Kingsville All-Stars coach Joe Zappitelli has always believed in buildings his teams around two things — pitching and defense.

And now, more than ever, he needs that philosophy to pay off.

For the first time in as long as anyone associated with Kingsville Little League can remember, a Kingsville boys team is headed to the state tournament.

The Kingsville 10- an 11-year-olds will travel to Cambridge to kick off the state baseball tournament Saturday against the District 11 (Northwest Ohio) representative.

And when Kingsville gets there, it will lean heavily on its pitching.

“You’re going to have to go four or five pitchers deep to win the tournament,” manager Joe Zappitelli said. “You can’t go three like we did the first round.”

Those three were Joey Zappitelli, Daniel Joslin and Connor McLaughlin.

“They all have decent velocity,” Zappitelli said. “Connor throws probably the fastest of all three of them. I tend to use him as a closer. Joey has the best control and ball movement. Daniel has a good fastball, but a very, very good changeup. All three of them have pitched for many years.”

And, just as important for a team making it’s first state appearance in ages, they all keep their cool about them on the mound.

“You can have all the talent in the world, and if you don’t have the right head on your shoulders, you’re in trouble,” Zappitelli said. “You’re really a man on an island out there.”

Aside from his usual trio, Zappitelli will also throw Zak Nunistl and Zach Rogers on the mound in this tournament. And in his five-man pitching staff, Zappitelli’s confidence goes five men deep.

“As a coach, the biggest challenge for me is the depth of pitching. I think I have more than normal for most small towns in this area,” the manager said. “But I don’t know if we’re going to go against teams that have seven, eight pitchers deep.”

If that’s the case, Kingsville will have to rely on an offense that’s built to manufacture runs. Joey Zappitelli and McLaughlin provide the big sticks from the plate.

But the rest of the lineup is about setting the table.

Joslin, who Zappitelli describes as a “phenomenal bunter” leads things off for Kingsville.