Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Shay Nolan’s mental toughness in the pitcher’s circle has impressed her head coach this season.
By Ray Hamill — Losing a North Coast Section championship game is never easy, and losing them in back-to-back years is even tougher.
But the Del Norte girls are hoping to get the opportunity to put that behind them this coming week after losing 2-1 at St. Helena in Friday night’s Division-4 championship game.
On Sunday, the Warriors will find out if they have qualified for the 2024 CIF NorCal state playoffs when the brackets are released.
Last year, despite falling to Cardinal Newman in the NCS decider, they received an at-large berth for the NorCals, and head coach Aaron Healy and his players will be hoping for the same this year.
In 2022 Eureka also received an at-large berth for the NorCals after losing an NCS final.
“That’s what we’re waiting to see,” Healy said. “It looks pretty positive.”
If the Warriors qualify, their NorCal opener will likely be on the road, so they’ll travel on Monday and play on Tuesday.
Friday’s NCS final was decided by just a single run and the matchup between the top two seeds in the bracket could realistically have gone either way, with a play or two here or there deciding the outcome.
“Overall I thought we performed well,” Healy said. “Shay (Nolan) performed well in circle and made a lot of good pitches, and our defense played solid.
“Both teams played good defense. It was going to be one of those games where two runs would get the job done.”
The Warriors welcomed back senior Reece White for the game after she had missed a couple of weeks with an injury sustained in the Big 5-clinching doubleheader against Arcata earlier in the month.
The team had four hits in Friday’s loss, one each from McKenna Curtis, Carlee Harper, Ava O’Reilley and semifinal hero Tsinte Steinruck, who continued to shine at the plate two days after her thrilling two-run, walk-off home run against Salesian.
“We had opportunities, but we didn’t execute the bunt,” the coach added. “If we had executed the bunt we could have put more pressure on them.”
The Del Norte pitching did not disappoint.
Nolan threw the first five innings before the harder throwing Curtis took over, and the dynamic duo have given the Warriors a potent one-two punch in the circle all spring.
Nolan’s mental toughness in particular has impressed her coach this year.
“I’ll tell you what, Shay doesn’t pitch as hard as some, but she’s a workhorse out there,” Healy said of the junior standout. “She hits her spots. Her pitches are on point and her mental toughness … nothing phases her. She performs.”
And that, coupled with the hard-throwing Curtis, has made life difficult for opposing bats all season.
“To have McKenna come in with a different velocity, it’s really a great one-two punch,” Healy said. “That’s what really stands out to me, and defensively we just get stronger. Our outfield is whole again (with White back) and our infield is whole. They continue to make plays.”
