Shortly after undergoing breast cancer treatment, filmmaker Sarah Strauss looks back with regret on her decades-old decision to abandon her childhood dream of playing professional baseball.
Sarah Pitching for her Little League team in 1976 Acting on impulse, Strauss hits the road to make a documentary about a handful of girls pursuing their love of America’s National Pastime by playing in all-girls tournaments sponsored by Baseball for All (BFA), which advocates for girls in the sport. Together, they seek respite from the sport’s bruising “boy’s club” in an all-girls baseball community.
When Sarah begins filming baseball players Maddy, 10, Darby, 11, Gigi, 12, and Sabrina, 15, are hopeful about their futures in the sport. Maddy wants women to play in the Major Leagues and Darby envisions a professional women’s league coming into existence. Gigi has her sights set on making her high school team. But the girls face obstacles that look all too familiar to Sarah, and she fears they will be disappointed when trying to reach their goals. Sabrina tries out for her high school team and is told “she’s good enough, but they just can’t have her on the team.” Parents from the opposing teams’ harass Gigi, but her mother, Barb, nudges her onward by asking, “How badly do you want it?” Darby with her local team after a big game
While documenting these coming of age stories, the filmmaker meets some of the barrier-breaking women who paved the way for girls today; she also reconnects with her first love--baseball--and to the father who taught her how to play the game. When Sarah gets the chance to coach an all-girls baseball team, this renewed connection intensifies. Through their parallel journeys, Sarah and the teenage players try to reconcile their passion for the National Pastime with a society that resists accepting that they belong.
After six years of filming these players as they grew up on and off the field, we’re excited to be in post-production. We need your support to bring this important story to life in the editing room. We’re raising funds first for an assistant editor to help us organize our 200+ hours of footage, and then for our editor to complete a full rough cut.
This film shines a light on the passion, determination, and challenges faced by young women breaking barriers in a traditionally male-dominated sport. Your donation will help us complete this documentary.
