PITCH: L-R: Tim Jo, Meagan Holder, Mo McRae, Kylie Bunbury, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mark Consuelos, Ali Larter and Dan Lauria in PITCH premiering Thursday, Sept. 22 (9:00 – 10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX © 2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Tommy Garcia / FOX.

PITCH premieres tonight on FOX at 9/8c and if you’re a fan of underdog sports stories, the Padres, baseball, and strong female leads, it’s likely a show that you’re going to want to watch week in and week out.  Kylie Bunbury is doing star-making work as the Ginny Baker, a woman whose father (guest star Michael Beach) groomed her to dream his dream of becoming a pitcher in the Major Leagues.  Nevermind the fact that she’s a stinky girl with girl cooties; she is officially called up to become a starter for the San Diego Padres. Using her ability to pitch in the high 80s (MPH) with a screwball designed to throw off her competition, she’s become an idol for little girls across the world.

Team owner (Bob Balaban) sees her as good for business; the team manager sees her as a distraction that the rest of the team doesn’t need (Dan Lauria, pitch perfect).  Mark-Paul Gosselaar is there to offer sage words of wisdom as the aging Padres catcher (I recognized him instantly; let me know if you do, too); he may serve to be something more as he and Ginny hit it off down the line, but aside from the FOX synopsis referencing their unmentioned chemistry, I didn’t really see more than a mentor/mentee ‘ship. Center fielder Blip Sanders (MToT fave Mo McRae) is happy to have his Minor League teammate back on the mound; his wife (Meagan Holder) is happy to have her bestie around. And there’s also a whole story about her agent (Ali Larter), her agent’s assistant (a never-not-good Tim Jo), and Mark Consuelos (the team’s general manager) that never sticks for me.

Sports movie and show cliches abound, and just when you think it’s going to zig, it definitely zigs where a less predictable show would zag, but it sticks the landing with an interesting if not foreshadowed twist that could be fun to see play out.

Give it an episode or two, see what you think – for me, I’m on a week-to-week basis as far as setting a series recording goes, but if they focus more on Ginny and less on the storylines that bored me, I could be swayed.