By Ray Hamill — After getting their first-ever state playoff win in baseball, the Ferndale Wildcats will have a quick turnaround.

On Tuesday, the Cats rallied from an early deficit for the second straight game on their way to an 8-6 win over Etna in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division-5 NorCal state playoffs at Ferndale.

On Thursday, they’ll travel to Woodland near Sacramento to play the No. 2 seeds in the bracket, Woodland Christian, in the semifinals.

A victory for the No. 3 seeded Cats would set up a championship game against either No. 1 Menlo School or No. 5 Oakland Tech on Saturday.

And if the Ferndale boys win on Thursday, they’ll become just the second-ever H-DNL team to reach a NorCal final in either baseball or softball, following in the footsteps of the St. Bernard’s boys, who won a NorCal championship two years ago in the inaugural season of the state playoffs.

“I’m proud of the kids and happy for the community,” head coach Justin Andersen said after Tuesday’s win, which was the program’s first ever in the NorCals. “And now we’re on to our biggest challenge of the season and we’re looking forward to it.”

Check out some of the game highlights from Tuesday above …

Thursday’s game, which gets under way at 4 p.m., should be a tough one for the Cats, as you would expect at this stage of the season.

The Woodland Christian Cardinals are 24-4 and have won 18 of their last 19 games, including a 10-0 shutout of Los Molinos in their NorCal quarterfinal on Tuesday.

The Cats, however, have been equally impressive.

The last remaining H-DNL team has lost just twice all season and is 19-2-1 overall.

If the Cats win on Thursday and Oakland Tech beats Menlo, the NorCal championship game would take place at Ferndale on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The Wildcats are hoping to become just the second team in H-DNL history to win a conference title and North Coast Section and NorCal championships in the same year, something St. Bernard’s achieved in 2022.

For more on Tuesday’s game, see Wildcats avenge ’23 playoff loss, advance to NorCal semifinals …

Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com