The Iron & Oil League lives on.

The summer high school baseball league — which plays a majority of its games at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park — will return for a third season in June.

While the league had six teams last year, it plans to expand to eight this year. Committed teams include the Butler Twisters, Nbc Warriors (Northern Butler County), Shaler, the Independent Players (New Kensington), Freeport and Core Athletics.

League official Shawn Manning said the circuit can't house more than eight teams.

“We've got some other possibilities out there and I'm confident we'll add two more teams,” Manning said. “Ninety percent of our games will be played at Pullman Park on Tuesdays, so we can only be so big.

“We're going to play on three weekends up in Dubois, too.”

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, last summer's regular season was limited to eight games. A 12-game fall league was held as well.

Manning said this summer's schedule will be 15 games or more.

“A lot of these kids are involved in weekend tournaments with travel teams,” he said. “Our league gives these kids another opportunity to get on the field and in a beautiful ballpark.”

Roster limit is 18 players. Most teams carry 12 to 15 players.

“We want to allow for injuries and pitching issues,” Manning said.

Former Knoch baseball coach Curt Schnur coaches the Butler Twisters, which has claimed the Iron & Oil League championship in both summer seasons and last fall season thus far.

Schnur said the Twisters carried 13 players last season — all from Butler — and expects more players this time around. The Twisters were 7-1 last summer, 9-3 in the fall.

“This has definitely become a pride thing with us,” Schnur said of winning the title. “These kids enjoy playing ball together and it's become a community thing.

“I like the league's set-up. Playing doubleheaders one night a week, it enables these kids to do other things in the summer, fulfill other commitments, and still be part of a team.”

The Nbc Warriors are comprised of players from Slippery Rock, Karns City, Moniteau, etc., and are a first-year entrant in the league. Tom Matthews formed that program when his son was 7 years old.

“My goal was to have a Moniteau team, but in such a rural area like that, it's hard to find enough kids,” Matthews said. “We pulled in players from all over the northern part of the county.

“We've played tournaments over the years, but have always played them locally, in the Pittsburgh area.”

Matthews said he grew up “playing in a local league against local competition.” He likes what the Iron & Oil League is all about in that regard.

“We've lost some kids to the Youngstown B league, but I've been coaching a lot of guys on this team since they were in elementary school,” Matthews said. “We're excited about joining this league, about trying to win it.

“Our roster is lean, around 11 players, but we can bring in extra kids when we need them.”

The Iron & Oil League will begin play in June. The season will wrap up in late July or early August. It is a wooden bat league.

“You can get a better read on a kid's power with wooden bats and getting used to using them can help a kid get to the next level,” Schnur said.