Another New Horizon For Terra Linda Softball: NCS Play

The softball team would love to get another crack at Tam in the North Coast Section Division 3 quarterfinals Friday.

But there’s one little problem: the Trojans are going to have to win a first-round game in order to get there, and they’ve never even played in an NCS game – let alone won one – in coach ’s nine years at the school.

“Last week was new frontier for me,” Lucchi said of making the Marin County Athletic League Playoffs for the first time as the Terra Linda coach. “They’d never touched playoffs. Never came close.”

The Trojans smashed through the barrier this season, earning a first-round matchup with San Marin. The Mustangs won 1-0, but Terra Linda’s overall 15-8 record was deemed plenty good enough to earn an at-large berth in the NCS event.

The Trojans will “host” Campolindo of Moraga on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Albert Park in San Rafael, a game that was postponed from Wednesday because of wet grounds.

Lucchi could sense this day was coming, and he doesn’t want to take all the credit.

“When you get involved,” he said, “you ask: ‘Why do these teams win?’ Oh, these kids don’t just play high school ball. They play all the time.

“That’s what Redwood has always had. I copied what others have been doing. That’s the formula for success.”

Six of Lucchi’s front-line players – , , , , and -- have extensive travel-ball experience, at least some of which has come on Lucchi’s own NorCal Smackers team.

Prickett, Cooper and Jones are freshmen. Their immediate impact also has helped elevate the club to new heights.

“My freshmen have grown up,” Lucchi noted. “What I’ve been telling them is they’re not freshmen anymore. Most of them have bought into that.”

Of course, the team’s key player is its pitcher, Schilling. She’s a senior whose experience was on display in Terra Linda’s last two hotly contested games – a 1-0 win over San Marin to end the regular season and the 1-0 defeat in the playoffs.

“I feel good about the pitching,” Lucchi assured. “Sammy Schilling definitely has hit a new plateau. That’s great to have that happening right now.”

If there’s a concern entering the tournament, it’s the Terra Linda offense. You’re not going far scoring just one run in two games, as was the case in the back-to-back efforts against San Marin.

“I’m hoping the hitting shows up again (Thursday),” Lucchi said. “Looking at our history, the 1-2-3 hitters (Prickett, Lucchi and Ross), when they’re clicking together, I feel pretty good about things. Those first three our catalysts.”

A win over Campolindo would sent the Trojans to Tam, where they are the only team to have beaten the Red-tailed Hawks this season. Tam avenged that defeat in the rematch, however.

“We finished (the MCAL season) playing pretty good ball. I kinda feel we’re back on track,” Lucchi said. “I’d like to think we’re peaking at the right time.

“If we were to play Tam, that would be a great game for our league. If Schilling keeps up her pitching, it would be a helluva game.”