BASEBALL: Record field set for Ed Gallo Memorial tournament

WHITEFISH — If the familiar crack of a wood bat on the ball is the quintessential sound of baseball, it’s going to sound like baseball morning, noon and night around Memorial Park this weekend.

The 27th annual Ed Gallo Memorial Wood Bat tournament, hosted by the Glacier Twins, begins Thursday morning with the largest field ever on hand for the four-day event. Nine teams will play 18 games in the next three days before three final contests on Sunday.

The tournament has eschewed the aluminum or composite bats used during the rest of the regular season, making the switch to wood bats several years ago.

“We kind of wanted to make it a little different,” Glacier Twins A coach Bob Rupp said. “A lot of the tournaments that we go to in Washington are wood bat and we thought, ‘let’s mix it up a little bit.’

“It’s been very successful and people like the sound of wood bats instead of metal.”

Action begins Thursday at 8:30 a.m. with games limited to two hours or seven innings, whichever comes first, by tournament rules. The final game is not scheduled to begin until 9 p.m., with the teams turning right back around Friday morning for 15 more hours of action.

The Twins A are the defending tournament champions, having defeated Glacier’s B team for the title a year ago. Those two teams are back for this year’s tournament, joined by local squads for the Kootenai Valley Rangers (Eureka) and Glacier All-Stars, a Babe Ruth team. Other Montana entrants include the Havre Northstars, Belgrade Bandits and Scobey Blues, who are fielding a team this summer for the first time in 13 years. Two teams from Washington — Volkswagen of Olympia and West Valley baseball — are also participating.

Making the switch from metal to wood bats presents a few challenges for the Twins, not least of which is supplying the new bats for their players. Rupp said Mizuno bats were purchased from Universal Athletic, a higher quality bat than in recent years when bats breaking too easily has been a problem. The teams have also had to carve out time to practice wielding their new lumber.

“The last two to three days we’ve been swinging the bats just to get the feel of it,” Rupp said. “Some of the boys use wood bats all season and I’m all right with that.

“It’s different, playing with the wood bats, and the kids seem to really enjoy that part of traditional baseball.”

The Twins A (20-10, 8-2 Western A conference) begin the tournament at 9 p.m. against West Valley. They will play twice Friday and once more on Saturday. Glacier’s B team opens the tournament at 8:30 a.m. today against Scobey and will be back in action at 4 p.m. versus Havre before playing single games the next two days.

The top four teams after round robin play will advance to Sunday, with semifinal games beginning at 11 a.m. and the championship set for 4 p.m.

Tournament Schedule

Thursday

8:30 a.m. — Scobey Blues vs. Glacier Twins B

11 a.m. — Havre Northstars vs. Belgrade Bandits

1:30 p.m. — Glacier All-Stars vs. Kootenai Valley Rangers

4 p.m. — Kootenai Valley Rangers vs. Glacier Twins B

6:30 p.m. — VW of Olympia vs. Kootenai Valley Rangers

9 p.m. — West Valley baseball vs. Glacier Twins A

Friday

8:30 a.m. — Belgrade Bandits vs. VW of Olympia

11 a.m. — Havre Northstars vs. Glacier Twins A

1:30 p.m. — Belgrade Bandits vs. Scobey Blues

4 p.m. — Kootenai Valley Rangers vs. West Valley baseball

6:30 p.m. — Glacier All-Stars vs. Glacier Twins B

9 p.m. — VW of Olympia vs. Glacier Twins A

Saturday

8:30 a.m. — West Valley baseball vs. Glacier All-Stars

11 a.m. — Scobey Blues vs. VW of Olympia

1:30 p.m. — Glacier All-Stars vs. West Valley baseball

4 p.m. — Scobey Blues vs. Havre Northstars

6:30 p.m. — Glacier Twins B vs. Belgrade Bandits

9 p.m. — Glacier Twins A vs. Kootenai Valley Rangers

Sunday

11 a.m. — 1st place finisher vs. 4th place finisher

1:30 p.m. — 2nd place finisher vs. 3rd place finisher

4 p.m. — Championship game