Beer, Lesbians and Baseball! Casting Announced for New Crave Original Comedy Series, SLO PITCH

– The series stars Jess Salgueiro, Karen Knox, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Emma Hunter, and Emily Hampshire, with special guest star, women's softball legend Ayami Sato – 

– Shooting now in Toronto, Hamilton, and surrounding areas – 

– Based on the short form series of the same name, and produced by Shaftesbury in association with Boss & Co and PAGEBOY Productions –  

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2025 /CNW/ - Crave announced today casting details for its new original series SLO PITCH, produced by Shaftesbury in association with Boss & Co, and Elliot Page's PAGEBOY Productions. The 10-episode, half-hour mockumentary, which is in production now through October, is centred around a queer, underdog, slo pitch softball team and their dedicated and determined coach.

Welcome to the world of beer league sports, where Joanne Pico (Jess Salgueiro) is coach to six-time league losers, "The Public Lass Brovaries." Coach Joanne is dead set on turning things around this season despite having just been brutally dumped by her girlfriend and co-founder of the team. Throughout the summer, Joanne leads her lovable, chaotic crew through a season of strikeouts, petty rivalries, conservative-politician sponsors, and sexy carwash fundraisers gone wrong. With her ex now playing on a rival team, Joanne's got a lot to prove this season. It's time to win the breakup, get the gang back together, and maybe even find new love over beers in the dugout.

SLO PITCH also stars Karen Knox, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Chelsea Muirhead, Emma Hunter, Lane Webber, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, Amanda Cordner, and Emily Hampshire.

Guest stars include actors Varun Saranga, Laura De Carteret, Don MacLean Jr., Nadine Bhabha (who is also a writer on the series) and comedians Carolyn Taylor, Chris Locke and Chris Sandiford, plus a cameo from Japanese softball pitcher Ayami Sato, who recently made history as the first woman to play in a Canadian men's professional baseball league. 

Created by J Stevens, and Karen Knox and Gwenlyn Cumyn who also star, SLO PITCH is based on the short-form series of the same name and is developed for television by Katie Ford and Jane Cooper Ford. The series marks Bell Media's first project with PAGEBOY Productions following the announcement of a co-development deal earlier this year.

The series will be available to Crave audiences in both English and French, and is distributed internationally by Shaftesbury.

SLO PITCH is produced by Shaftesbury in association with Crave, Boss & Co, and PAGEBOY Productions, with participation of the Bell Media Fund and Ontario Creates. Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, and Paige Haight are executive producers for Shaftesbury. Karen Knox and Gwenlyn Cumyn are executive producers, writers, and stars. Katie Ford and Jane Cooper Ford are executive producers. J Stevens is executive producer and director. Michael Schram is executive producer. Elliot Page is executive producer for PAGEBOY Productions, and Emily Hampshire is executive producer.

For Bell Media, Alexis McLaren is Production Executive; Sarah Fowlie is Head of Production, Original Programming; Rachel Goldstein-Couto is Head of Development, Original Programming; Carlyn Klebuc is General Manager, Original Programming; and Justin Stockman is Vice President, Content Development & Programming.

About Bell Media Original Programming   

Bell Media has commissioned some of Canada's most-watched and most-acclaimed English and French original programming, working with the best Canadian independent producers and global content powerhouses. Scripted series commissioned by CTV include SULLIVAN'S CROSSING, SIGHT UNSEEN, CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING, and ACTING GOOD; with unscripted series THE TRAITORS CANADA, MASTERCHEF CANADA, and record-breaking Canadian format THE AMAZING RACE CANADA; as well as quiz series BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS. Crave Originals include hit series LETTERKENNY, SHORESY, THE TRADES, LATE BLOOMER, THE OFFICE MOVERS, and CANADA'S DRAG RACE; award-winning drama LITTLE BIRD; docuseries BILLIONNAIRE MURDERS, THUNDER BAY, and THE REBUILD: Inside the Montreal Canadiens; as well as dozens of acclaimed feature documentaries. Bell Media's factual series and franchises include HIGHWAY THRU HELL, FORENSIC FACTOR, and MY PET ATE WHAT!?. Bell Media and Sphere Abacus also distributes a slate of original scripted and unscripted series, including LATE BLOOMER, THE OFFICE MOVERS, MARK MCKINNEY NEEDS A HOBBY, EVOLVING VEGAN, THE MIGHTIEST, and more. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. Learn more at http://www.bellmedia.ca.

About Crave   

Crave is the largest Canadian-owned streamer delivering an unparalleled content offering with HBO and Max Originals, STARZ, Hollywood-hit movies, and iconic series including FRIENDS, THE OFFICE, and more. It also boasts an ever-growing and globally renowned slate of English and French original series. Crave is available directly to all Canadians with access to the Internet at Crave.ca, via iOS and Android, and other platforms such as Amazon Fire TV, Prime Video Subscriptions, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Hisense, LG Smart TVs, PlayStation, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox One and participating TV service providers. Crave is from Bell Media, Canada's leading media and entertainment company. Visit our website at Crave.ca.

About Shaftesbury   

Shaftesbury is an award-winning creator and producer of original content. Shaftesbury's current primetime slate includes 19 seasons of the international hit series Murdoch Mysteries for CBC Television, Acorn TV, Ovation TV and Alibi Channel, and eight seasons of Hudson & Rex for Citytv, UPtv and Alibi Channel. Both series are available in over 120 countries worldwide. Other productions include: six seasons of the horror anthology series Slasher on Shudder and Hollywood Suite, with the most recent installment, Hell Motel, starring Emmy® Award-winner Eric McCormack; three seasons of Departure for Global starring Emmy® Award-winner Archie Panjabi and the late Academy® Award-winner Christopher Plummer; and SisterS, an Irish-Canadian co-production starring Sarah Goldberg (Barry) and Susan Stanley, returning for a second season for Crave, RTÉ and IFC. Yet to launch is the one-hour dark crime drama The Borderline, starring Stephen Amell, Hamza Haq, Tamara Podemski and Emmy® and Academy Award®-nominee Minnie Driver for Crave, and Irish Blood, an Irish-Canadian co-production starring Alicia Silverstone for AMC/Acorn TV. For more information visit shaftesbury.ca.

About PAGEBOY Productions   

PAGEBOY Productions endeavors to develop and produce entertaining, original, commercial and socially responsible stories. PAGEBOY actively seeks creators and content from underrepresented communities and uplifts collaborators denied equitable access to mainstream Hollywood. PAGEBOY will pursue storytelling that prioritizes safety, representation, and intersectional equity in all facets of making film and television; we believe that making quality art by and for intentionally marginalized voices is necessary to dismantle and redistribute power balances – within entertainment institutions and broader systems of oppression – and to push the boundaries of what we think subversive storytelling and representation can be and achieve.  

Elliot Page and PAGEBOY Productions are repped by UTA, Vie Entertainment, Yorn Levine, and ID.   

For more information, please contact: 
Ama Sechere, Crave Publicist - [email protected]     

SOURCE Bell Media Inc.