketelson scored on a single from Stanford-bound senior Quinten Marsh and Navarez scored the decisive run on Ortiz’s sacrifice bunt.

Longtime Warriors coach John Diatte said his team a had a productive huddle after the Knights took the lead and his team responded.

“It was more of an attitude change,” Diatte said. “They just made a change with themselves: ‘This is something we want to do.’ … There’s lots of things you can do and sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. But an attitude change always works. And that was the thing that was most successful for us.”

Valley Christian already has eight players committed to NCAA Division I baseball programs. The Knights, with zero D-I commits, held their own.

“We’re going to have some Division I kids on this team, no doubt about it,” Escalante said. “We’re all so talented. We all match up against this team.”

Harbor 7, Santa Teresa 6

SANTA CRUZ — Cole McCombs clinched the Pirates’ walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th inning when he scored on a wild pitch in the teams’ CCS D-V quarterfinal thriller on Saturday.

The No. 3 Pirates (16-12), the fourth-place finisher in the SCCAL, faces No. 2 Monterey (10-17) in the semifinals at Sollecito Park in Monterey on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Toreadores, the fifth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, beat No. 7 Lincoln of San Jose 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

The Saints (10-16), the sixth-place finished in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mount Hamilton Division, scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Pirates knotted the score in the bottom half of the inning to force extra innings.

Santa Teresa scored twice in the ninth, and the Pirates responded again to tie the score. An inning later, McCombs ended it.

McCombs also earned the win on the mound. He pitched three innings, gave up three hits, two runs, and struck out three batters.

Naiche Fish had the game-tying hit in the seventh inning for Harbor. He finished with two hits, including a double, and two RBI. Joey Raffo also doubled for the Pirates and finished with three hits and two runs scored.

Sophomore Daichi Sagae had two hits, one RBI and scored a run to lead the Saints.

St. Francis 3, Hillsdale 2

WATSONVILLE — The Sharks scored twice in the first inning, made it 3-0 in the fourth, and held on to win their CCS D-IV quarterfinal Saturday.

The No. 2 Sharks (14-14), the fourth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, face No. 6 Homestead (13-15) of Cupertino in the semifinals at Excite Ballpark in San Jose on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The Mustangs, the sixth-place finisher in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, upset No. 3 Scotts Valley 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

Pepperdine-bound Nash Horton finished with two hits, including a home run, and two RBI for the Sharks. Javier and Jacob Fonseca also scored runs.

Horton earned the complete-game win. He gave up six hits, two walks, and one earned run while striking out 13 batters. Jake Belloni gave up three runs over five innings and took the loss.

Junior Jacob Bonner and sophomore Brayden Lee scored for the No. 7 Fightin’ Knights (12-14), the sixth-place finisher in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division. Sophomore Parker Jessup had one RBI.

Homestead 3, Scotts Valley 1

SCOTTS VALLEY — The No. 3 Falcons, the third-place finisher in the SCCAL, produced just one hit in their narrow loss in the CCS D-IV quarterfinals Saturday.

Kaleb Wing, the Falcons’ Loyola Marymount committed senior, scored in the first inning on classmate Clayton Pryor’s hit to knot the score at 1-all.

The No. 6 Mustangs broke through for a pair of runs in the seventh inning to secure the win.

Scotts Valley finishes with a 12-16 record.

Seniors Caden Cormier and Andrew Sun each drove in a run for the Mustangs (13-15). Junior Jayden Duong and senior Logan Christianson, and sophomore Ethan Wang scored runs.

Christianson earned the win after throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Wing pitched was tagged for three runs over 6 2/3 innings and took the loss. He struck out nine batters.

Fremont 4, Monte Vista Christian 2

WATSONVILLE — The No. 3 Mustangs gave up four runs in the fourth inning, but were unable to complete their comeback in the CCS D-VI quarterfinals Saturday.

MVC (21-7), the runner-up to Stevenson in the PCAL’s Mission Division, scored both of its runs in the fifth inning. Senior Carter Wright had two hits, including a double, and one RBI. Sophomore Evan Vessey had a hit, one RBI, and scored a run. Senior Tyson Shaw also had a hit and run scored.

Sophomore Chris Bautista gave up seven hits and struck out 10 batters in his complete-game loss.

No. 6 Fremont (22-7), the runner-up in the SCVAL’s El Camino Division, faces No. 2 South San Francisco (22-5) in next week’s semifinals.

Carmel 7, Santa Cruz 0

CARMEL — The No. 8 Cardinals were held to two hits and were shut out for just the second time this season in the CCS D-III quarterfinals Saturday.

Senior Fernando DaCosta and junior Caleb Cmaylo each had a single for the Cardinals (15-12), the runner-up to Soquel in the SCCAL.

Cardinals pitcher Jason Graff was solid in his complete-game loss. He gave up six hits, three walks, and seven unearned runs while striking out four batters over six innings. Santa Cruz committed five errors.

Stanford commit Matt Maxon had a walk, home run, two RBI, and scored four runs for the No. 1 Padres (18-10), the third-place finisher in the PCAL Gabilan Division.

Winning pitcher Lucas Rocha threw a complete-game two-hitter. He walked two batters and struck out a pair.

Carmel faces No. 5 Christopher (16-10) in next week’s semifinals. The Cougars eliminated No. 4 Palo Alto 3-2 in the quarterfinals.