Miller?s documentary ?The Final Out? premieres virtually via Zoom

Editor?s note: The trailer for ?The Final Out,? the director?s final cut of the documentary and the first episode of a Web series of short features from material cut from the movie appear at the end of this article. Enjoy watching them, and reading Leslie Heimbaugh?s story, below, about the film?s premiere.

By Leslie Heimbaugh

CPC Film Series Correspondent

Nice try, coronavirus.

You managed to stop a lot of fun things from going according to plan, but Professor Paul Miller found an innovative way to get around your restrictions.

Because social-distancing rules barred groups of more than 25 people from gathering at the Capital BlueCross Theatre at Central Penn College, Miller recently decided to take his new baseball documentary ?The Final Out? to the people by premiering it virtually via Zoom.

Before the screening, Miller made a confession.

?I gotta tell everybody ? this is just our little secret here tonight ? baseball is my true love,? he said. ?I?ve played baseball all of my life.?

Miller just completed his first year at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Communications Media, and Instructional Technology Ph.D. program. One of his assignments during the last two semesters was to make a short documentary film.

?This has been one of the most difficult years of my life,? he said.

Promising season cut short

Meanwhile, the Central Penn Knights baseball team began what was shaping up to be their best season in the club?s history.

?You wanna talk about a dream team,? Miller said. ?To have senior leadership from Christian (Fulp), Connor (Graham), Freddie (Bahr), and Max (Thorpe) ? to have such a great crop of incoming freshmen like Hayden Fox, and to still have an anchor at first base like Chris Rosario ? I mean, this was the team to beat.?

Then, suddenly, the coronavirus hit, and the season was over. Miller knew fairly quickly that the subject of his documentary had to be the seniors of this incredible Knights team.

?When COVID-19 hit, I went back to my professor, and I pitched this story,? he said. ?To see them go through everything they?ve gone through, struggling the last couple of seasons right around .500. I mean, this was the year. In the end, it was so sad that this was taken away from them.?

Unfortunately for Miller, however, his professor dropped the hammer with a rather inconvenient limit for the project.

?I had about 30 hours of footage that I had to shrink down to 10 minutes,? he said.

Knightly News Film Correspondent Leslie Heimbaugh reviews last week?s CPC Film Series, ?The Final Out? from Professor Paul Miller, in our latest piece. Read all about the experience broadcast on Zoom and view the event if you weren?t able to join!

After-film panel discussion

After the film screening, Miller moderated a Q&A session with the film?s star athletes, CPC President Linda Fedrizzi-Williams, Knights Baseball Coach Robert Stern and CPC Athletic Director Kasey Hicks. Also on hand were Knightly News Club sports broadcasters Brian Christiana, Tyler Coleman and Parker Rose.

?I?ve been playing baseball since I was 4 years old,? said senior Knights player Connor Graham, who appears in the film. ?I?ve been a part of a lot of different teams; I?ve been to three different colleges to play college baseball.?

Graham talked about what made this team and this season so different from past seasons.

?At the first practice, everyone was there 100 percent ? a lot of determination, desire, drive,? Graham continued. ?Everybody was driven to the same goal of trying to win every game, trying to do what it takes, trying to do their jobs to achieve that. That?s what really stood out to me. That doesn?t happen often.?

Another of the film?s stars, senior Christian Fulp, talked about his experience during this bittersweet season.

?Coming in my freshman season, I was pretty much at the top,? he said. ?We made it to the Small College World Series. I had a pretty down season my sophomore and junior season, but my senior season, it taught me a lot about family and being one with the team, man. It was really like a d�j� vu situation when it came down to it. It felt like I was in the Small College World Series all over again, even though (we) really (weren?t) there yet.?

Still, Fulp managed to find the silver lining.

?I definitely see us (the team) talking a lot more down the road,? he said. ?We created a bond that can?t be broken. I truly am grateful for being in this documentary. I?ll be able to watch it over and over, so I?ll be able to remember the guys forever.?

Miller wrapped up the Q&A with thanks to all the people who were able to participate in the documentary despite being in the middle of a stay-at-home order during a pandemic. He also shared his gratitude for the opportunity to call sports at Central Penn.

?It?s truly the dream of a lifetime that I get to broadcast and be the voice of Central Penn athletics,? he said.

He also reminisced about the joys and responsibilities of being a first-time director.

?It was enjoyable because I felt that this was a story that needed to be told,? Miller said. ?I wanted people to understand how much sports really truly means to people. It was so sad on this level and nationwide the number of people who were impacted by this.?

We?re going into extra innings

Finally, Miller surprised the audience on Zoom with a bonus feature.

?Because I have so much footage, I?m announcing tonight that I?m going to be doing a four-part Web series called ?Extra Innings? that will feature some of the B-roll and some of the interview footage on particular subjects,? he said.

Miller explained that he will release a new two-minute episode every couple of weeks until October, and that information is forthcoming regarding the dates. For the first episode of ?Extra Innings,? he asked the film stars to choose their MVP for the 2020 season.

?I had to put everyone on the spot,? he said. ?This has a little bit of a different feel to it, but I think that you?re really going to like it.?

Have a comment or a story idea? Contact KnightlyEditors@CentralPenn.Edu.

Edited by media-club coadviser and blog editor Professor Michael Lear-Olimpi.