By 
April 13, 2026
Stephanie Pinto was just a kid, playing ball, having fun.
Now she’s getting inducted into her third sports hall of fame.
This is sort of how it goes when you hit the game-winning home run to lead your high school to the state softball championship. As a freshman.
“All of a sudden, they’re like, ‘OK, you can play in college,” Pinto said. “‘You can get your college paid for.’ And my family and I, we’re like, ‘What?’ I’m out there just enjoying myself.”
Hall of Fame hat trick
Now a captain at Huntsville Fire & Rescue (HFR), Pinto will be ushered into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame on Monday, April 13. A slugging catcher, Pinto is already a member of the Gulf South Conference Hall of Fame and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Athletics Hall of Fame.
A Huntsville native who attended Grissom High School, Pinto’s husband Chris Boster also works at HFR and they have two young daughters, Ryker and Rylee.
Still, as Pinto sat in her office at the Huntsville Public Safety Training Academy answering questions she’s been asked countless times, she shook her head and smiled.
“I don’t know that I’m that interesting,” she said.
Stephanie Pinto, shown during her playing days at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, is a member of the school’s sports hall of fame as well as the Gulf South Conference Hall.
Olympian experience
Well, about that, there’s the time that Pinto served as the catcher for Olympic gold medalist pitcher Jennie Finch during a visit to Huntsville. At the time, Pinto played at UAH and a teammate talked to Finch at a Stars game. Finch mentioned she needed to get in some pitching workouts and Pinto’s teammate volunteered the Chargers’ catcher.
“My teammate called me late that night and said, ‘Hey, Jennie Finch is here and you’re going to catch her,’” Pinto recalled. “I’m like, ‘Ha ha, funny, good night.’”
When Pinto arrived at practice the next day, Finch was waiting.
“I walked up to the field and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s really her,’” Pinto said. “And I walked on the field and she said, ‘Oh, so you’re the one who’s catching me.’ And I was like, I just didn’t know. I said, ‘OK, you guys are just messing with me, right?’”
Wrong. Pinto caught Finch’s bullpen sessions for two straight days and still remembers the compliments the softball legend gave her afterward.
Pinto played so well at UAH during her career from 2004-2007 that she was named the Gulf South Conference’s Player of the Decade.
A career at HFR
When softball ended and life began, Pinto’s mother suggested a career with HFR. It made sense. Pinto had an interest in the medical field and as a high-level athlete, she gave firefighting a shot. Still, Pinto had concerns. The physical test during the application process is not easy, nor is the career itself.
Enter another hall of famer: Les Stuedeman. The longtime UAH softball coach, who retired last year, was demanding, Pinto said. But she was so revered that the school named its softball facility in her honor upon her retirement.
“The toughness, let’s say Coach Stuedeman’s disciplinary expectations and toughness, made my current career, I think, doable.”
Spraying a hose during her rookie training days, Pinto is now a Captain at HFR who trains firefighters.
After seven years as a firefighter and three years as a driver/engineer, Pinto promoted to captain and now works in the training division. When you encounter an efficient and professional HFR firefighter, they were probably trained by Pinto.
And on Monday, she will become a three-time hall of famer.
“There’s a lot of things about it that’s making me stop and reflect,” she said. “It’s like, oh my gosh, it’s been almost 20 years since playing college ball. And I’m 15 years into this career.
“(The hall of fame) is just a huge honor, obviously. It’s just something that, this many years later and just life happening, it’s making me stop and really look back and really appreciate those times more.”
