Triumph and tragedy marked Cheyenne Nunez’s season as the interim head coach for the New College of Florida softball team in Sarasota.

Nunez grew up on the Brighton Reservation as a passionate softball player and went on to play in college, including in NCAA Division I at the University of South Carolina-Upstate.

She’s about five years removed from her playing days, but the mother of three young children still loves the sport and is determined to remain a part of it. At 27, she’s in the infancy of a coaching career in the collegiate ranks.

This year Nunez guided the young New College program to a successful season, accentuated by its first postseason appearance and first playoff win. However, the accomplishments on the field paled in comparison to the heart-wrenching situation off the field. Alyson Bermudez, the team’s 32-yearold head coach known as “Aly,” spent most of this season away from the team as she continued her battle against mucinous ovarian cancer, a rare, aggressive form of the disease.

Nunez, who had been a volunteer coach at State College of Florida in nearby Bradenton when she was hired by Bermudez, as an assistant coach a year ago, took over with the interim tag.

On April 27, one day before the team’s final regular season game, Bermudez died.

She had excelled as a player growing up in New Hampshire and went on to play for Laselle University in Boston. She moved to Florida in 2021 and joined the softball staff at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers. She was hired to lead the new softball program at New College starting with the 2024 inaugural season.

Not surprisingly, when Nunez and the players met for the first time after the passing, there was an outpouring of emotion. Nunez said it was the toughest thing she’s ever had to do in her life.

“A lot of tears; a lot of Aly stories,” Nunez said. “I burst into tears when I spoke to them. I told them that she’s here with us; she loves you guys; I love you guys.”

Nunez offered the players the option of canceling the final regular season games (it was a doubleheader) or playing. The team opted to play in what turned out to be an afternoon of healing.

“They wanted to play for coach Aly. Everyone from the community came to the field. We wore teal (in honor of fighting cancer). We dedicated the game to her,” Nunez said.

The team had only two days before making its first postseason appearance. Seeded sixth, New College opened the Sun Conference playoffs May 1 against No. 3 Keiser University, which won all three games between the teams in the regular season, but the playoffs turned out to be a different story.

The game was scoreless until the top of the seventh when Nunez opted to insert a pinch hitter to try to ignite the offense. The strategy paid off as Madison Garcia led off with a single. The hit helped lead to the winning run in a 1-0 victory.

“When it does work, it’s like, ‘wow,’” Nunez said.

Nunez said she was proud of her players, not only for how they handled the difficulty of the passing, but also how they performed all season.

“They worked their butts off day in and day out since August,” she said.

New College lost its next two games and was eliminated from the tournament, ending with a 17-30 record. The team reunited May 21 and joined the college community on campus at a celebration of life in memory of coach Aly.