Its right to defend its state American Legion championship already assured, Gayton Post 31 is still approaching the Zone 3 tournament one game at a time.

“It’s a cliche, but that’s the way you’ve got to approach it,” Gayton coach Todd Cifelli said.

Unbeaten Gayton enters the tournament the clear favorite, but that doesn’t mean there are any guarantees. Quarterfinal action begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and, as other zone tournaments around the state have already proven, it is never too early for some upsets.

“What’s scary, especially about the first round, is every team, one through eight, has a really good stopper as their No. 1 pitcher,” said Cifelli, whose team hosts Andy Valley of Turner in the quarterfinals. “Outside of us (with a state berth already clinched), that’s the interesting thing. Do you try to hold someone back for the weekend and roll the dice in the quarterfinals.”

Aside from its seeding in the state tournament, Gayton (18-0) doesn’t need to worry about the consequences of an early upset because it clinched its spot by running away with the zone in the regular season. That leaves the seven other teams scrambling for the zone’s other berth in the state tournament, which starts July 28.

“I think, honestly, we have just as good a chance as everybody besides Gayton. Obviously, they’re a step above everybody,” said Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer.

The defending zone champion, Bessey Motors (13-5) lost out on the No. 2 seed to Windham due to a tiebreaker known as the Mealey system, which assigns a point value for the wins accumulated by each team Bessey and Windham had beaten this season. Windham had the edge for the No. 2 spot because it swept Brunswick, while Bessey split with Brunswick.

That means Bessey will host No. 6 Bethel-Locke Mills (9-9), which ended the regular season in a three-way tie with Smith-Tobey of Bath and New Auburn. Smith-Tobey won the tiebreaker to earn the No. 5 seed and will face Brunswick (10-8). New Auburn, which finished seventh in the Mealey’s, will face Windham.

Bessey’s first-round match-up is a classic example of the dilemma facing coaches in the first round. Slicer is expecting to see Bethel’s No. 1, Ben Field, so his decision is whether to counter with his ace, Erik Henderson. Adding to the bind is that Slicer thinks pitching will be the key to the tournament.

“I think whoever pitches well is going to win,” he said. “We have to pitch well because our offense hasn’t been as good.”

“I’m optimistic,” he added. “I like the pitching staff I have. I’ve had trouble getting my best nine guys all at the same time, so it’s tough to know how potent our lineup is.”

With a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule (playing seven, seven and nine innings, respectively), the tournament will test each team’s pitching depth. The hot weather forecast for the weekend will test their stamina.

“It’s going to be tough,” Slicer said. “You hope your pitching will give you what it normally gives you, which would be about 100 pitches, but you’ve got to be ready (in case fatigue sets in).”

Dixfield (5-13)  was stripped of the No. 8 spot in the field because it forfeited four games during the regular season. That allowed Andy Valley (3-15) to extend its season against Gayton, which Cifelli insists won’t be looking beyond Thursday.

“They’re going to have a good pitcher to throw at us,” Cifelli said. “They’ve got some pretty good post-grads and so our laser beams have got to be on Andy Valley.”