Steel City Softball League Wraps Its 45th Season

Little Pigs, Aces & Bases, Gracie Lou Freebushes, and Lavender Menace took home regular-season and playoff honors as Pittsburgh’s queer softball league wrapped its 45th season.

Photo courtesy of the Steel City Softball League.

The Steel City Softball League (SCSL), Pittsburgh’s queer softball league, recently concluded its 45th season with its playoffs held at Dan Isaac fields in West Mifflin.   

This year, the league was divided into three divisions to ensure safety, fairness, and competitive balance among the league members.  The skill divisions used for the Steel City league are C, D, and E.

The teams competing this year in the C Division were the Little Pigs and Trash Pandas.  The D Division included the Aces & Bases, Gracie Lou Freebushes, Growlers B, Outcry, Power Bottoms of the Ninth, and the RBGs.  Playing in the E Division were the Bottoms of the Ninth, Glitter Bombs, Growlers A, Lavender Menace, Riveters, and the Slayers. 

Games were played weekly during the summer to determine a regular league season champion, and then, based on the season’s regular standings, a separate playoff weekend was held for all teams, and a playoff champion was crowned.   Here are the Champions:

DivisonRegular SeasonPlayoffs
CLittle PigsTBD
DAces & BasesGracie Lou Freebushes
ELavender MenaceLavender Menace

Next up on the agenda for the SCSL is Fall Ball.  So far there are 80 participants, but there is room for more.  If you’d like to participate, you can register here: Fall Ball Registration

Additionally, the Gracie Lou Freebushes will be representing the Steel City Softball League at the 2026 International Pride Gay Softball World Series in Columbus, Ohio. The Freebushes will compete among 256 teams from 58 cities across the United States and Canada.  Heading to the World Series is expensive.  If anyone would like to donate to the Team Fund, they can do so here.  The Freebushes thank you for your contribution. 

Thank you to the volunteer SCSL board members for their hard work throughout the year: Bobby Angelo (Commissioner), Wayne Dotson and Matt Jenkins (Assistant Commissioners), Harry Caskey (Secretary), Robert Hickman (Treasurer), Amy Haushalter (Fields Chairperson), Leah McKown (Membership Chair), and Stephanie Olsen (Marketing Chair).

Huge congrats to the Steel City Softball League on knocking another great season out of the park!

Photos courtesy of Steel City Softball League.

Tap to view full photo.

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Jeff Freedman (he/him) is a Pittsburgh native celebrating his fourth decade of LGBTQ+ community volunteerism. A co-founder of the Steel City Softball League in 1981, Jeff has remained a dedicated advocate ever since. His leadership includes serving on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission for LGBTQ Affairs, chairing Pittsburgh Pride celebrations from 2005 to 2007, and currently serving as the Pittsburgh Pride March & Parade Co-Chair. In recognition of his lifelong dedication, Jeff was named the 2025 Pittsburgh Pride Grand Marshal. Regular parade-goers will recognize him as the enthusiastic voice on the megaphone organizing the march participants. Jeff looks forward to sharing his best stories—at least the printable ones—with the QBurgh community.