A summer softball tradition in Kenosha will resume tonight with the start of the 45th annual Kiwanis Breakfast Club City Tournament at Poerio Park.

Twenty-eight men’s teams in two brackets and eight women’s teams are entered, including defending men’s champion Women’s Touch Painting/Big Shotz and defending women’s winner Gerb’s Tap.

The men’s division is double-elimination, while the women’s division includes a three-game guarantee for each team. Up to 55 men’s games and 17 women’s games will be played over the tournament’s three-day run.

Men’s games will begin at 6 tonight with the women opening tournament play 2 p.m. Saturday. The women’s championship series is tentatively scheduled to start 4 p.m. Sunday, and the men’s championship round is slated to get underway at 6 p.m.

Women’s Touch Painting/Big Shotz will play ReMax Elite/Buffalo Wild Wings at 7 tonight on Diamond No. 1, and Gerb’s Tap will open against Kekumbas 3 p.m. Saturday on Diamond No. 3.

Tournament director Greg Feivor said he is excited to have two more women’s teams competing this year than last year, when the women’s division returned after several years of being idle.

“I’m just happy to have the women’s tournament going again. I hope that keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said.

“I think because it had been gone for so long the girls kind of forgot about it or didn’t think about it. So despite me trying to get it going again, it just wasn’t happening. I think with the new format (three-game guarantee) that we’re trying to do, I think more teams will get in it in the coming years.”

Part of the allure of playing at Poerio is that the park’s four diamonds are surrounded by fences, which usually results in many home runs. As in past years, there is a five-homer limit on the two smaller back diamonds with each homer after that counting as an out.

There are no home run limits on the two front diamonds, which are regulation size with a distance of 310 feet down the lines and 330 feet to center field.

“Even though you can only get five (home runs) on the back, they still like to hit them,” Feivor said. “On the front, if you hit it out there, it’s legit. It usually carries out there pretty good, but it all depends on wind conditions and humidity and everything.”

Admission is free all three days, and concessions will be sold. There will also be a pitch-speed contest for several age groups, with three pitches costing $1.

Feivor, the tournament’s director for about the last 10 years, said he is expecting to raise about $15,000 for the club’s various charities, which include the Shalom Center, Women and Children’s Horizons and the Kenosha Police Department’s Canine Unit. Proceeds will also go to fund college scholarships for Kenosha students.