Pitch – Pilot

By: Jessica Wolff

On the morning of her MLB debut, Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury) wakes up and prepares for her big day. Ginny is the first female MLB player in history and this causes a lot of attention from the media. Her agent, Amelia Slater, (Ali Larter) escorts her away from the waiting crowd and into a car. Ginny tries to block out all of the noise with her headphones and ignores Amelia’s assistant, Eliot, (Tim Jo) as she tries to talk to her. An adoring crowd awaits her at the San Diego Padres’ stadium and Ginny assures Amelia that she’s been ready for this her whole life.

Back in 1995, Bill Baker (Michael Beach) is frustrated when his son has no interest in baseball. To his surprise, his daughter Ginny picks up the ball and throws the ball a great distance. Back in the present, Ginny steps out of the car and is greeted by Padres’ GM Oscar Arguella (Mark Consuelos). She then meets the owner (Bob Balaban) who assures her that the players are excited to meet her, but Ginny doubts that. The manager, Al Luongo, (Dan Lauria) talks to his players and tells them to treat Ginny as any other player despite being a distraction. Ginny walks into the locker room and Blip Sanders (Mo McRae) is the first to greet her, wrapping her into a big hug and reminiscing about their time together in the minor leagues.

Luongo takes her to her locker, which is separate from the others. Ginny pulls out her uniform for the night, emblazoned with her name and the number 43, one up from Jackie Robinson. At the press conference, Ginny holds up the uniform and puts it on for the crowd. Reporters ask her questions and Amelia stands in the back talking to Oscar about her unhappiness with the surprise press conference. She makes sure that he understands the importance of Ginny’s presence in the Padres’ locker room and how she is the most important woman at the moment. She demands that any decisions about Ginny be run by her first. He asks her out and she rejects him.

Ginny walks out onto the field and begins warm-ups. The catcher and team captain, Mike Lawson, (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) comes up to her and introduces himself. As he walks away, he slaps her ass. Ginny gets angry about it and Lawson insists that he slaps everyone’s ass and that he will slap her ass as long as she is a part of this team. A crowd gathers to cheer Ginny on as she practices. Blip asks her how she’s doing and Ginny admits that she’s nervous. Blip assures her that he has her back and then takes her to see his wife, Evelyn Sanders (Meagan Holder). They embrace and then Ginny goes to sign autographs of adoring fans.

On game night, Ginny splashes water on her face to calm her nerves. She hears the other players talk about her through the vents. They doubt her ability and believe that she is only here to sell tickets. Fired up, Ginny grabs her hat and prepares for her start. Lawson comes into the bullpen while Ginny is warming up and she throws to him. Ginny steps out of the bullpen to thunderous applause and takes the mound. She catches the eye of her parents in the stands. Another flashback shows her father demanding that Ginny get a tryout for the all boys little league team. She easily impresses the coach with her abilities. He later tells her that she will never have the arm strength that men do in the majors, but he teaches her how to throw a screwball.

Ginny braces herself for her first batter and her first pitch is over the batter’s head. Nerves get the best of her and she walks the batter on four bad pitches. Lawson comes over to talk to her and Ginny is determined to keep going. She throws a wild pitch to the next batter and he gets on base. Rattled, Ginny keeps struggling and is unable to throw a single strike. In a flashback, Ginny’s father teaches her how to throw a strike. Luongo and Lawson come to the plate and Baker has a breakdown. She demands that Luongo take her out of the game and she feels defeated as she goes through her post game press conference and leaves the stadium. Amelia tries to give her a pep talk, but Ginny storms off instead.

Ginny answers the door to find her father on the other side. He asks what is wrong with her and she says that he is. Breaking down, she yells at him for turning her into a “robot in cleats that is malfunctioning.” Undeterred, her father asks her to get her glove and they practice pitching until Ginny throws a strike. The owner and Oscar tell Luongo that they can’t send Ginny back down to the minors because it will make them look bad. The players in the locker room are upset by the news that Ginny will be staying. Blip defends Ginny and gets into a fight with another player. Ginny walks in and walks past the chaos, focused on getting ready for her next start.

Evelyn comes to see Ginny and forces her to turn off the television. She encourages her to get her head straight and forces her to have a girls’ night with her. On their night out, Blip encourages Lawson to help Ginny. Lawson replies that she is a quitter and Blip reminds him that she’s still here and that she is doing something nobody has ever done before. On the day of her next start, Ginny warms up. She flashes back to her high school championship when a scout from the Padres first approached her.

The game begins and Ginny steps up the mound. Her first two pitches are balls and Lawson comes out to the mound. He gives her a pep talk and tells her to focus on succeeding for herself. She throws her first strike and later records her first out. She gets her momentum and pitches through the game. Later in the game, Ginny ignores Lawson’s instruction and throws her fifth strikeout of the game. When she walks a batter, Luongo and Lawson come over to take her out of the game. Ginny insists that she can keep going, but Luongo tells her that she needs to listen to him. Reluctantly, she hands over the ball and walks off to thunderous applause.

After the game, she talks to the other players in the locker room. Tommy Miller (Ryan Dorsey) tells her to enjoy her time, as he’ll be getting his starting pitching job back soon. Blip defends her and gets into a fight with him when he implies that Blip has slept with Ginny. The owner talks to Oscar and questions whether Luongo is the right person to lead the team. Ginny steps out onto the empty stadium and looks around. She flashes back to after the scout approached her and she is sitting in the car with her father. Her excitement is short-lived as she and her father are involved in a car crash that takes her father’s life. In the stadium, her father appears to her and she talks about their success and her father says they haven’t done anything yet.