Warriors Use Walk-Off Win To Continue Fast Start Under New Head Coach

NORTH EASTHAM – The Nauset softball team was already off to their best start in a few years when they added a signature win last week that cemented their changed culture under a new head coach.

While it’s Rachel Alger’s first year leading the Warriors, she’s served as an assistant coach the previous five, so she’s been around the team for some time. With that, their 6-5 walk-off win Friday against Sandwich had to rank as one of the best games for Nauset during that several-season span.

The Warriors climbed out of two deficits to take the affair in come-from-behind fashion. They trailed by four runs heading into the bottom half of the fourth inning and by the bottom of the fifth had squared the score 4-4. Sandwich led 5-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, at which point sophomore Lucy Hartung launched a pinch-hit double, senior Elizabeth Cormier followed with a game-tying single and freshman Savi Smith delivered the winning hit.

“I feel like it shows us as a team how much we've (come) together since last year,” Smith said. “I feel like with coach Rachel Alger, she's doing amazing. She brought us this win. It’s just great.”

The walk-off came a couple days after an 11-10 victory in nine innings against Dennis-Yarmouth. And a 13-8 win Monday against Cape Cod Tech put the Warriors at 4-1 (as of The Chronicle’s deadline), their best start to a season since 2023. It’s also the furthest Nauset has been above .500 since that same year. 

“We know how to battle back,” Alger said. “They battled back the game before. They're young, excited.”

Smith had a triple, two singles and an RBI from the leadoff spot, while sophomore Alexandra Mince added a single, double and two RBIs right behind her. Freshman Fiona Fitzgerald had a single, two steals and a run. Sophomore Brynn Kew struck out 16 across seven innings. 

The Warriors used power to score but also small ball — like a double steal with runners on first and third during a three-run fifth inning. 

Defense also came up huge. In the top of the fourth, Cormier cut down a Sandwich runner at home plate on a single to center field.

“This year is just so much different than last year — that with [Alger’s] coaching, that it’s just amazing that we got that win,” Smith said.

It didn’t take long for Alger to pick up her first career win as head coach of the Warriors (she also previously was the head coach at Cape Cod Tech). Kew recorded 19 strikeouts as Nauset won their season opener at Wareham 8-2 on March 30. That alone was different from last season, during which the Warriors dropped two games to Wareham, 20-3 and 7-0.

The key thread weaving their new identity together is a refusal to give up, which was plain to see with Nauset falling behind twice against Sandwich but coming back both times. The Warriors were retired in order for their first turn through the lineup across three perfect innings by Sandwich. Smith became the first to reach with a shot to deep right field for a triple to lead off the fourth, then Mince punched a single the other way past first base to bring Smith in and put the Warriors on the board. Nauset scored in three of the game’s final four innings. Their culture is different, Alger said. 

“We work every day,” Alger said. “They show up. Our motto is attitude and effort. That's what we do.”

While Smith and Mince had the big days from the one- and two-hole (plus the pitching performance by Kew, also Nauset’s cleanup hitter), it was the bottom of the lineup that created the rally in the bottom of the seventh for the eventual walk-off.

“When we get down in runs, we battle back,” Alger said. “Everybody on the bench is a quality player, so it's easy, because they're all talented.”