Fast Pitch

“‘It’s a weight no one your age should have to carry, but can’t ignore,’ he says. And he’s right: Every win feels…historical.”

One significant narrative thread throughout the novel is what it means to write history and who gets to write it. Shenice finds herself in conflict with history because a white player, Jacob Carlyle, got to write her great-grandfather’s history; the MLB and all other leagues at the time wrote his history by erasing his accomplishments. Now, Shenice must rewrite JonJon’s history while writing her own with her team.

“Even making it to State would be huge: a message that girls like us do belong on the field.”

Sexism plays a role in the narrative, alongside racism. The Firebirds face both actions as people question whether they can play the game well. Some characters go so far as to directly challenge the girls to contests of skill—contests the girls always win.

“Which would be bad enough if not for the fact that Daddy was trying to live out the dream his daddy—my PopPop—never got to achieve: no one was really playing Black players in the 1970s if they weren’t in the Major Leagues, so when my granny got pregnant, PopPop had to ‘quit tossing balls around and get a real job.’ (He was still bummed out about it when he died a few years ago).”

Shenice carries the weight of her family’s baseball legacy. When her dad gives her his championship ring, he passes on the legacy. With that ring comes the weight of the family’s expectations that someone will make it into the Major Leagues and play baseball professionally. By carrying the ring throughout the novel, Shenice symbolically carries the weight of her family’s legacy that dates back to her great-grandfather, JonJon.

“When we started learning about symbolism in Mr. Bonner’s language arts class this year [...] it clicked: the trunk wasn’t an actual trunk. It was a symbol of my grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s legacies. And I held the literal key.”

Shenice’s statement is ironic because the trunk has symbolic significance outside the symbolism she identifies here within the plot. In the larger context of Fast Pitch, the trunk represents mysteries and hidden narratives and foreshadows her quest to reveal her family’s stories.

“I’m holding Great-Grampy JonJon’s buttery-soft mitt [...] that was pulled from a trunk I didn’t think was real, and handed to me by a man who is struggling to stand after climbing two flights of stairs. One of which I didn’t know existed, even though I’ve lived in this house my whole life.”

Stone lists the many barriers that block Shenice’s knowledge of her family’s stories, mirroring the real obstacles she must overcome in the plot. Despite having had the key to the trunk since her grandfather died, she is unaware that it exists until her father shows her. Not knowing the trunk is real aligns with her questioning whether the Joe DiMaggio glove exists or if it is still possible to find it. In addition to illustrating that his own baseball days are behind him, Shenice’s father’s struggle to climb the flights of stairs—with added emphasis on two—reflects the additional expectations Black people have historically needed to carry and overcome compared to their white peers. Shenice not knowing the second staircase exists imitates the hidden expectations that nobody says out loud but that still exist and hold people back.

“It’s all down distraction hill from there.”

Stone blends the themes of Sports’ Connection to Personal and Familial Identity and Teamwork and Effective Leadership here as Shenice begins to question both. Her focus on leading and saving her family’s baseball legacy distracts her from genuinely leading her team.

“It does get me back on track, though. I give it my all at practice on Tuesday. Which is saying a lot because it’s a doozy—multiple cycles of around-the-horn drills followed by full-speed base laps, capped off with Coach Nat’s favorite form of torture: push-ups.”

Shenice’s father gives her his high school championship ring, symbolizing her family’s baseball legacy, and burdens her with the weight of expectations she has yet to meet. However, by holding a physical reminder of the Lockwood family legacy, Shenice finds her focus and regroups for a time.

“With our reality, at least, [...] The one that belongs to him is just as valid.”

Stone not only wants to speak about the impact of racism and sexism in sports, but she also endeavors to discuss the reality of aging and declining cognitive abilities. Her word choice validates the experiences of those who live with cognitive challenges, and allowing Jack to exist and express his reality without judgment in the narrative creates space for people and characters like him.

“Hard as we tried to resist it in our family, wasn’t no getting rid of that longing for approval from white folks.”

Stone addresses the lingering effects of Racism and Sexism in “Base-related Sports” by showing how even contemporary players (such as Shenice) seek approval from those who have historically held a higher social status. Her word choice also emphasizes the internal conflict that influences the Lockwood family—the balance between self-expression and the approval of others.

“All that to say, I feel like quite the ‘ding-dong,’ as I like to call Drake when he’s being idiotic, in the words of Britt-Marie. I have this amazing, momentous, historical thing going [...], but I’m distracted by something that happened seventy years ago?”

Shenice does not yet see how the events of 70 years prior influence her life today. To succeed at clearing her great-grandfather’s name and grow as a character and a person, she will need to learn to see these distinctions through the lens of Sports’ Connection to Personal and Familial Identity.

“My head is in the flames, all right. The flames of the place where Red Devils are said to come from.”

Stone addresses the double meaning of the team’s motto about keeping their head in the flames. Though the name of the Firebirds symbolizes their ability to overcome adversity and stand stronger than ever, “flame” takes on a negative connotation as well, implying that Shenice feels the heat of a hellish kind of flame due to the pressure she is under.

“I know Great-Grampy JonJon was on a Negro Southern League team because of all the trophies and plaques in our attic shrine. But it’s bothering me to no end that I can’t find evidence of his participation in the place that’s supposed to have all the answers to everything.”

