New Nashua North softball coach Taylor Rowsell is focused on turning the struggling program around, but knows it will take time. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The struggle for Nashua High School North softball last year was real.

Enter new coach Taylor Rowsell, a former Rivier University pitcher, to eventually over time turn that struggle into success.

Rowsell takes over a program that doesn’t even have enough numbers for a JV team, so she knows the road ahead will be a long one beyond just this upcoming season.

“I know consistency is key,” she said. “I know what it’s like to come in and get a whole new coach, and have everything kind of turn upside down, having to re-learn the expectations of that coach and the way the team is going to jive a little bit different.

“I want to set the expectations high now, because I want to build a program. I tell them I’m here, I’ll be here for a while and I want to be here for a reason.”

And that’s to help make softball a viable sport at North and in city schools as a whole. Softball at both public high schools has historically struggled, although South, under third-year coach Kevin Handy, had a breakout season last year. The Panthers took emerging contender Merrimack to the wire in the Division I quarterfinals.

Rowsell wants to do the same thing Handy has done – change that struggling image, with more community connections so that some youths can say that when they get to North, softball is a sport they want to play.

“We definitely want to build that,” she said. “Luckily at the middle schools numbers are high this year. So it’s good to see players are coming out, players who potentially are coming up to North and South.”

The former Chelmsford (Mass.) High School standout knows there’s competition with private schools like Bishop Guertin for players who know they want to play in college “and want to go play for a competitive team.” Guertin, ironically, eliminated North in last year’s regional tournament’s first round, but the game was touch-and-go into the middle innings.

So Rowsell said it’s imperative she build the program out to attract those players, “that they want to come to North because they want to be part of something great.”

Rowsell replaces former coach Jenna Gianelli, who has left the area entirely. Gianelli had things moving in the right direction before a year away from the sport due to the pandemic created experience issues and last season’s major bump in the road. Rowsell would see Gianelli in off-season softball circles and she told Rowsell she was moving on, and that the former Raider should apply. She did, and got the nod.

It’s her first high school head coaching job, but she’s coached as an assistant in travel softball, etc. And she does hitting and pitching lessons regularly.

“I’ve always had that coaching background, but not at the varsity level,” she said. “So now I’m starting to learn more about that, about the team, its needs as the program grows.”

Softball has been a huge part of Rowsell’s life, ever since her father thought it might be a good alternative when she said soccer wasn’t going to be for her in the second or third grade.

So while being a softball lifer, so to speak, she understands the game doesn’t mean the same to many student athletes like it did for her.

“High school sports have changed a lot,” Rowsell said. “There are a lot more different pressures on kids now. As far as the amount of girls I’d like in the program, I don’t (have that now) because I can only field one team.”

Rowsell said the other things kids have available to them, plus having to work, takes away from the commitment, a commitment she says puts pressure on kids. “I can’t punish the players for having a life,” she said. “I have to be super flexible; if I’m not flexible enough I certainly wouldn’t be able to field a team. That’s been really challenging.”

Rowsell said that the players that were able to come to off-season open gyms “were there because they loved the sport.”

She just needs more them, even if this will be their only softball experience once they graduate.

“They definitely have a lot of passion when they’re there, they’re excited, and they’re inclusive, which I appreciate,” she said, noting the upper classmen are doing well mixing with the younger, even first-time, players.

How hard is it to develop a pitcher who can at least keep a team in the game? Rowsell certainly knows the position first hand.

“It’s a lot harder with all the commitments at hand,” she said. “But every single time I’ve worked with our ‘pitchers in progress’, they really are resilient with the fact they know they’re coming in to do a job for their team.

“(Pitching) may not be something they’re the most skilled at, but it’s something they’re really working hard towards. They take direction really seriously and that’s great because I’ve trained to be a pitcher my whole life. I can throw to them in practice and they can see what I’m talking about and go and apply.”

But again, the numbers limit the pool to pick from.

The other thing that some programs have struggled with is softball sense, so it’s something Rowsell is working on as well with situational drills.

“So far they know what to do on the first half,” she said. “So far I see a lack of understanding of what to do on the next play. They’ll finish the first play (a catch, force out, etc.) and they’re done. They need to keep looking for that next play.”

So reps and conversations have helped her “already seen great growth.”

So it’s practice, practice, practice.

“Our field is very open, so I can see where they’ve been susceptible to overthrows and errors and long distance hits and things like that. We’ve been trying to talk about our surroundings, how do we make them work for us, and how do we play a little bit smarter.”

Rowsell says the Titans have skill, but with no JV team, players get thrown into the fire and she will need to build the numbers up.

“When you have the numbers, you can create a competitive atmosphere,” Rowsell said. “I can look at a girl that’s struggling, and I can create a competitive atmosphere where you can sub in and out and have them compete for that position, kind of motivate them to practice a little bit harder and do whatever it takes to be out there.

“Not being able to create that competitive atmosphere is really hard. So right now we’re just trying to create the team sense.”

And how to do the little things that add up to big things. It’ll be a long road, but Taylor Rowsell feels in the game of softball, it’s a road worth taking.

“We’re excited about it,” she said. “It’s nice to get the ball rolling.”