OBSERVER File Photo The statewide Little League tournament for 8, 9 and 10-year-old softball players returns to Dunkirk this week.

The state Little League softball tournament for 8, 9 and 10-year-olds is returning to Dunkirk on Wednesday.

Marv Cummings, administrator of the local Little League District 38, said seven teams are coming to town. The Westfield Little League All-Stars won’t have far to go, but the two teams from Long Island will. There is also a team from Staten Island coming, along with squads from Madison, Orange and Rensselaer counties in the eastern part of New York state.

This marks the final year of a three-year commitment to host the tourney. Dunkirk Little League President Gary Haase said Cummings approached him about applying four years ago, and he agreed. Dunkirk’s bid was approved because they have plenty of experience in hosting tournaments and the state Little League organization wanted this event to be in Western New York, Haase said.

A big role of tournament organizers is to play travel guide for out-of-towners, Haase said. “They want to get out and do something during down time, not necessarily sit by the pool at the hotel,” he said. Popular suggestions include Niagara Falls, Canalside in Buffalo, the Chautauqua Institute and cookouts at Point Gratiot. Tourney organizers provide a list of attractions such as restaurants, shopping and sightseeing, Haase added.

Cummings noted it’s already been a busy summer for local Little League tournaments so far: Fredonia Little League has hosted seven of them, including both baseball and softball at the district and sectional levels.

“Chad Bongiovanni (Fredonia Little League co-president), Tim Cowan (Fredonia LL co-president), Ed Schrantz, Jill Marsh and Jeff Davis have all played a hand in organizing those tournaments,” Cummings said.

“Falconer Little League, Westfield Little League and Bemus Point Little League have also hosted district tournaments this summer,” he continued. “Ray Lindquist (Falconer LL), Alexa Vilardo (Westfield LL) and Dave Garrett (Bemus Point LL) have all worked hard making sure those tournaments ran smoothly.”

Haase said the teams in this week’s tourney in Dunkirk had to win both divisional and sectional tournaments. Both he and Cummings noted that local sports fans are fortunate: with Dunkirk in 2016, Fredonia last year and Westfield this year, a Chautauqua County team has played in the tourney all three years it’s been in Dunkirk.

All games in the double-elimination tournament will be at Karnes Field in Wright Park. Westfield Little League’s first game is at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The championship game is set for 11 a.m. Sunday.

Haase would like area residents to come out in force for the games.

“It’s a high level of competition, maybe more intense than what we are used to in local Little League,” he said.