GILROY >> Fans showed up in droves to see Pajaro Valley Little League’s Majors All-Stars add to their historic postseason success.

The Watsonville community cheered for every highlight turned in by their beloved youngsters, but Quito Saratoga made sure its outbursts were limited.

Quito Saratoga (7-0), which outscored opponents 59-0 en route to winning the District 12 title, knocked off the D-39 champion 10-3 to open play in the Section 5 Tournament at Gilroy Sports Park on Friday.

“The good thing about a tournament is we have multiple games in a row,” said Ali Luna, Pajaro Valley’s manager. “As long as we keep our head up, keep to the game plan and keep chipping away, we’re going to be alright.”

Quito Saratoga, the benefactor of two merged Little Leagues four years ago, broke up a scoreless game with its eight-run fourth inning. Pajaro Valley did all its scoring in the top of the fifth, and Quito Saratoga tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Pajaro Valley (3-1), which secured is first district title in its league’s 16-year history, faced Santa Teresa in an elimination game Saturday afternoon, after the Sentinel went to press.

Pajaro Valley outfielder Robin Casella-Kummerer said he and his teammates aren’t feeling any pressure. They’ll try their best to keep playing as a team, he said, noting that they need to shore up their defense a bit.

“Just win the next game, and try to win the whole tournament,” he said.

Quito Saratoga awaits Saturday’s winner between Hollister (D-9) and Los Altos (D-44) in the winner’s bracket semifinal on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Pajaro Valley starting pitcher Mel Martinez worked out of jams in the first and second inning, but relentless Quito Saratoga finally broke through in their outburst in the fourth. Nicky Barelli highlighted the frame with his two-run single against Brady Duque to drive in Nathan Jou and Dylan Naas, and Henry Tsai followed with a two-run home run, his third homer of the postseason.

“It’s the kids first time here and I think the nerves got a little bit of the best of them,” Ali Luna said. “We gotta tighten up from our mistakes. Thing is, we had too many and we weren’t able to recover in time. But our pitching was there.”

Martinez finished with seven strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work. Duque pitched two-thirds of inning before giving way to Dion Martinez.

Pajaro Valley had trouble putting the ball in play. It finished with 12 strikeouts.

“We were going out there and anticipating a little too much, right away,” Ali Luna said, “with the understanding of this is what we do best, is hit the ball, so we just need to be patient and relax a little bit. I call it ABC, there’s three different things that I say. And the C is cool, calm, collected, and that’s what we gotta come back and do.”

Quito Saratoga manager Rob Barelli said he wasn’t able to scout Pajaro Valley in district play, but he said he noticed their tendencies right away.

“They can hit the ball a little bit, and they have some kids who can throw a little bit,” he said. “What got them was the inability to play defense coupled with a pretty tough field here. This is not taken care of, unfortunately. Balls are hopping everywhere. It is what it’s going to be. … We’re locked in and we’re focused.”

Andrew Ruiz and Donte Ponce reached on errors in the fifth for Pajaro Valley.Ruiz stole third and scored on Robin Casella-Kummerer’s single. Ponce and Casella-Kummerer scored on back-to-back wild pitches.

Carmelo Luna and Casella-Kummerer each finished with two hits, Ponce had a single, and Julian Montes reached base after striking out on a wild pitch to the backstop.

Loin Yau started on the mound for Quito Saratoga and struck out five batters over two innings. Tsai pitched 3 1/3 innings and struck out six batters, and Dylin Curtain closed out the game.