Sports

The No. 4-seeded Watsonville High Wildcatz notched their first postseason win since 2007 on Wednesday, shutting out No. 13 Santa Clara High, 4-0, in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs in Watsonville.

Top-seeded Watsonville exploded for five goals to storm past No. 8 Los Gatos, 5-0, in Saturday’s Central Coast Section Open Division quarterfinals at Emmett M. Geiser Field.

With a share of first place on the line, Soquel (12-8, 5-1) received a gutsy pitching performance from junior Nate Werdmuller, who settled in after giving up two runs in the first inning to go the distance for the win.

And top-seeded South San Francisco High, with enough heart and passion to make NBA great Kevin Garnett seem tame, took full advantage to dethrone the defending Central Coast Section Division III champs, 66-50, and win the program’s first-ever section title at Piedmont Hills High.

Against Aptos, Juliana Wilson, Zaira Pena and Mariah Rocha all hit homers and combined for 11 RBIs to lead the Wildcatz to a 15-0 win.

The Seahawks (1-5, 0-1) lost three fumbles and threw an interception in the first half and the Mustangs (6-0, 2-0) turned all four takeaways into scores to take a 33-2 lead.

And it’s arguably the biggest reason why the No. 3-seeded Hawks, powered by an airtight defense and an on-fire attack, will play at top-seeded San Marin High tonight for the NorCal Division V championship.

There were several key elements this season that helped the Aptos High girls’ water polo team reach last week’s Central Coast Section Division II championship game.   But none was more impactful than having senior Fiona Carey take charge of the Mariners, who fell in a...

Aptos senior Isaiah Ackerman and Santa Cruz junior DeMarco Hunter were named the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s co-Most Valuable Players for the 2024-25 boys’ basketball season. According to statistics on the Max Preps website, Ackerman had an average of 20.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and...