NORTH KINGSVILLE — The great Chicago Cub Hall of Fame shortstop-first baseman Ernie Banks was famous for his heroics on the field and his saying, “Let’s play two.”

The Kingsville All Stars knew they could afford to lose a game and there would still be a tomorrow for them in their quest for a District 1 championship. But they decided to get it over as soon as possible. They did that by mercying the Ashtabula All Stars, 11-1 in five innings, Thursday at the Village Green Complex in North Kingsville.

With the win Kingsville advances to the state tournament in playing in Cambridge starting next Friday.

Kingsville wasted very little time in showing who was boss as it came out strong in the first inning, sporting its hitting shoes as they put three runs on the scoreboard.

Joey Zappitelli then took the mound for Kingsville and was dominating as he gave up only one hit in 4 1/3 innings. Ashtabula did nick him for a run in the third inning, but he left the bases loaded and deflated the spirits of the visitors.

Zappitelli left the mound in the fifth inning with one out because of the 85-pitch limit for youngsters his age. But Daniel Joslin came in and did a good job for Kingsville, giving up only one hit the rest of the way to record the save.

In what’s becoming a customary gesture, the Kingsville boys doused manager Joe Zappitelli in good fun.

“These kids very comfortable and casual,” Zappitelli said. “They’ve already been in the tournament for the last three years as a team.

“They know what to do and they know what needs to be to worked on. Even when I give a day off they say, ‘Come on, Coach, we want to practice.’”

It showed in Thursday’s game.

“They were focused and very determined to get this tonight,” Zappitelli said. “That you can’t teach. You’ve got to have it inside.”

Ashtabula manager Mike Lilja expressed pride in his team, regardless of the outcome of the game and summed it up in a nutshell.

“Pitching,” he said. “They got us on their pitching. They threw the ball well. We needed to hit better, but they shut us down.

“Kingsville is a very professional team and is made up of some great kids, I wish them well.”

The floodgates opened wide for Kingsville in the second inning as it scored six times on three hits, one error, four walks and one hit batsman.