Like my fellow editor Carolyn, I watched the first trailer for Fox’s upcoming show Pitch and got serious, serious chills. The show introduces the story of Ginny Baker (played by Under the Dome‘s Kylie Bunbury), who becomes the first woman to play for the San Diego Padres.

The network partnered with Major League Baseball for the series–according to producers, the MLB made the suggestion of the San Diego Padres as the team Ginny Baker would play for in the show, and allowed them to actually film in the baseball stadium (which undoubtedly contributes to set a terrific mood of excitement and tension like a real game would).

At the ATX Television Festival, the first ep was screened to very positive reviews–I saw a few critics praising it via Twitter–and then followed up by a Q&A with the show’s executive producers along with Bunbury and her co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar. (Bet you didn’t recognize him for a second with that beard, huh?)

Both Bunbury and Gosselaar expressed a need for this type of storytelling in terms of the impact it can have on young viewers–as a father to two girls, Gosselaar said the story was particularly meaningful for him, and Bunbury said she’s hopeful that female fans will be empowered:

Just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think it’s going to give them strength, and it’s really inspiring to see a woman – and also I’m a woman of color as well… this is the type of television that needs to be out.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for Pitch yet, you can watch it below:

(via Deadline)

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