This is the true story of Kent Stock (Sean Astin), who in 1991 takes on what he perceives as the job of a lifetime as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team, a school which has won 19 state titles and has a baseball tradition in Iowa tantamount to that of the New York Yankeesnationally.

Kent is unaware that he has been picked by the school's principal, pushing a consolidation of Norway with a larger school district, to replace legendary Tigers coach Jim Van Scoyoc to have a losing season and destroy the baseball program, around which town opposition to the consolidation is centered. In turn, thinking Kent's only head coaching experience is as a girls' volleyball coach, the principal is unaware he was a star player for his Division III college baseball team and a student of the game.

Several of the team's returning stars refuse to go out for Kent, who must win over the rest and convince them, the skeptical townspeople and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes, all while dealing with the reality that this will be the team's final season due to the impending merger. With the support of a young female state auditor whose findings helped push through the merger, and a gadfly baseball writer from Des Moines who is following the team, Kent learns to motivate the team his own way.

In May 1991, Norway High's baseball tradition ended on a triumphant but somber note as it wins its 20th state championship in its final season. A video clip of actual coach Kent Stock thanking Van Scoyoc publicly for the opportunity opens the final scene.

The film depicts the Norway School District merging with the "Madison School District". Directed by David Mickey Evans the director of "The Sandlot"