There’s a good reason why a bunch of girls have been showing up at the high school gym at 5 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past few months.

There’s also good reason that those same girls have been on the softball field up to three times a week since last spring, even when they were busy with other sports in school.

That reason is a trophy, one that has “2003 WIAA 2A state fastpitch champions” engraved on it, and the spot South Whidbey High School’s fastpitch team is reserving for it in the school’s trophy case.

It’s been almost a year since the Falcon girls brought the revival of their program full circle. Last May, the team finished a 24-2 season by placing second in the state tournament behind Othello — one of less than a handful of teams able to challenge South Whidbey last year.

This season, there’s not one girl on the team who remembers 1999, a season in which South Whidbey did not win a single game. But there is an entire team of girls who remember what it is like to come so close — three runs close — to a state championship. That memory, according to the varsity team’s seven senior players — Shannon Brown, Lucy Daumen, Ashley Lopez, Val Mock, Jenny Murphy, Mary Murphy and Julie Robinson — has them convinced that with a lot of hard work this year, the trophy of their dreams is as good as theirs.

“I think that’s each our prediction,” Lopez said this week speaking for her teammates.

Now the acknowledged 800-pound gorilla of 2A fastpitch, the challenge for the 23 girls out for the 2003 South Whidbey team will be to improve on a performance last year that was almost indistinguishable from perfection. The numbers generated last season say a lot about what sort of team this is: 16-0 in North Cascades Conference competition, they outscored all opponents 246 to 29 on the strength of a .388 batting average and pitching that was almost unhittable (freshman pitcher Christie Robinson led the Falcon staff with a season ERA of 0.00).

To improve on the numbers and the season result may require more than just drills on the practice field and a season’s worth of games. With just a few more competitive, big-school opponents on the schedule this year than last — Lynnwood, Sedro-Woolley and Burlington-Edison — the Falcon players will have to challenge themselves at the mental level of their game, according to their coach, Todd Lubach.

“I would like to see the girls push themselves beyond where they think their limitations are, and realize they have reached another level of play,” Lubach said by e-mail this week.

The 2002 season will be a good model on which to build this one, he said.

“The girls should be very proud of themselves for how hard they worked and the way they stayed focused throughout the entire season.”

Lubach said he sees the Falcons best challenges in conference play coming from Mount Baker, Nooksack Valley, Meridian, and Blaine, though after beating most NCC opponents by double digits last year it remains to be seen how much resistance these teams will offer.

This season will also be one in which the team builds for the future. The varsity team has only four returning players who are not seniors — junior Bronwyn Russell and sophomores Carrie Anderson, Carolann Lubach and Christie Robinson. The Falcons picked up four freshmen this season. Lubach said it remains to be seen whether this new crop brings any unexpected prospects.

The girls start their season March 20 with a road game against Lynnwood. The team’s home opener against Sedro-Woolley is scheduled for March 24.