VIEW MORE PHOTOS | Hotlanta Softball’s HitMob Warm Up Tourney @ Southside

With start of the Hotlanta Softball League season just days away, the gay league’s Atlanta HitMob pulled together about a dozen teams on Sunday for its Warm Up Tourney.

The event featured C and D division teams from the gay league in round robin matchups throughout the day on March 13 at Southside Park in southeast Atlanta. It’s the unofficial opening to a summer of softball, car washes with strippers, beer busts, fundraisers, Mr. & Ms. HSL Pageant and the Big Peach Tournament over the July 4th holiday.

HSL opens its 31st season on March 20 with about three-dozen teams, each vying for berths in two national tournaments later this year. Men’s and coed teams head to the Gay Softball World Series from the North American Gay Amateur Sports Alliance in Chicago from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3. Women’s teams compete in the World Series from the Amateur Sports Alliance of North America in Philadelphia from Aug. 22-27.

Last year, men’s teams from Atlanta struck out at the World Series. An Atlanta team hasn’t nabbed a title since the Venom and the Wet Demons took crowns in 2007.

For the women, Gamma Lite won the title in 2009 and the Atlanta Riptide won in 2007.

HSL’s opening weekend includes beer busts from two teams — the Atlanta Menace on Saturday and the MudPups on Sunday.