The premiere started off introducing us to Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury); we quickly found out she’s not like others — she’s not a diva, she’s not really looking to be a role model: she’s a ball player. However, when the San Diego Padres called her up to pitch, making her the first woman in the majors, everyone started looking at her differently. And she now had an agent, a bad ass agent (Ali Larter).
Luckily, she also had one friend on the team, Blip (Mo McRae), who she came up with. One person who wasn’t a fan, was the team captain, Mike Lawson (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) — he knew she was good, but he was used to being the star. He was also still wanting that World Series ring so that meant he had a little bit of hope in her.
‘Pitch’ Season 1
Throughout the episode, we met her dad (Mike Beach) who found out his daughter had quite the arm when he was trying to train his son. His catch phrase to her? “We ain’t done nothin’ yet.” He told her that as a kid, as a teen, even when she made the minors. He also taught her that she’d never had the strength of a man — so she needed something different: a “secret weapon.” He then taught her the screwball.
She took the mound for her first game and couldn’t get out of her head; she threw ten wild pitches, and while her dad looked on from the stands, she remembered a horrible memory: her dad slapping her brother as reinforcement to make her throw a strike. With that, she told Lawson and the coach to pull her — yes, she walked off. After the game, her dad showed up at her room to make her throw.
The general manager Al (Dan Lauria) was ready to send her back down — but the owner knew that the money was there, and kept her for another game. After a night with Blip’s wife (while he was out telling Lawson to give her a chance), she prepped herself to go back out there. Right before she re-took the mound, she remembered winning the State Championship and meeting a recruiter, her dad by her side.
She started out throwing a few wild pitches — until Mike Lawson took Blip’s advice, met her on the mound and gave one hell of a pep talk: it worked. After the game, we got a glimpse of the jealous ex-pitcher Tommy, who called her a “bitch” the minute she turned her back. Of course, Blip stepped in — as did Lawson. After hearing of the scuffle, the GM and Owner thought maybe it was time to ax Al. (Please please please no).
So, what’s next? Well one more cliffhanger of course. The episode ended with Ginny stepping onto an empty field, and remembering one more memory with her dad — the conversation after the championship game, after they were approached by the SD minors. When waiting for him to say, “we ain’t done nothin’ yet,” they crashed. And her dad died. Yes, those shots were all in her mind.
HollywoodLifers, did you love the premiere? Are you hooked? To find out how the show will move forward after that twist, check out our interview with the cast and the EPs.