You don’t drive 1000 miles (or however far it is they reached) unless you really really want it.
But it driving a thousand miles doesn’t mean you won’t change your mind at the last second.
Oldest, 100% sure Dottie threw the game.
She DID look over at Kit crying in the dug out before the alleged dive.
I’m the oldest. Like Miss Mapp, it never occurred to me that Dottie would throw the game until I heard about it later.
I saw the movie thinking that Kit wasn’t a worse athlete than Dottie, just that she had been compared to her so much (and always coming up on the losing side) that she choked whenever they competed head to head. I saw the ending as Kit finally pushing past that.
Or maybe that’s just what I wanted to happen. I know from my own experiences in sports what it’s like to come up against someone you think you just can’t beat–and then choking because of it. So that may have influenced my interpretation.
Youngest here. I always took it to be Kit’s big “graduation” from the kid sister role. She stopped being intimidated by the perfect Dottie and went full steam. Dottie lost fair and square.
StG
Eldest. Dottie threw the game. It never occurred to me that it could happen any differently.
Hope it’s not too late to ressurect this thread, but I realized that I never responded to this question.
It bothers me because I watch this movie from the perspective of a baseball fan. Many sports fans that I know, myself included, have much less tolerance for mental errors, especially egregious ones, than we do for physical errors. This falls in that category (it’s much worse than just missing the cut-off man).
One of the themes of this movie, and the one that the climax revolves around, is Kit coming out from under her sister’s shadow. The little sister who constantly feels passed over and ignored, who resents her sister and even believes that she is being deliberately kept down, finally triumphs, finally outshines the family star, finally proves that she’s not just the dumb kid sister, that she has what it takes to be a great ballplayer in her own right. Except that she doesn’t do that. She does something really dumb involving one of the most basic parts of the game and gets lucky. Not only that, she doesn’t seem to realize it. As a “coming of age” story, it’s less than satisfying.
I remember going to this film and friends and I discussing it afterwards.
I think Kit did it fair and square…but not very sure about it. It is very possible Dottie threw it but if I had to make a bet I would say Kit won fair and square.
Middle child here (but never felt I was living in older siblings shadow)
Only child here, I think Dottie got beat.
Kit had more to play for, and went after Dottie with all she had. And just because Dottie blocked the plate earlier in the year doesn’t mean she’d necessarily be able to do the same later on. In fact, it’s less likely, since catchers get beat up the most and are most tired at the end of the year.
Also, considering the bigger context of the movie, everyone in that league probably considered their teammates as family.
And I think if Kit suspected in the least that Dottie let her win, it would have escalated the tension between them even more. Kit would not appreciate pity for Dottie.
Oldest child here. No question - Dottie threw it. Well, if I had to formally bet I’d say there’s at least a 95% chance that she threw it.
As previously mentioned, there was a nearly identical play earlier in the movie, and Dottie easily held onto it. The camera angles in the final play were virtually the same as the earlier one. And when Dottie falls on her back, it goes to slo-mo and IIRC, she holds onto the ball while she falls, then she’s lying flat on the ground (no more momentum), and then she releases the ball.
4th out of 5 children (but last female) and I think Dottie threw it.
I always thought Kit running for home even with the ball infield was well ‘in-character’ for her. She was, as mentioned, the hot head that didn’t always think logically.
As to Dottie throwing the game… eldest child here… I don’t think she did it deliberately but I think at some sub-concious level she did. Remember the entire reason Dottie went into the league was for Kit, everything she did involving baseball in the movie was for Kit.
Though it is understandable she didn’t hold onto the ball as tight as she could’ve.
Hubby is the youngest of 12(!). He says she definitely threw it. I’m an only child and didn’t see it any other way until I read this thread. It doesn’t look ambiguous to me at all. There’s plenty of heavy foreshadowing.
Nothing in here has convinced me otherwise. I mean, sure she loved her team but she would have left with her husband if he wanted, no questions asked, so you can see where her heart really was. And then she just let it roll out of her fingers.
It fascinates me how people can see the exact same thing yet see something completely different.
Only child here. I think she threw it. Dottie wanted to leave the game to be with her husband and she already knew she was the best player in the league. To Kit, the league and the game was everything and Dottie, although she told the pitcher to throw what Kit usually couldn’t hit, dropped the ball at the plate because she wanted Kit to have her moment in the sun. Kit gets the glory, Dottie gets to go home with her husband, and the sisters have a stronger relationship for it. A fine ending if you ask me. 
And to me, I think this is key. Dottie tells the pitcher what to throw, knowing that Kit can’t hit them. I think the fact that Kit does hit it is the deciding factor in Dottie throwing the game; she sees just how passionate her sister is about something that means not a whole heck of a lot to Dottie, and lets her sister shine.
At least, that’s the argument I offer when I think she threw the game. Then I change my mind again.
I’ll have to watch the movie again and see what I come away with this time.