The 25th annual Ed Gallo Memorial American Legion Baseball Tournament opens this week with a full slate games on Thursday. The Glacier Twins are the defending champions and they are eager to retain their crown.

As the silver anniversary of the tournament, teams will use wood bats and “swing the wooden lumber the way Ed Gallo’s very first teams did in the early 1960s,” said Glacier Twins board member Bob Lockman.

The tourney began in 1990 as a tribute to Ed Gallo in recognition of his efforts in keeping the Whitefish American Legion Baseball program alive. In 1965, Gallo invited the Columbia Falls Legion players to join with Whitefish players and renamed the team as the Glacier Twins.

This year’s field includes the Glacier Twins B, the Glacier League 15U team that recently won the Glacier Invitational Tourney, the Kalispell Lakers A, the Calgary PBF Red Birds, the Prospects, a club team from Missoula, the Bitterroot Red Sox B, and an American Legion team all the way from Williston, N.D.

The teams are grouped into two divisions with pool play consisting of four games against each team to be played Thursday throught Saturday. On Sunday, the top two finishers in each division will play a single-elimination tournament to determine champion.

The tourney all-star game will be played Friday at 7 p.m. A silent auction will be conducted throughout the day and will conclude at 9 p.m.

The Ed Gallo Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a graduating Twins player. The Twins thank the Gallo Family for their generosity.