PITCH Series Premiere Recap: “We Ain’t Done Nothin’ Yet”

By Ruby Campos

“We ain’t done nothin’ yet.” -Bill Baker

Pitch was definitely one of the most anticipated new series to watch this fall, and the pilot certainly lived up to the hype that we have seen over the last few months. The concept of the show is so refreshingly different from what we’ve seen on TV in the past and I absolutely cannot wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.

The episode begins with the pregame buzz of Ginny Baker’s debut as starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres in the Major Leagues. We see cameras, crowds of fans, and media coverage way before the game actually starts. Why? If it isn’t obvious yet, Ginny Baker is about to be the first female to play in the Major Leagues.

Despite the constant questioning on how she’s feeling being in the spotlight and if she’s experiencing any nerves before the game, Ginny has an aura of total cool.

Ginny is then whisked away to go meet her teammates and, with the exception of an old friend named Blip, warmly greeted with a hug, most of the guys seem less than thrilled to have her on their team. And any doubts of the team’s feelings toward her are shot down later when she overhears the guys voicing their own doubts that she won’t last long.

The stadium is packed and anticipation is running high as the game is just minutes away (there are a few mentions that the first woman playing in the major leagues is definitely aiding in high ticket sales).

The game then gets off to a rough start for Ginny, the weight of the expectations of everyone watching the game finally gets to her and she throws bad pitch after pitch. After an agonizing number of no good pitches, Ginny finally asks to be pulled out of the game.

Afterwards a few people try to offer her words of comfort but nothing works and she is confronted by her father, who appears in a number of flashbacks in which he coaches a young Ginny as she grows as a pitcher. Her dad gives something of a tough love speech and immediately after we see the father and daughter practicing like they did in the flashbacks.

Much to the objection of the team and its manager, Ginny comes back to pitch for the second game. However, when her pitching begins to look like a repeat of the first game, Mike, the team catcher and captain, steps in to give her the motivational speech she needs. He tells her to forget about what everyone is expecting of her because she should be doing this for herself and no one else.

This has an immediate effect on her mindset and Ginny then pitches brilliantly, bringing an impressive turnaround from the last game. The San Diego Padres win the game and Ginny is welcomed much more sincerely by a majority of the team and the manager.

The episode then ends as Ginny walks out onto the empty field and the show takes the audience into one last flashback. She and her father are in the car after meeting a recruiter for the Padres and Ginny is clearly excited and brightly exclaims “We did it, Pop!” right before the car crashes. We then get the heart wrenching reveal that her dad was killed in the crash. He wasn’t actually there to watch her play for the Padres in the Major Leagues, and her practice session after the first game was really done solo, motivated by the memory of her father.

Just Some More Praise

Hands down, this was one of the best TV pilots I’ve seen in a while. Kylie Bunbury is spectacular as Ginny Baker, you could feel the pressure she felt from all the eyes on her in that first game and you could feel her pain when she cries to her father about how she feels like a robot with no friends programmed only to play the game.

The flashbacks to her youth really helped solidify how hard Ginny has worked (literally) all her life to take her place as a pitcher in the Major Leagues and I found myself emotional and relieved for her when she finally found her groove in the second game. These flashbacks also made the reveal at the end of the episode all the more heartbreaking since it was her father who was her lifelong coach and biggest supporter, and the fact that he died just before he could see his daughter living out their shared dream is just as crushing.

I also just really enjoyed the dynamic between Ginny and teammate Blip, it was so nice to see someone on the team genuinely care about her, look out for her, and just be a good friend to her.

There’s really little to nothing that disappoints with Pitch’s first installment. I’m looking forward to seeing more from this promising story and impressive cast. Pitch has set the bar pretty high for this TV season.