NORTHWOOD — Of all the ways Coe-Brown head coach Dave Allis can heap praise on his team, no adjective seems to capture the Bears better than professional. They take professional at bats, they play professional defense and they’re professional in how they run the bases.

Few self-inflicted wounds ever come back to haunt the defending 2023 Division II state champions, who are off to a flying 11-1 start this season after their 6-0 victory over Sanborn (6-3) on Wednesday night.

After a high-intensity 3-2 win over rival Oyster River on Monday — also the only team to have beaten Coe-Brown this season — Allis wasn’t sure what he’d get from his group two days later. But there was no hangover to speak of.

Sophomore Kylie Bieniek started in the circle and tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing three hits, two walks and striking out nine. She also cracked a two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the third inning to extend the Bears’ lead to 5-0.

“She is a workhorse,” Allis said. “She is tireless in working on her craft. She sees coaches after coaches. She’s always getting extra time in. When you work that hard, the results pay off. I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s great.”

Also of note on Wednesday was the performance of junior center fielder Haile Comeau who went 4-for-4 out of the leadoff spot with two doubles off the fence. Her leadership both on the field and in the dugout has been a key factor as well in Coe-Brown’s dominant start to the season.

“She’s a tone-setter with her voice and her positivity, and she’s playing a center field that was hard to replace because we had Emma Broadstone there last year who would catch anything,” Allis said. “Comeau is doing the same thing this year. She made some unbelievably great defensive plays, and offensively, again, like you saw today, 4-for-4, two of them off the fence for a leadoff hitter. Her aggression and attitude are perfect for that spot.”

What’s made the Bears’ hot start to the season so impressive is that not only did they graduate five seniors from last year’s championship team, they graduated their top pitcher, starting catcher, starting shortstop and starting center fielder, arguably the most important positions on the field. Yet, the replacements have filled in seamlessly.

“The impressive part is these guys are just ready to go for the next challenge,” Allis said. “They buy into the system. It’s a nice little piece of machinery that we got going. We were upfront and honest with the girls. They do their job when they’re asked, and they step up to the challenge because they know when a great player leaves, they have to replace that. It’s kind of a belief and part of the culture here. But it is impressive. It’s great to see.”

Several hurdles still stand in the Bears’ way before they can start thinking about defending their state championship, including a meeting with Bow (8-2) next Wednesday. But with a deep lineup, strong pitching and sound defense, it’s hard to find many faults with the group Allis trots out there.

“Overall, it’s hard to come up with superlatives for this group because they just keep meeting expectations,” Allis said. “They hit the ball professionally, they run the bases, pitching and catching were great.”