Unique Athlete Experiences Unique Moment in Softball

With every storybook ending comes a grim reality: It is almost impossible for the sequel to measure up.

Such is the life softball star must now live even before her junior season is halfway over.

But what a moment it was.

There have been many great games in Marin County Athletic League softball history, but it’s hard to imagine one with as dramatic a finish as the one Lucchi helped orchestrate Thursday against Tam.

In fact, you could easily argue perhaps the most exciting moment in MCAL history should never have taken place, because according to many in attendance, the game was already over.

Let’s set the scene …

Lucchi, the No. 2 hitter in the Terra Linda lineup, already had accomplished something few will do this season – she belted a two-run double off Tam ace Kim Scarsella in the fifth inning, giving the Trojans a 2-1 lead.

Alas, the lead was gone by the time Terra Linda came to bat in the last inning, the top of the seventh. Scarsella, who had already struck out 11 Trojans, needed just to get through one more inning to record a 3-2 win.

Terra Linda had its Nos. 8 and 9 batters due up, with leadoff hitter also assured of hitting, but not Lucchi.

“I was hoping Ally would get another shot at her,” her dad, Terra Linda coach , said of his daughter's matchup with Scarsella.

It didn’t look like that would be the case. After two more strikeouts, Prickett slapped a grounder to third base and was called out at first on a close play.

As the Tam players celebrated the narrow win and lined up at home plate for the postgame hand-slapping, Coach Lucchi questioned the call at first, insisting the Tam first baseman had bobbled the ball.

Sure enough, after the umpires huddled, Prickett was ruled safe and the Tam players were told to grab their gloves and return to the field.

Obviously, that didn’t go over well with the Tam faithful. Coaches and fans were ejected before play resumed.

Yet Scarsella, the reigning MCAL Pitcher of the Year, was still just three strikes away from a win.

Five pitches later, she was one strike away. But then something incredible happened: Lucchi smacked a full-count fastball over the fence in left-center field, a stunning two-run homer that turned sure defeat into … well, something she'll never forget.

“My first thought was, ‘Wow, that was a good hit,’" Lucchi recalled. “My second thought was just to touch all the bases because my dad was yelling at me.”

The dramatic blast came against a Scarsella fastball, something Lucchi figured was coming.

“My first hit off her was on a change-up, so I didn’t think she would throw it again,” she reasoned. “I figured if I stayed off her rise ball, she eventually would throw me a fastball, which she did.

“I just swung as hard as I could,” she said.

Funny, that’s exactly the approach Lucchi took to golf two years ago. Amazingly, she sophomore at the time made the Terra Linda varsity team in the Fall of 2009 despite never having played the game before.

“It was really fun,” she said of her golf experience. “I tried to think of it like hitting: Just hit the ball as hard as I can and then focus on putting. That was the hard part.”

The latter is probably what drove Lucchi to tennis this past fall. Yep, she conquered that sport as well, giving her varsity letters in four sports (counting two years on the Terra Linda basketball team).

Ah, but she’s not done. One of the most versatile athletes in Marin County has a new mountain to climb in a few more months.

“My friend is trying to convince me to play volleyball,” she noted. “I’ll practice over the summer and try it.”

When she’s not interning as a medical assistant at Kaiser or umpiring in the Marin Girls Softball League, that is.

There’s never a dull moment in Ally Lucchi’s life.

“I just enjoy running around and having fun,” she explained. “When you’re on a team, you meet new people. I enjoy the social aspect and the competition of playing against other people.”

And she enjoys sharing credit for great accomplishments such as Thursday’s heroics.

“It was just a great game overall,” she claimed. “Everybody was making good plays. I was hitting well, but everyone else was doing good things, too.

“That was a really exciting moment. But if the team makes it to the MCAL championship, or we make it far at NCS, that would great, too.”

TERRA LINDA SOFTBALL UPDATE

Recent results: Beat Tam, 4-3; beat Marin Catholic, 9-1.

Current record: 5-1 in MCAL, 5-1 overall.

Highlights: Ally Lucchi drove in all four runs, including two with a two-out, two-strike, seventh-inning homer, in the win over Tam … , Macauley Prickett and Lucchi combined for six hits and five RBIs against Marin Catholic … pitched both wins.

Coach Brad Lucchi’s comments: “I’m very pleased with our progress at this point, especially with the rainouts.”

Coach Lucchi’s comments on his daughter, Ally: “She has been through a lot. In eighth grade, she severely injured her back throwing a rise ball. She was unable to play softball or basketball, her two main sports. Ally went to doctors, therapists … nobody could heal her. Finally, Bill Gaito recommended Ron Solari. He got her back on-line. He has gone on to heal many of our MCAL kids. Unbelievable.”

Upcoming schedule: Monday at San Marin, 6:30 p.m.