Captains Steady Tam Softball Squad After Tough Loss

A funny thing happened to the girls softball team after suffering about as tough a defeat as is imaginable.

The team got better, according to coach Mike Wills.

The fascinating aspect of the rise is that it occurred so quickly after the fall.

Tam was cruising along in second place in the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) late last month until the nearly unthinkable happened: Terra Linda’s Ally Lucchi hit a two-out, two-strike home run off Red-tailed Hawks ace in the seventh inning, turning a sure-thing win into a stunning 4-3 defeat.

The Tam girls, who just moments earlier had been celebrating an apparent hard-fought win before a potential game-ending call at first base was reversed, had every reason to be devastated. Just like that, they were two games behind Redwood in the MCAL race, probably an insurmountable deficit given the strength of the Giants team.

When Wills approached his team in the outfield shortly after the loss, he couldn’t have been prouder of what he saw.

“One of my captains was chewing out the team,” he said of senior . “She was saying, ‘C’mon, we can play better than this.’ And she was right. We played an absolutely horrible game. But that’s part of high school. They’re not always going to play their best.

“All I did was say, ‘This is just a loss,'" Wills continued. "'Don’t take anything more than that out of this. We have a good team. Let’s just start rolling off the wins. We need to do more hitting.'"

And that’s exactly what the Hawks did the next time they got a chance. Led by ’s four hits and four RBIs, the Hawks vented some frustration on Branson to the tune of 10-0 last Monday. They rode Trombadore’s pitching to a 1-0 victory over tough Analy of Sebastopol a day later before falling to Justin-Siena 5-2 last Thursday.

Wills noted the response against Branson couldn’t have been scripted better, and he credits his captains – Scarsella, Trombadore, Lee and .

“It was incredibly important,” he said of the Branson blowout. “They did exactly what I want them to do: They hit. And they hit and they hit and they hit.

“I have full faith in all of my captains. I know they’ll say the right stuff. They’re all great motivators. I couldn’t have picked better people to be our captains. These girls are great leaders.”

The Hawks might not catch Redwood in the MCAL regular season, but there’s always the league playoffs. And then the North Coast Section tournament.

“We’re still a young team,” Wills assured. “As experienced as we are in these games, I still only have three seniors. We’re still going to make mistakes. We’re still going to lose some games we shouldn’t lose.

“As long as we keep getting stronger as a team, we’ll be battling in the playoffs. Just win the games we should win and win a game or two against better opponents and we’re going to be right where we want to be at the end of the year.

“That game against Terra Linda brought us closer together," Wills said. "We’ve been playing excellent softball since then.”

That’s not what Tam’s MCAL competition wants to hear.

TAM SOFTBALL UPDATE

Recent results: Lost to Terra Linda, 4-3; beat Branson, 10-0; beat Analy (Sebastopol), 1-0; lost to Justin-Siena, 5-2.

Tam’s record: 5-3 in MCAL, 7-3 overall.

Highlights: Facing a team coached by her dad, Stephanie Lee had two doubles and two singles and drove in four runs in the win over Branson … singled in Lee with the only run in the win over Analy … Olivia Trombadore pitched a two-hit shutout against Analy.

Coach Mike Wills’ comments: “(Analy) was the same team we beat 4-0 in the NCS semifinals last year. We beat them last year with Kim (Scarsella) striking out 17. This time Olivia Thombadore pitched a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts.”

Upcoming schedule: Monday at home vs. Drake, 4:30 p.m.