Fastpitch  (2000)

Theatrical Release Information:
Fastpitch

Jeremy Spear is a noted sculptor and conceptual artist who has developed an estimable reputation on New York's downtown art scene. Spear is also an avid sports enthusiast who played shortstop on Yale's baseball team as they made the NCAA finals in the early 1980s. In the late 1990s, a friend asked Spear if he was interested in playing fast-pitch softball on a semi-pro team in Ohio, and soon he was introduced to what he calls "America's last barnstorming sport," which is far removed from both the casual amateur play of slow-pitch softball and the big money and glamour of major league baseball. Fastpitch is a documentary Spear made during his season with the Abbott Labs team, based in Ashland, OH (most American fast-pitch teams are sponsored by businesses), and takes a look at the colorful characters (would-be pro baseballers, Maori immigrants from New Zealand, Native American activists, and eccentric Southern millionaires) who populate a sport where, in an age of multimillion-dollar big league contracts, no one makes much money and the legends of the sport are all but unknown. Fastpitch was named Best Feature Documentary at the 2000 Nashville Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide