Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

A late-season surge continued for the Eureka Loggers on Saturday afternoon, as they moved within two wins of claiming a first-ever North Coast Section championship in softball.

The last remaining local team in the NCS softball playoffs comfortably took care of business in their quarterfinal and showed no ill effects from an eight-day layoff after a first-round section bye.

The top seeds in the Division-5 bracket welcomed No. 8 San Domenico to Washington Field and won 13-1 in five innings.

The win was the fourth straight for the Loggers, who moved above .500 for the first time all season and have been on fire this postseason, including a perfect run through the Charles Lakin Tournament.

They will host the No. 5 seed in the bracket, Moreau Catholic, in Tuesday’s semifinal, with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m.

The Moreau Catholic girls won their quarterfinal at South Fork on Saturday, beating the Little 4 champs 9-2.

The Loggers started fast in their game and quickly took control with five runs in the first two innings.

They would add eight runs in the bottom of the fourth on the way to ending the game after five innings on the 10-run rule.

The visitors didn’t help themselves with five errors on the day, compared to the Loggers’ one.

The bats remained steady for the Loggers, who out-hit the Panthers 8-5 and took full advantage of their opportunities.

Senior Bailey Brown was once again instrumental in the win and continues to play like a player who doesn’t want her high school career to be done just yet.

The team leader, who will play at College of the Redwoods next year, set the tone at the plate and finished 2-for-3 with a double and a walk and scored three runs.

Five other Eureka players hit successfully in the win, including senior Macy Secor, who also continues to play a key role for her team and has been front and center in the late-season surge.

Secor also finished 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, three RBIs and a stolen base.

She also scored three runs.

Junior Makenzie Wolff had another big game in the circle and appears to be playing her best ball of the spring at an opportune time.

Wolff held the San Domenico bats to just four hits and their lowest run total since mid March.

The Panthers came into the game riding a 13-game winning streak and had scored double digits in runs in all but one of those games.

Wolff also held them to no earned runs and one walk and struck out three, allowing her defense make the plays behind her.

In addition to Brown and Secor’s big days at the plate, several other Eureka players also made their presence felt on offense.

Megan Secor finished 1-for-1 with two walks, an RBI, a run and a stolen base, while Jaycee Childress was 1-for-2 with a triple, two RBIs, a walk and a run.

Kylee Secor (1-for-3 with an RBI and a run) and freshman Ella Moxon (1-for-2 with a double, an RBI and a run) each also had a base hit for the Loggers.

Violla Kingsang also continued to produce in the leadoff spot, reaching base twice on a walk and an error and scoring both times she did, while Tiffany Harris also reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored a run.

Lola Distefano drove in two runs on a sac fly.

With the win, the Loggers improved to 13-12.

They have now won seven of their last nine games.

No stats were immediately available for South Fork, as the Cubs closed out another impressive season with a record of 16-10.

The Cubs did break a run of five straight shutouts for Moreau Catholic.

We’ll have more on the Cubs early next week.