As Shenice searches online for evidence of JonJon’s baseball career, Stone draws attention to the significance of recorded history and whose histories are actually recorded. The author also highlights the impact of the histories of marginalized people being erased.

“Uncle Jack said I ‘gotta fix it.’ But what exactly am I supposed to fix?”

One of the challenges of generational trauma is not knowing how the trauma and challenges originate. Shenice needs to fix a problem that started more than 70 years before her time, and Jack asks her to tackle not only JonJon’s innocence but by extension, the innocence of all Black people wrongfully accused of crimes.

“All of you are old enough to know—and have probably felt—that the world isn’t always a nice or fair place for bright and bold young royals like you. But that’s exactly what you are—royalty—and me and Nat want you to get out there and show those bigots who’s boss.”

Coach Natalie and Ms. Erica acknowledge the injustice the players face and provide the children with a coping mechanism for tackling the overwhelming feelings associated with racism on the baseball field. Stone’s goals are both to validate these experiences for readers by providing a parallel they might relate to and see themselves in so that they can transfer the lesson from the characters to their own lives.

“All I know is that after seeing those flags and feeling like all my power and the good things about me had been instantly snatched away, I think I understand why Uncle Jack didn’t go to the authorities with that glove. The strangest part is that while I’m thrilled we won, it also made me afraid: Great-Grampy JonJon being good at something inspired a person who didn’t like it—and who had more power than he did—to do an awful thing.”

The dynamic between Shenice, JonJon, and Jacob Carlyle draws attention from Marxist literary theory, which examines who has power, who works to maintain power, and how others strive to have that power. Shenice realizes that her fear is based not only on the racism she faces every day but also that her power and talent as a Black athlete are perceived as threatening to people who hold racist views.

“What a lot of people don’t realize about softball: the relationship between a pitcher and a catcher can make or break a game.”

Without knowing it, Shenice speaks to the importance of the theme of Teamwork and Effective Leadership. By acknowledging the importance of the relationship between players, Shenice recognizes the importance of working together as a team rather than trying to shine individually.

“And racism is something you’ll definitely have to wrestle with. But you gotta take things a single step at a time.”

Despite Shenice’s quest to overcome systemic and historical racism, Stone informs her audience that daily problems cannot be overcome easily. Part of Stone’s intent is to educate her audience on the importance of breaking tasks into smaller steps and taking each step individually rather than trying to tackle the whole issue at once.

“And as I stared at his shut eyelids, I thought about all the terrible things he probably saw as a person who not only watched his big brother’s life get ripped apart, but lived through stuff like the Civil Rights Movement we learned about in social studies.”

The Civil Rights Movement was an impactful moment in United States history, during which Black people organized to demand equal rights and an end to segregation and other discriminatory laws. Shenice still feels the impact of those events. Her reflection on what her great uncle saw and experienced in his life serves to highlight both the events’ relative recency as well as what has changed since he was closer to her age.

“He wrote a few times after that: mostly about things like money troubles, exhaustion, and how hard it was to be a family man. But it’s clear the light inside him had gone out.”

JonJon lost his will to write and to continue moving forward after Carlyle ended his career. This is one of the strongest examples of the theme of Sports’ Connection to Personal and Familial Identity. After JonJon lost his career, Shenice recognizes that he also found day-to-day life challenging because he lost a part of his identity, in addition to his job and passion.

“When I was chosen [...] Coach had everyone tell me their reasons for choosing me. And though it was super uncomfortable hearing my teammates say nice things about me, most of their reasons were similar. Laury summed it up best: ‘Lightning’s a good listener, and she believes in us.’”

Shenice’s reflection demonstrates her mental shift toward teamwork and effective leadership. She no longer thinks about how she carries her team, but also why they chose her to lead. She then takes that rationale and applies it to her life to understand why Jack trusts her with a monumental task.

“You had a nasty gash in your arm, and a giant dog at your side—like she was watching over you, your dad said. I think you might have a new pet, actually.”

Stone regularly plays with perception versus reality throughout this novel, and the dog in JonJon and Jack’s backyard illustrates how beliefs do not always align with the truth. Stone intentionally chooses a dog breed that is often perceived as aggressive and uses strong word choices to suggest that the dog attacks Shenice; however, an outside perspective shows the dog protecting her rather than harming her.

“My case is obviously different: Great-Grampy JonJon didn’t actually do anything wrong. But Scoob still had a point: maybe he didn’t tell my PopPop or Daddy because he didn’t want to discourage them or something. Or maybe it was just too painful.”

In reflection, Shenice questions why JonJon would not tell his family about being framed. She acknowledges the significance of both racism and sexism in baseball and sports’ connection to personal and familial identity. JonJon lost his identity and his dignity as he was portrayed as a thief but did not want to take either away from his children. However, Shenice also highlights how JonJon’s shame would have a lasting impact on the Lockwood family identity.

“Perhaps he realized he wasn’t going to be around a lot longer the same way my G’ma did. So he needed to get the whole story—and his part in it—off his chest—”

Part of combatting bigotry is providing space for people who are oppressed to speak their truths. Before now, Jack never had the opportunity to tell his truth to someone who would believe him. Because Shenice listens and believes, he comes to peace with what happened and what he did, knowing that someone else will further his mission to redeem JonJon. Jack’s passing after Shenice completes her quest represents his acceptance of the completed quest suggesting that he found peace at the end of his life.