CAMPBELL >> Aptos Little League’s Majors All-Stars rallied back from a pair of big deficits, but fell victim to a pair of defensive gems late in suffering their first loss in the Section 5 Tournament, 8-7 to Los Altos, at Campbell Little League on Sunday.

Aptos, the District 39 champion, faces D-12 champ Los Gatos in the consolation bracket final, an elimination game, on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

“We’re just gonna beat them again, two times,” Aptos first baseman Hunter LaTorre said. “The next game were going to come out on fire, because we finished so strong.”

LaTorre said he and his teammate remain a confident bunch.

“We know we’re a good team and we know we can beat all these teams,” he said.

Said Aptos manager Tim Reilly: “We’ve had our backs against the wall before. We’ll be fine.”Los Altos, the D-44 champion, advanced to Tuesday’s championship with its latest win.

Los Altos manager Dean Cappellazzo said his battled-test team didn’t lose its cool with the game on the line.

“We’ve been behind a lot in sections and in districts and noticed that the temperature in the dugout was pretty mild,” Cappellazzo said. “They have a lot of confidence. Nobody was too high, nobody was too low. We were just trying to battle those guys because their pitching is really tough; they’re a great team.”

Los Altos used a six-run outburst in the third inning to jump ahead 6-0. Aptos rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the frame. Los Altos scored twice in the fourth only to see relentless Aptos respond again in the bottom half of the frame with four runs.

Aptos had runners at first and third base with one out in the fifth, but Los Altos shortstop Colton Siebel fielded a sharply hit ball from Miles Lee and flipped to the ball to second base for the front end of a 6-4-3 inning ending double play.

In the sixth, Siebel turned in another defensive gem. He made a diving catch to his left to snare a blistered line drive off the bat of Beau Pieracci to end the game.

“What are you going to do?” Reilly said. “We tell our guys that, too. Defense wins championships. They made some of the plays, maybe we didn’t make some of the other plays. It’s just the way it goes.”

Siebel said he’s made great catches before, but noted that this one was “special.” His jubilant teammates doused him with water after the game.

“It was a crazy rollercoaster of emotions with the team,” said Siebel, of his team’s narrow win. “We had to stick with it the whole time. It makes it a lot more rewarding. It’s great.”

Aptos walked five batters during Los Altos’ big outburst in the third inning. Siebel also came up big at the plate. He smacked a three-run double to drive in Austin Brock, Quinlan Schlough, and Derek Galensky in the third. Siebel was driven in on Zane Bernhardt’s triple, and Bernhardt scored on a ground out.

Aptos got on the board with a two-out rally in the third, thanks to some quality at-bats from the bottom of the batting order. After Owen Reilly singled on an 0-2 pitch, Nolan McKee was hit by a pitch, and Ethan Crump walked to load the bases. Reilly scored on a wild pitch, and leadoff hitter Cody Pieracci singled to third base to drive in McKee and Crump after the ball was thrown away at first base.

Brock doubled and scored for Los Altos in the fourth. Galensky battled back from 0-2 count to draw an 11-pitch walk with two outs and scored the decisive run on Rocco Cappellazzo’s single.

Aptos willed its way back into the game in the bottom of the fourth. Wyatt Graaskamp reached on an infield single, Beau Pieracci singled, and Ryan Santillan followed with an RBI single. Tysen Espinoza drove in Pieracci with his single. LaTorre smacked a two-run single to drive in Santillan and Patrick Collins, who was inserted as a pinch runner for Espinoza.

Relief pitcher Kiran Yager threw two shutout innings of relief to keep Aptos in the game, but Los Altos reliever Bernhardt, who pitched the final three innings, settled down and got some help from his defense, especially Siebel, to help slam the door.

Cappellazzo said Siebel is an All-Star who stands out among All-Stars.

“Unbelievable,” Cappellazzo said. “He’s that guy. I coached him all season. We went 23-0 and won the Tournament of Champions, and I’m just sitting back for the ride, watching him go. It’s contagious. The players get along with him, want to be like him.”