Little Lee a Big Hit for Hawks in Softball

The sport of high school softball can be quite predictable, especially when ace pitchers like Tam High’s and San Marin’s Dani Albini are squaring off.

That’s what makes what happened last Monday so surprising.

With one out and runners on first and second in the fifth inning of a game in which neither team had a hit, and tiny Shannon Lee, the No. 8 hitter, approaching the plate, you just knew what was going to happen.

Lee would bunt the runners into scoring position, and the Red-tailed Hawks then would hope to catch a break with two outs and score what figured to be the only run of the game.

Little did Albini know, however, that Lee was swinging her bat awfully hard in the on-deck circle. She had no intentions of bunting.

She had the green light from Tam coach Mike Wills.

“She would have been bunting except I trust her to hit the ball,” Wills said of his freshman. “Sometimes you have to go with your feeling.”

Sure enough, Lee belted a shot to right-center, a double that not only scored what turned out to be the game-winning run but also opened the gates for a three-run inning that led to a 3-0 Tam win in the key Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) game.

“I just saw the ball right down the middle and I swung at it,” Lee recalled. “Yeah, I was kinda surprised when it came off the bat. I didn’t expect it. Now I have more confidence when I go up to the plate.”

Does she ever. The 5-foot-1, 100-pounder smacked another double in Tam’s next game, a 9-1 win over San Rafael, and also added a single.

Shockingly, this former youth-league pitcher who was told to “bulk up” if she wanted to make the Tam varsity team as a freshman, is now hitting .385 – more than 100 points higher than the team average.

“She was a pretty good pitcher,” said her dad and former coach Allan Lee. “But it’s hard being a pitcher when you only have one or two on the high school team. And they have good pitchers, so she had to find something to do.”

Lee did two things over the summer: She started taking hitting lessons from Wills and she took up catching.

“When she puts on the gear,” her dad observed, “her teammates laugh. All you see through the mask is her big eyes.”

Lee doesn’t catch much for the Hawks, but she sure does hit.

She credits Wills’ coaching. Wills' credits the pupil.

“Because she’s so small, I told her you either need to gain weight or get stronger,” said Wills, who owns a baseball and softball business. “She’s not going to gain weight, so she needed to get stronger.

“I had her hit with a weight on the bat. Now she gets up at 5:30 in the morning and goes to 24-Hour Nautilus. She works out to get stronger, and she has. She does everything you need to do as a freshman to play at the varsity level.”

Her mom, Doreen, isn’t surprised. She’s seen her daughter put her mind to things before, and it almost always turns out good.

“She used to play the piano,” her mom recalled. “She really got better. It really took off. As a 6-year-old, she was playing Mozart.

“She has really good focus, so I’m not surprised (at her softball success). I’m just so happy because she has worked really, really hard. She is a very special girl.”

Wills’ story about Lee going to 24-Hour Nautilus at 5:30 is a bit exaggerated. Yes, she works out there bright and early a couple of times a week. But her mom only allows it once a week on school days.

“I was determined to bulk up,” Lee said of her motivation. “I wanted to be able to hit as a varsity player. Keep up with the pitchers. Not just little bunts and singles. I wanted to hit it into the outfield.”

The bad news for Tam’s opponents: The early success has created a monster. Now Lee is talking about playing college softball someday.

“When the captains say, ‘Good job,’ or, ‘Good hit,’ it makes me feel like I’m closer to being as good as they are,” Lee admitted. “That makes me want to work even harder. I want to keep getting stronger.”

Maybe some day that catcher’s gear will actually fit. For now, Lee will have to settle for being the MCAL’s smallest – and possibly most potent – designated hitter.

TAM SOFTBALL UPDATE

Recent results: Beat San Marin, 3-0; beat San Rafael, 9-1; lost to Redwood, 2-0.

Tam’s record: 4-1 in MCAL, 5-1 overall.

Highlights: Shannon Lee broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning double to lead the win over San Marin … The two other runs scored on an error and an infield grounder … Kim Scarsella pitched a two-hitter, striking out 11 … hit the first pitch of the game for a double to get the Hawks rolling against San Rafael … Pitcher Annie Boyer’s two-run home run over the left-field fence in the first inning was the difference in the Redwood-Tam showdown. The Hawks nearly scored two runs of their own in the first, but ’s potential two-run line drive was snagged to the Redwood third baseman.

Coach Mike Wills’ comments (on the San Marin game): “That was a big win for us. It put us two games up on them.”

Coach Wills’ comments (on the Redwood game): “It’s what everybody expected -- two of the top teams in the league, evenly matched, played evenly matched … except for one pitch and one great defensive play. And both went against us.”

Upcoming: Monday vs. Branson at College of Marin, 4:30 p.m.