New York, NY: Crown Books for Young Readers (Aug. 31, 2021)

First Edition. Signed.

As new in dust jacket.

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.

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.