Wilton-Lyndeborough High School softball coach Dennis Claire was just happy to make it to last year’s Division IV final.

This year’s berth may be an even greater surprise.

The No. 2 Warriors advanced to the championship game at Plymouth State University with a 6-2 win over No. 3 Sunapee in Wednesday’s semifinal round. Wilton returns to PSU at 2 p.m. Saturday to for a title game showdown with fourth-seeded Portsmouth Christian Academy of Dover, which upset defending champion Woodsville 13-1 Wednesday night.

With a roster full of underclassmen (Wilton has just three seniors), inexperience and a first-year starting pitcher, the Warriors have already exceeded Claire’s expectations.

“It’s good to be back,” Claire said. “We got here last year and that was a big surprise. This year, I said final four would be great.”

Claire’s biggest concern has been pitching. The only arms he has are sophomore Sara Holka, a rookie starter, and seventh-grader Lexi Balam, who is also the team’s starting first baseman.

The Warriors were done in by its pitching, or lack thereof, in last year’s final against the Engineers. Wilton started then-senior Deanna Davidson, who had never pitched before 2013, and she lasted just 12?3 innings after giving up nine runs on four hits and five walks in Woodsville’s 19-10 rout.

“Last year was a disaster for us,” Claire said. “We played our best game in the semifinals. Everything was looking good to play Woodsville, but we had the same problem. We had another inexperienced pitcher that got us there, but they waited us out and she had tons of walks and we lost the game.”

This time around, Claire is hoping Holka is his answer.

After struggling in the first inning on Wednesday – she gave up a leadoff home run, walked two batters and hit another – the right-hander breezed through the Lakers lineup for the win.

Holka surrendered two runs – one earned – on five hits and four walks to go with nine strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Holka said after the game her nerves got the best of her in the first inning.

But with the stakes even higher on Saturday, she will need to command the strike zone to give her team a chance to win.

“It was walks that killed us, so if we have some control I think we’ve got a shot,” Claire said.

The Warriors will need the bats to heat up against Portsmouth Christian as well. Wilton has scored 17 runs in three postseason games. The Eagles nearly had that total when they drove in 15 against Gorham in the first round.

“We know we’ve gotta hit the ball, and we’ve been doing pretty good at that,” Claire said.

Portsmouth Christian also comes in as arguably the hottest team in Division IV. The Eagles closed the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, including a win over Wilton on May 20, and has carried that play into the postseason by winning two of their three playoff games via mercy rule.

The two finalists split the regular season series. The Warriors took the first meeting at home, 8-5, on May 5. The Eagles won their home matchup 6-5.

Wilton may be content to be playing on Saturday, but the Warriors are hoping there’s a little more magic left for the final.

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