File photo – Shay Nolan in action for the Warriors last season.

The defending Big 5 champions look like they’ll be the team to beat in conference again this spring, and a strong start to the season hasn’t changed that perspective.

With a new head coach and standout pitcher McKenna Curtis back in the lineup after missing all of last season, the Warriors have hit the ground running.

They did suffer their first loss of the season at the Rancho Cotate tournament on Friday morning, falling 3-2 to Cardinal Newman, but the team has impressed through the early season and will carry plenty of momentum into their upcoming conference opener at Fortuna early next month.

“Cardinal Newman is good, but we had a couple of walks and a couple of mistakes that cost us a couple of runs,” said new head coach Aaron Healy, who takes over this season from Jackie Heuberger. “Other than that, defensively we were pretty strong, and the pitching was pretty strong.”

Earlier in the morning, the Del Norte girls beat Rancho Cotate 14-3 for their sixth win of the season.

Healy has two outstanding pitchers he can call on in junior Shay Nolan, who was an all-league selection in 2023, and Curtis, a senior who was an all-league selection in 2022 before sitting out last season to focus on travel volleyball.

The dynamic duo could very well be the top two pitchers in the entire H-DNL right now, and they will split time in the circle this spring, giving the Warriors a potent one-two punch at the most influential position on the field.

Nolan was “solid” in the circle against Rancho Cotate on Friday, according to her coach, and got plenty of offensive support.

“Lots of hitting from the whole lineup,” Healy said. “Defense was solid making plays behind Shay.”

Curtis matched that in game two against a Cardinals team that is ranked No. 2 in Division-3 in the North Coast Section, according to MaxPreps.

“Defense did another good job behind McKenna,” Healy added. “Couldn’t quite get the bats going.”

File photo – 2023 all-league selection Reece White is back for the Warriors this season.

In addition to the outstanding pitching, this year’s roster also includes several other playmakers returning from the 2023 league championship team, a team that rallied late in the campaign to overtake Eureka in the standings by winning its last four games on the way to a first Big 5 crown since 2018.

Juniors Khloe Smith and Carlee Harper and senior Reece White are all back after all-league seasons a year ago.

So too are senior team captains Madison Calleja and Ava O’Reilley, the latter of whom was an all-league honorable mention last spring.

And Healy likes the way the team is coming together.

“They’re coming around,” he said. “They’re starting to put things together. Their (softball) IQ is going up.”

The team, which is ranked No. 1 in NCS Division 4 and No. 7 overall, also has plenty of balance, with strong pitching, defense and offense.

As for the Big 5, Healy expects his team to be in contention, providing they can take care of business.

“I think we’ll be tough,” he said. “But we’ve still got to perform and execute.”

The Warriors will continue tournament play at Rancho Cotate on Saturday.

They open conference play with a three-game series against Fortuna in the first week of April.

Game one will be at Fortuna on April 3, followed by a doubleheader in Crescent City three days later.