Fast Pitch

Product Description

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field.

Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way.
 

Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat.
 

Strike two: Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending—and family-name-ruining—crime may have been a setup.
 

Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice’s teammates are beginning to wonder if she’s captain-qualified.
 
It’s up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past—and fast—before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.

Review

“A grand slam of an adventure.
” —
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Black girl magic hits a home run in Stone’s latest novel.” —
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Books like “Fast Pitch” are welcome evidence that writers for young readers are continuing to move beyond narratives in which the primary problem is a character’s marginalization.”
-The New York Times

“Tensions are high as the plot bounces between gameplay and sleuthing, ultimately reaching a satisfying conclusion….
Readers of all ages will cheer for Shenice.” —
Booklist

“A sports mystery that
will keep ­readers engaged from start to finish…Discussions about
race and civil rights are seamlessly ­woven into the narrative through Shenice’s own ­experiences.”
—School Library Journal”This contemporary sports story goes beyond mere genre appeal; it is
a novel of substance, carrying the weight of history.”
–The Horn Book

About the Author

NIC STONE is the
New York Times bestselling author of
Clean Getaway, which received starred reviews from
Publishers Weekly and
Booklist, who called it “an absolute firecracker of a book.” She is also the author of the #1
New York Times bestselling and William C. Morris Award finalist
Dear Martin, its
New York Times bestselling sequel
Dear Justyce, and the acclaimed novels
Odd One Out and
Jackpot for teens.
Nic spent several years on the softball field as a kid, and
Fast Pitch grew out of her love of the sport and the movie
The Sandlot, and her desire to see more Black female athletes represented on the field and on the page. Nic lives in Atlanta with her adorable little family. You can find her online at nicstone.info.
 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1 
Batter Up 
We have to win this game. . . . 
Like gotta win. No other option. 
I’ve been playing base-related ball–first tee, now soft–since the minute I could hold up a bat. Just like my daddy. And his daddy before him. And his daddy before him. It’s in my blood. And I learned the meaning of “love/hate relationship” in a game situation like this one. 
It’s the bottom of the sixth and we’re up by three, but the opposing team is at bat. Bases are loaded, two strikes, two outs. Any time I say something is stressful, my mama rolls her eyes and says, “You’re twelve, Shenice. You have no idea what that word means.” But this? Is stressful. 
As I drop back into my squat behind home plate, my eyes scan the field, and I inhale deep. Impossible to not notice–for me at least–how different our two teams look. While every player on mine, the Fulton Firebirds, has some shade of brown skin, all of the Stockwood Sharks girls are white. 
Which is the case for most teams in the 12U division of the Dixie Youth Softball Association. DYSA, if you’re feeling fancy. 
Not only are we Fulton Firebirds the first all-Black team in this league–which even considering the name is a huge deal–we’re the only team in the entire DYSA with more than three Black players on the