The 32nd Annual Inner-City Classic is back in the Richmond area this week with an added attraction.

The sponsoring Metropolitan Junior Baseball League (MJBL) is including girls’ fast-pitch softball in the activities for the first time.

A four-team, U-18 girls’ bracket will include two local squads as well as teams from Washington, D.C., and Norfolk.

The boys competition will be in U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 and U-19 division.

The competition’s headquarters will be at Dorey Park and Recreation Center in Eastern Henrico County, as well as Varina High and Highland Springs High in Eastern Henrico, Hermitage High in Glen Allen and Klehr Field in Northern Henrico.

Longtime MJBL President William Forrester is expecting young baseball teams from Greensboro, N.C., Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Conn., and Columbia, S.C., in addition to clubs in each division from around Richmond.

The championships games for the U10, U12 and U14 baseball brackets, as well as the softball, will be 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at the Dorey Complex.

The U16 and U19 boys’ divisions will wrap up Sunday, Aug. 6, at Dorey and Highland Springs at 9 a.m.

The MVP of the U19 division will receive the Ken Free Classic Scholarship. Free is the former Negro Leagues baseball standout and first commissioner of the MEAC.

Forrester’s only regret is that there are no available or acceptable fields within Richmond proper to play the Inner-City Classic.

He is hopeful the city might remodel centrally located Parker Field Annex, adjacent to The Diamond, for future use. The Annex was once a popular destination for adult slow-pitch softball, but mainly has been vacant in recent seasons.

Other down-the-road possibilities are the city high school fields as well as the rarely used Cal Ripken Foundation Field located behind the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond on the city’s South Side.

Dorey Park, located on 400 acres on Darbytown Road, features six multipurpose fields, four of which are convertible for baseball and softball with 300-foot fences and lights.