It's not a perfect system, far from it.

But when you're hosting a 112-team high school baseball tournament -- the largest in the country -- with all volunteer help, getting every team in exactly the right division based on competitiveness is impossible.

"We try, we really do try," said Peter Gallagher, chairman for the 55th annual Lions Tournament.

This year's tournament, which started Monday and finishes with the semifinals and finals on Thursday, features seven 12-team divisions at 50 sites across San Diego County.

The Classic Division -- the elite of the seven divisions -- includes several of San Diego's best teams, including No. 2-ranked Rancho Buena Vista, No. 3 La Costa Canyon, No. 6 Poway, No. 7 Cathedral Catholic, No. 8 Rancho Bernardo as well as Torrey Pines and Grossmont. Bakersfield Stockdale, which boasts a 13-2 record, is in a pool with Torrey Pines and Cathedral Catholic.

Yucaipa (11-0), ranked No. 10 in the Southern Section by the L.A. Times, and Las Vegas Green Valley (7-7), are in a pool with RBV. Temecula Valley (7-2) is in a pool with Poway. Las Vegas Silverado (9-6) is in a pool with La Costa Canyon, Rancho Bernardo and Grossmont.

But Vista, the county's No. 1-ranked team, is in the Premier Division -- the second tier of the seven divisions. The Premier Division also includes Sacramento Elk Grove (8-1), Bakersfield Liberty (12-6), El Camino Real (9-4), Palisades (9-5), Saugus and Montgomery, ranked No. 9 in San Diego.

"We send out about 300 invitations," Gallagher said. "And we really do try to get all the best teams in the Classic Divisions. But no one is perfect.

"I meet with Matt Chess (head coach at Torrey Pines) and Dennis Pugh (head coach at Cal State San Marcos). We talk to writers and coaches for the L.A., Orange County and Riverside areas as well as Nevada, Arizona and Utah."

Mission Hills, ranked No. 10 in San Diego, is in the 5A Division, while Point Loma, ranked No. 4 and Scripps Ranch, ranked No. 5, are in the 4A Division along with El Segundo (11-3), ranked No. 15 by the L.A. Times.

"I think we're about 80-85 percent right," Gallagher said. "But you always have teams that overachieve. You have teams that underachieve. You have teams that get hurt by injuries."

Getting the right teams in the right divisions isn't the only problem Gallagher faces. In the old days, all schools had the same days off for spring break.

Not so now.

"So we need to make sure the teams that are in school play at 3 p.m. and the teams that are on break play in the morning," Gallagher said. "We have teams from Utah that are only allowed to miss 2 1/2 days of school. So we have to schedule a night game for them on the first day -- and we only have four lighted fields in the county (Poway, Escondido and Helix highs, and National City's El Toyon Park in an emergency).

"And some schools -- like the San Diego Jewish Academy -- have restrictions on when they can play. But we try to accommodate everyone."

There are 56 games a day in the tournament the first three days with 14 on Thursday for a total of 182 games. Umpire costs run $25,000-30,000 and Gallagher said there is no admission charge to games.

There is a priority on getting college fields for as many semis and finals as possible. The Classic Division semis and final will be played at the University of San Diego.

The Premier bracket is at Southwestern College, the 5A at Grossmont College, the 2A at Alliant University and the 1A at MiraCosta College.

Point Loma Nazarene -- which boasts perhaps the world's most scenic ballpark -- was unavailable this season because the university had to rescheduled an early season rainout.

Gallagher had to rule out using San Diego State when the Lions and university officials could not come to a compromise on costs.

This year, the Padres are in town during the tournament and the Padres have made discount tickets available to the tournament teams. To date, teams have purchased more than 1,200 tickets for Tuesday's game with the Dodgers at Petco Park.

Gallagher said the priority is to take care of San Diego-area teams that want to play in the Lions Tournament. This year, 73 of the 104 baseball-playing schools in the CIF San Diego Section are in the tournament.

"The Lions Tournament is a big deal," said Poway coach Bob Parry, whose teams has won back-to-back Classic Division titles. "It would be nice to win three in a row, but that Classic Division is legit. To win it all, you have to win five games in four days, including a doubleheader on the last day. So you have to have a deep pitching staff.

"We don't play outside our county too much, but from the people I talk to, this is one of the toughest, and best-run tournaments in the country."

Chess took over a struggling Torrey Pines program five years ago. He said winning the Classic Division of the Lions Tournament in 2006 "made believers" out of the fence sitters.

"I'm telling you, it's really neat to win this thing," Chess said. "This is a nationally recognized tournament. The Classic and Premier divisions are loaded.

"And there are great players at almost any site you go to."

Over the years, 165 future major leaguers have played in the tournament.

"The only thing that could dampen our spirits is rain because we won't play beyond Thursday under any circumstance," Gallagher said.

The forecast calls for sun Tuesday, showers Wednesday and partly cloudy on Thursday.

Contact staff writer John Maffei at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.