SANTA CRUZ >> Capitola-Soquel’s Majors All-Stars were fully intent on beating Aptos for a second straight day Sunday and claim the District 39 title at Harvey West Park.

Aptos pitcher Beau Pieracci had other plans, and essentially thought: ‘Oh, no, you don’t.”

In reality, letting his actions do the talking, Pieracci said “No-no, you don’t.”

Pieracci came one out shy of throwing a perfect game, but happily threw a no-hitter as Aptos rebounded from a lopsided loss Saturday with a 10-0, four-inning win to claim its first district title since 2022 and advance to the Section 5 Tournament in Campbell.

“Throw it by them,” said Pieracci, of his strategy.

Aptos (4-1 overall) was handed its first loss, 9-1, on Saturday. The team vowed to “flush” the loss and start anew, and it stepped on the field a confident bunch Sunday.

“I had a good feeling,” Aptos manager Tim Reilly said. “I was pretty optimistic that were going to, not do this, but that we gonna see the team that we were used to seeing.”

Pieracci said he envisioned pitching Aptos to a 1-0 victory.

He struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the fourth inning, but walked No. 12 hitter Mile Campbell on four pitches to see his bid for a perfect game broken up. The next batter, August Culman-Knapp, grounded out to second base to end the game.

Aptos, mild in its celebration, doused Reilly with an Igloo cooler of ice water after receiving its championship banner.

Capitola-Soquel’s players held their heads high in defeat. It put forth a tremendous effort to reach the final.

Capitola-Soquel (5-2), playing its seventh game in eight days, lost to Aptos in its second game last Sunday, and won four straight elimination games to reach the winner-take-all final.

“I wish we did what we did yesterday or, at least, showed everyone what we could do,” Capitola-Soquel manager Tim Claydon said. “We had to crawl out of the loser’s bracket. And just making it here, I’m proud of these guys just for their grind and their heart. They just gave it all this week to get to this spot. Seven games in eight days, that’s a lot of baseball.”

Reilly tipped his cap to Claydon and Capitola-Soquel for its grit and the way it carried itself over the course of a week.

“I know their 10s had just won it and their 11s won it,” Reilly said. “That was a little more for us; so it was, ‘OK, lets not give them that sweep.’ But I think our kids hadn’t been put through a lot of adversity. I think that loss yesterday, I think it lit a fire for them,”

Pieracci finished with five strikeouts. He threw 55 pitches total. Three Capitola-Soquel hitters, Brayden Little, Griffin Kitchen, and Dwight Massey-Fisher, worked full counts against Pieracci, but each time the tall right-hander had the perfect pitch when he needed it. More often than not, it was a fastball than he pin-pointed around the strike zone. He also threw a curveball.

Aptos first baseman Tysen Espinoza said Pieracci told him Saturday evening how badly he wanted to win the title.

Said Reilly: “I gave him the ball on the mound because he embodies competitiveness. He’s a fighter.”

“We don’t go down after a loss, we come back,” Espinoza said. “I just flushed it. I really didn’t care about it. I knew we were going to win today, though. My dad, he told me, ‘Who cares about this loss?’ yesterday, and ‘We’re going to win tomorrow.’”

Aptos’ offense backed Pieracci early by scoring five runs in the first inning. It tacked on a run in the second, and four in the third.

Aptos also played error-free defense. Espinoza made a leaping catch to rob Little of an apparent extra-base hit in the second inning, and shortstop Miles Lee ranged far to his right and heaved a long throw to first base to steal a possible infield hit away from Roman Velasquez in the third.

“I had to jump my highest to get that one,” said Espinoza, noting it was likely a top-three defensive play in his lifetime.

“Amazing,” said Pieracci, of the leaping catch.

“I don’t know if it’s the flowing hair that makes it look that much more impressive, but that was a heck of a play,” Reilly said of Espinoza, while summarizing his defensive highlights. “Miles also made a great play at short. I don’t know how he made that throw. I heard a little grunt in there. He’s solid. This whole team is solid; I’m just the guy filling up the lineup card.”

Aptos finished with 11 hits, and was aggressive on the base paths, advancing on wild pitches and passed balls, stealing when it could, and capitalized on Capitola-Soquel’s four errors.

Espinoza had two hits, including a pop double, two RBI, and scored twice. Ryan Santillan had two hits, two stolen bases, and scored twice. Wyatt Graaskamp had a hit, two RBI, and scored a run, and Pieracci doubled and scored twice. Cody Pieracci singled and scored, and Kiran Yager singled and pinch runner Beau Pieracci scored. Hunter LaTorre walked and scored, and Nolan McKee was hit by a pitch and scored. Owen Reilly also doubled for Aptos.

“We didn’t come out firing on all cylinders, and when we don’t do that, the score indicates that,” Claydon said.

Claydon was elated with the way his players carried themselves, especially in defeat.

“Our team motto is, ‘Win with grace, lose with dignity,’ ” the manager said. “All our kids, the biggest thing that I took away from this is our team kept their heads up high and lost with dignity. They’re going out as a team with a lot of integrity, and that’s the biggest thing. Our team has just shown a lot integrity as a team. And win or lose, that’s the biggest lesson I like.”