She's never known her mother. Her father seems to hate her. She has only one true friend, who's a boy. A mediocre student and a social misfit, she's downright miserable. This is Taylor Dresden, a freshman in a gritty New Jersey high school. The only pleasure she's ever had was playing baseball. But at the age of eight, she stopped playing when she overheard her dad say how embarrassed he that her talent far exceeded that of his sons. As a fourteen-year-old struggling to find her true self, Taylor is branded a juvenile delinquent after a single incident of vandalism at her own school. Instead of pressing charges on the school's behalf, her guidance counselor offers her an alternate punishment join the baseball team and talk regularly to him. Eventually, Taylor begins to gain the self-confidence she needs to straighten out her life. Taylor gradually comes to know that no matter how many curves life throws at her, she's quite capable of throwing them right back."
