Introduction

Suzanne Peterson, the new kid yet again, hopes to fit in by joining the baseball team, but is shocked to find that, at her new junior high, only the boys have a team. There is no team for girls because there is no coach and that just the way it is. Suzanne appeals to her mother, who has no real love for baseball, but who does hate injustice. One fiery phone call later and the school has found a new coach. But Suzanne's struggle to build a new team is just beginning.

The Challenges

The new coach, Mrs. Simmons, doesn't know the first thing about baseball and they don't have near enough players. Worse, the girl who could be the best, Mason, is planning to play for the boys. She's bitter and not playing for a bunch of hopeless girls. It does look hopeless until Suzanne befriends an ancient black man from the wrong side of the tracks.

The Legend

It turns out that the old guy who watches from his park bench is none other than Clarence Porterhouse Jackson, a baseball legend, who was barred from the Major Leagues because of the colour of his skin.

The Conflict

Even worse, the best player on the boys' team is a total jerk, who decides to initiate Suzanne with a series of humiliating pranks, and a mocking challenge that the girls will never be able to beat the boys! Suzanne is not the kind of girl to back away from a challenge!