SAN JOSE — Five Santa Cruz County high school baseball teams — Soquel, Aptos, Harbor, Santa Cruz, and St. Francis — qualified for the 2026 Central Coast Section playoffs.
Harbor and Santa Cruz received home games for the quarterfinals, which begin Saturday.
Dates for the semifinals and finals haven’t yet been announced by the CCS.
For the second straight season, Soquel, the repeat Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champion, was placed in Division I. The Knights (21-4 overall) were given the No. 5 seed and open against No. 4 Saint Ignatius (17-8), the West Catholic Athletic League’s third-place finisher, at Fairmont Field in Pacifica.
The teams squared off in a nonleague game in Pacifica on April 9 and the Wildcats scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 5-4, walk-off win.
If the Knights win their opener, they’ll face either No. 1 Saint Francis (24-3) of Mountain View or No. 8 Junipero Serra (17-9) in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 Willow Glen (23-2-1) opens at No. 2 Valley Christian (17-9) in San Jose, and No. 6 Bellarmine College Prep (20-7) plays at No. 3 Los Gatos (24-3).
Second baseman Dom Castillo and the Aptos High baseball team earned the No. 5 seed in Division III for the CCS playoffs. (Raul Ebio – Santa Cruz Sentinel file)
“We’re excited,” Knights coach T.J. Moran said. “We know we can beat any of these teams, and we don’t care where it is.”
Aptos, the SCCAL runner-up, earned the No. 5 seed in D-III. The Mariners (13-8) open at No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep (20-7), the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division champ, in Atherton.
“Was hoping for a home game, especially in D-III,” Mariners coach Jason Biancardi said. “But every year you never know what’s going to happen. We have a young team and they’ll build from this.”
If the Mariners win their opener, they’ll face either No. 1 Menlo (17-10) or No. 8 Christopher (13-12) in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 Carlmont (13-14) of Belmont opens at No. 2 Hollister (17-10), and No. 6 Santa Teresa (15-11) of San Jose opens at No. 3 Wilcox (17-10) in Santa Clara.
Both Harbor and Santa Cruz were placed in D-IV. The Pirates earned the No. 1 seed and the Cardinals are No. 3.
Harbor (17-10), the third-place finisher in the SCCAL, hosts No. 8 Sequoia (15-12) of Redwood City, the sixth-place finisher in the PAL’s Bay Division, in the quarterfinals.
“I think they did a good job on the division,” Pirates coach Joseph Allegri said. “I was hoping for a home game. Once Aptos went D-III, I knew we would be top four in D-IV.”
Aiden Boles and the Harbor High baseball team were gievn the top seed in Division IV for the CCS playoffs. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel file)
If the Pirates win their opener, they’ll face either No. 4 Monterey (14-13) or No. 5 Piedmont Hills (12-12-2) of San Jose in the semifinals.
Santa Cruz (15-11), the fourth-place finisher in the SCCAL, hosts No. 6 Pioneer (13-14) of San Jose, the sixth-place finisher in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mount Hamilton Division, in its playoff opener.
“We’re excited to host Pioneer,” Cardinals coach Bubba Trumbull said. “The bracket is up for grabs for whoever is playing their best baseball.”
If the Cardinals win their opener, they’ll face either No. 2 Los Altos (12-15) or No. 7 The King’s Academy (14-13) of Sunnyvale in the semifinals.
St. Francis, the fifth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, were given the No. 5 seed in D-V. The Sharks (8-18-1) play at No. 4 Live Oak (14-12-1) in Morgan Hill in the quarterfinals.
If the Sharks win their opener, they’ll face either No. 1 San Mateo (19-8) or No. 8 Salinas (10-18) in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 Homestead (12-16) of Cupertino plays at No. 2 Half Moon Bay (17-9), and No. 6 Stevenson (17-7) of Pebble Beach plays at No. 3 Ann Sobrato (18-8) in Morgan Hill.
IF YOU GO
Saturday’s quarterfinals
Division I: No. 5 Soquel vs. No. 4 Saint Ignatius, At Fairmont Field, Pacifica, 1 p.m.
D-III: No. 5 Aptos at No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep, noon
D-IV: No. 8 Sequoia at No. 1 Harbor, 1 p.m.
D-IV: No. 6 Pioneer at No. 3 Santa Cruz, 1 p.m.
D-V: No. 5 St. Francis at No. 4 Live Oak, 3 p.m.