The Higher Levels Minor Softball Association was active in St. John's from 1972 to 1986. The Association was organized in 1972 by Fred Jackson (later a sports reporter for the Daily News, St. John's), a teenager living in the Higher Levels (Shea Heights) neighbourhood who wanted to play organized softball. It continued as a community-sponsored recreation initiative with programming supervised by instructors hired under the federal Young Canada Works (YCW) program.
The League offered programs at a number of levels including minor baseball for both girls and boys, a T-ball league for children under 10, and the sponsorship of men's and women's teams in the St. John's junior and senior softball leagues. In its peak years there were as many as 500 active participants in the Association's various programs.
Starting in 1973, the Association's teams competed successfully at the provincial level, and later nationally. In the early years the Association operated out of the Seventh Day Adventist athletic field, which was eventually divided into two diamonds with financial assistance raised by the Association. In later years games were also played at the Ayre Athletic Grounds. The Association was a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Amateur Softball Association (later known as Softball Newfoundland).