Fastpitch

In this affectionate tribute to fastpitch softball (the all-American pastime that once rivaled professional baseball), Yale graduate and New York conceptual artist, Jeremy Spear documents his season as shortstop for a ragtag Ohio team as they wind their way through America's heartland to the Fastpitch World Championship in Wisconsin. Short on innings (only seven in this game), short on fans, and definitely short on cash, fastpitch is going the way of the drive-in and mom-and-pop grocery, kept alive by players and coaches willing to brave countless nights in flea-bag hotels all for the love of the game. Spears, with an artist's eye for irony and an insider's awe, acquaints us with some of the fastpitch champions and legends we'll never see on a Wheaties box: Slugger Shane Hunuhunu, a Maori player from New Zealand where fastpitch still holds the country in rapt attention; legendary Toronto pitcher, Darren Zack, an Ojibway Indian best known for striking out 150 players in 71 innings; and on the management side, Peter Porcelli, the manicured, junk-mail tycoon and owner of the Tampa Bay Smokers, loathed by other hardscrabble teams for his deep pockets that suck up the best players in the country. As a bittersweet look at an all-American institution on the verge of extinction and a sympathetic portrait of everyday people chasing a fading dream, Fastpitch is definitely recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (A. Cantú)