PAL Ocean Division foes San Mateo and Half Moon Bay meet for CCS Division V title Friday

And now they face each other in the CCS Division IV championship game at 4 p.m. Friday at San Jose’s Excite Ballpark.

By virtue of a two-game sweep of HMB, San Mateo got the Ocean’s second automatic bid to CCS, while the Cougars slipped in with an at-large berth.

“In our [division], you only get two automatic berths, so then you have to play perfect baseball against ‘A’ league teams,” said Half Moon Bay manager Brian Anderson. “We had way more playoff points than San Mateo, but I guess their sweep against us helped.”

As close as the teams have been the last several seasons — San Mateo manager Neal Goldstein said coming into this season the schools had split their last 10 games — the two have similar CCS success: This is only the second championship game appearance for Half Moon Bay, losing 9-4 to Menlo in the 1988 Division 3A final. For San Mateo, it is the program’s first-ever spot in a baseball championship game and the Bearcats’ first CCS appearance since 2016.

“I think we would have got in this year (as an at-large team), but we were still going to be a bubble team,” Goldstein said.

Bubbles and seeds no longer matter, however, as the Bearcats and Cougars are the last two teams standing in the Division V bracket. San Mateo, which has won six of its last seven games, opened the playoffs with a 7-4 win over No. 8 Salinas. Wednesday, the Bearcats doubled up No. 5 St. Francis-Watsonville 8-4 in Wednesday’s semifinal game at Santa Clara University.

Half Moon Bay came into the playoffs even hotter than the Bearcats, as the Cougars are riding an 11-game winning streak.

But they had to dig deep to win its playoff opener. The Cougars scored once in the bottom of the first inning against No. 7 Homestead — and that was the final score, 1-0, with starting pitcher Kai Kung keeping the Mustangs in check, limiting them to just five hits, while striking out seven.

Nothing the Cougars aren’t used to. Anderson said his team has relied on pitching, defense and timely hitting this season and have gotten used to grinding out games and wins.

“That’s something the players got used to,” Anderson said. “At the beginning of the season, we get tighter and tighter (in close games). Now, they realize that’s good baseball, that we’re not going to blow out every team.”

In the semifinals, the Cougars had a little more breathing room as they beat No. 3 Sobrato, 6-2 in Wednesday’s semifinal game, also at Santa Clara University. Half Moon Bay jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and then took complete control with a four-run fourth.

“Scoring four runs in an inning is like an explosion for us,” Anderson said. “It’s been a long time (since we had a big inning).”

Don’t expect a lot of offense when the two meet Friday in San Jose, as both will have their aces on the mound. San Mateo’s Christian Louie was named Ocean Division Co-Pitcher of the Year, with Sacred Heart Prep’s Rallin Covey, and put up sensational numbers his senior year. In 14 appearances, Louie, a lefty, had a 1.97 ERA in 60.1 innings pitched, with a nearly 3-to-1, strikeout-to-walk ratio of 98 Ks against 36 walks.

Louie is a strikeout machine, hitting double digits four times this season, including 14 in the first game against HMB, a 3-1 Bearcats win.

That was the only loss in Ocean Division play for Half Moon Bay’s Kai Kung, who will get the start Friday. In that April 7 appearance, Kung, also a southpaw, went the distance against San Mateo, giving up only one earned run on just six hits in a complete-game effort.

Kung might have been even more efficient than Louie over his 70-plus innings of work. Kung struck out 92 while walking only 17 and allowing just eight earned runs in 13 appearances this year — that’s a 0.79 ERA this season for Kung.

Division VI championship

No. 7 El Camino (23-5) vs No. 4 Pacific Grove (16-12-1)

4 p.m. Saturday at San Jose’s Excite Ballpark

Other than Half Moon Bay, there may not be a hotter team left in the playoffs than the Colts. The PAL’s undefeated Lake Division champion has won seven in a row and 14 of its last 15 games.

Coming out of the Lake Division, the Colts didn’t get a lot of respect, so despite a 21-win season, were only seeded seventh out of eight teams in the bracket.

But now the Colts find themselves in a CCS title game for the first time since dropping a 3-0 decision to Serra in the 1994 Division I final. El Camino won their second of two titles in three years in 1977 with Lou Zuardo helming the Colts.

As a team, the Colts are batting .333 on the season, led by Carlos Alcala, who is hitting a robust .489 on the season, with 47 RBIs on 45 hits.

Adrian Iniguez, who is expected to get the start Saturday, has been a stalwart on the mound for El Camino this season. Not only was he the team leader in innings pitched (46), wins (7) and ERA (2.28), he also led the pitching staff with four saves.

The Colts advanced to the finals following an 8-2 win over second-seeded Lincoln-SJ in the first round, followed by a 5-0 shutout of No. 3 Leland in a semifinal game Wednesday.

Pacific Grove opened CCS play with a 7-2 win over No. 5 Monta Vista and then hammered top-seeded Gunn 11-2 in the semifinals.

The Breakers finished in second place, behind Stevenson, in the Pacific Coast Trail Athletic League’s Mission Division, the equivalent of the PAL’s Ocean Division. They are batting .278 as a team, but have an OPS of .762. The Breakers are led by Brody Edmonds, who leads the team in most every offensive category, including batting average (.392), RBIs (23), hits (31) and runs scored (29).

Taj Davis is expected to be the championship game starter for Pacific Grove. In 12 appearances over 51 2/3 innings, Davis posted a 1.63 ERA, having allowed just 12 earned runs this season.