FLORENCE — The American Legion Baseball Western A district championships begin today with five Northwestern teams in the mix.

The Glacier Twins and Libby Loggers open first-round play in the morning, facing off in a game at 8:30 a.m., followed by the Kalispell Lakers playing the Missoula Mavericks.

This will be the 10th time the Lakers play the Mavericks this season, going 7-2 in those games.

“They’re a good baseball team,” Lakers A coach Jesse McFarland said. “It’ll be a tough game but our kids are playing some real good ball and they’re going into this one real confident.”

The Kootenai Valley Rangers play the Bitterroot Red Sox at 2:30 p.m., and the Mission Valley Mariners get the host Bitterroot Bucs at 5:30 p.m., to close out the first round.

Loser out and winners bracket play in the double-elimination tournament continues on Friday with games wrapping up with the district championship at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Red Sox beat the Glacier Twins in the district championship last year. The Twins have been runners up at the tournament each of the last two seasons.

The Montana/Alberta Class A state tournament will be held in Great Falls next weekend. The top two teams from the district advance.