Reese Witherspoon is a heavy hitter, all right.

She's been hitting restaurants for big meals, and this week she'll be hitting softballs.

Witherspoon has been training weekly since February with former UCLA softball coach Sue Enquist to improve her form for the James L. Brooks comedy she's shooting here. Witherspoon plays a softball star torn between the affections of a businessman (Paul Rudd) and a Washington Nationals player (Owen Wilson).

It's crunch time as Witherspoon takes to the diamond at Drexel and Temple Universities to shoot game footage.

It won't be crunch time, exactly. To protect her perfect proboscis, Witherspoon will wear a custom fielder's mask during practice.

About 20 top softball players and coaches arrived the other day to prep under Enquist's direction all this weekend. Erin Goettlicher, who runs the online Softball Network, helped assemble the group, including Taryne Mowatt, Amber Jackson, Carri Leto Martin, Tammy Williams, Audrey Rendon, and Shanna Diller.

As for Witherspoon's recent restaurant recons: Last weekend, she took her son and daughter to Jones, at Seventh and Chestnut, where they shared nachos, fried chicken and waffles, chicken noodle soup, and chicken Caesar salad. She wrapped with a slice of banana cream pie - the third time she'd had it. The next day, Witherspoon and kids hit Morimoto for maki. On Tuesday, her assistant picked up an 8-ounce filet, stuffed hash browns, asparagus, and a slice of chocolate fudge cake from Butcher & Singer.

Sports talk on FM

Greater Media is now simulcasting its AM sports-talk station, 950 ESPN, at 97.5 FM, calling the station "the Fanatic." Friday's move is good news and bad news in one household. Matt Nahigian, 950's program director, adds a much better signal to compete with market leader, CBS-owned WIP (610). The bad news: Nahigian's wife, Joey Fortman, lost her job hosting afternoons on WNUW, the music station that until 5 p.m. Friday was at 97.5. (WNUW was at the bottom of the pack in the ratings.) The ESPN affiliate's top-rated host, Mike Missanelli, gets an additional hour, bringing him to 2 to 7 p.m. More info at http://go.philly.com/fanatic.

A reason to strut

The Mummers, perennially in search of financial help, will get a huge shot. The Bacon Brothers (Kevin and Michael Bacon) and entertainer Bunny Sigler will headline a benefit show Dec. 5 at the Electric Factory, and MYPHL17 will air it live. The acts have recorded a song and will make 5,000 copies available for sale. Entertainment lawyer Lloyd Zane Remick, who reps the Grammy-winning Sigler, claims one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon. He represented Bacon when he was a teen rocker.

Fur ever

The double wedding of South Philly sisters Lauren and Deborah Goffredo will show up on Style Network's Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? at 9 p.m. Oct. 24 - and it's a four-ring, 16-legged affair.

Two of the rings belong to Deborah, a legal secretary, and her new husband, Kenneth Miletto, a drywall finisher.

The 16-leg part was the idea of Lauren, a paralegal and pole-dance instructor, and her now-husband, Joe "Joey Skats" Schiavo, who works at Geno's Steaks and teaches jujitsu. They arranged for their French bulldogs, Cola and Pepsi, to show up for photos outside St. Monica's Roman Catholic Church on May 9.

The couple hired Monica Mullett of Aci Nae, a boutique on East Passyunk Avenue, to replicate a bridesmaid's dress in Cola's size. As a male, Pepsi was hooked up with an off-the-rack tux with top hat. After wedding photographer Alison Conklin got the scene, the dogs went off with a handler.

The couples' reception, canine-free, was at Lucien's Manor in Berlin Borough.

Briefly noted

Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, 30 Days of Night) will be in Saturday to receive the Rising Star Award at the 181/2 Philadelphia Film Festival for the flick The Messenger, which will screen that night. Thursday's opening-night screenings of the Philly-shot thriller Law Abiding Citizen are all but sold out; director F. Gary Gray and actors Bruce McGill and Regina Hall are supposed to attend. (Alas, stars Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler are not expected.) Director Lee Daniels will host his closing film, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, for two screenings next Sunday. A 5 p.m. show will benefit BEBASHI, an AIDS service organization, while the 7:30 p.m. curtain is nearly sold out.

Reality-TV figure Audrina Patridge will attend a Halloween party at Caesars Atlantic City's Dusk nightclub Oct. 31. Planners want guests to dress as their favorite TV stars.

A Fox show backed by the creators of That '70s Show is holding an online casting call for 18- to 22-year-olds who can pass for 16 or 17. Candidates for the pilot are asked to upload videos of their auditions by Friday: www.tvpilotopencall.com

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Contact columnist Michael Klein at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com. Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/insider. He's also on Twitter: @phillyinsider.