GARDINER — The Gardiner softball team may be young this spring, but it’s not in a rebuild.

The Tigers notched all of their runs over three innings to beat defending Class B North champion Nokomis 7-6 on Friday.

Senior outfielder Corinne Vasvary had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs for Gardiner (1-2).

“We came together, and we worked hard on that (win),” Vasvary said. “We’re definitely a young team, and it takes more (to get a win) than maybe the last couple of years. But we’re working hard, and I’m very proud of the girls.”

The Tigers, who field underclassmen at six out of nine positions, started the season with losses to Leavitt and Freeport before their win over Nokomis (1-1).

“The first two games, they just had to find themselves,” Gardiner head coach Ryan Gero said. “Today, they actually came and they knew what they had to do. They stay focused and they executed. That was the major difference between the first two games and this game.

“We really didn’t have much time outside (for preseason),” Gero continued. “We’ve got new girls in new spots, only three returning girls. I’ve got sophomores across the board. Our three seniors did what they had to do, and our younger girls stepped up.”

Junior Jenna Sawtelle had a double and two RBIs for the Warriors (1-1).

Gardiner managed to collect six hits off Nokomis pitcher Mia Coots — the two-time Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B Player of the Year — who was dealing with back issues and was stretching in between innings. Coots finished the game in the circle and was pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh inning. Despite the back discomfort, Coots managed to strike out 12 batters.

“We thought the back injury with Mia might not be bad, but the further (the game) got, the tighter it got,” Nokomis head coach JD McLellan said. “We knew, even though it was supposedly a rebuilding year (for Gardiner), we always know (Gardiner) is going to be good anyway. And we just needed the bats to come alive a little bit more.”

“The secret with Coots is she likes to rise the ball up for batters to chase,” Gero said. “This year, we’ve been very focused on staying in our zone. … That’s something she’s been famous for, getting people to chase that high pitch, and that’s been our focus, not chasing balls out of our zone. Make (the pitchers) pitch.”

After two scoreless innings, the Warriors struck first, racking up three runs on four hits in the third to take a 3-0 lead. The inning was highlighted by Sawtelle’s double into right field and an RBI single from junior Addison Hawthorne.

But the Tigers responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Vasvary had an RBI single, and senior Taylor Takatsu had an RBI single and two stolen bases to give Gardiner a 4-3 lead. Nokomis tied the game 4-4 in the top of the fourth, but Gardiner added two runs in the bottom of the inning, led by Vasvary’s RBI double down the left field line, to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. Gardiner never lost the lead again.

“We definitely had to go in with a different mindset (at the plate) today,” Vasvary said. “We knew (Coots) was good, and we knew if we could put the ball in play, we could definitely take it home and win it. But we did a great job (at the plate) and I’m very proud.”

Junior Taryn Nichols scored on a Nokomis error in the fifth inning to boost Gardiner’s lead to 7-4. Nokomis scored two runs in the sixth, led by an RBI single by shortstop Makenzie Watson, to cut Gardiner’s lead to 7-6. Tigers pitcher Lainey Cooley struck out two of the three batters she faced in the seventh to close out the win.

“We haven’t played from behind in two years, except for the (state final),” McLellan said. “This isn’t a bad thing. We knew that we weren’t going to be undefeated this year. We’re young. We had no preseason. We knew we were going to go the first few games to see where we are and go from there.”

Cooley, a senior, finished with five strikeouts.

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