Championship teams from the past will reunite Thursday to help two teams from the present celebrate the advent of the Canadian junior fastball tournament next month in Napanee.

In the first game of an exhibition doubleheader at the Fairgrounds, members of the national midget champion Express of 2005 will play members of the 2010 national junior champion Express at 7 p.m.

That game will be followed by a game at 9 o’clock between the two Napanee teams that will play in this year’s championship event, Shoeless Joe’s and the freshly sponsored Abundant Insulation.

The 2005 midget team included four players who now coach the Shoeless Joe’s Express, runner-up at the recent Ontario elimination tournament—Chris Lewis, Brent Mills, Mike Roantree and Ben Tee. Six members of that team, Jordan MacDonald, Lewis, Tee, Nathan Moffat, Kyle Mack and Andrew Madden, played for Team Ontario and three of them, MacDonald, Lewis and Tee, played for Team Canada.

Among the 2010 national junior champion Express were four players, Jackson Ryan, Ian Wallwork, Cory Alkerton and Josh Lockridge, who played for the provincial team.

This year’s Canadian championship tournament will be played Aug. 10-16. Shoeless Joe's, which officially is designated as the host team, plays its first game Monday morning at 11:30, against one of the two teams from Saskatchewan. Abundant Insulation, designated as Ontario 3, opens at 4:30 against Quebec.

The nine teams will play a round-robin through Thursday, leading to an elimination playoff round that will beginn on Friday, Aug. 14.