Beefed-up non-league schedule prepping Diman softball for state tourney

FALL RIVER — With the state tournament approaching, Diman softball coach Cathie Noversa prefers quality of opponent over final score.

The Bengals, having gone 8-0 in league play this season, once again beefed up their non-league schedule this year in preparation for Division 2 postseason play and faced a quality Fairhaven team Tuesday, falling to the Blue Devils 11-3.

"We did things today we normally don't do," said Noversa, whose team fell to 14-5 overall and will play Fairhaven again next Tuesday. "We had some popup issues, lack of communication and we didn't hit the ball that well today."

Diman softball coach Cathie Noversa talks to her team before Tuesdays game with Fairhaven. pic.twitter.com/kufiVTDb4E

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The final score, however, was something that was not a concern to the Bengal coach.

"I'd rather lose the next five games to high-caliber teams that we're going to see in the tournament than win easily," Noversa said. "These are the teams we are going to see in the tournament and we have to get used to seeing them."

Fairhaven, GNB Voc-Tech and Old Rochester are all very good teams in a strong South Coast Conference and all have been on the Bengals' schedule this year.

"The first time we played New Bedford Voke we were no-hit," said Noversa, "but then we got 11 hits against them the next time we played them. We lost, but it was a big improvement."

In Tuesday's game against the Blue Devils, the Bengals hung tough early, trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning before the visitors got back-to-back home runs from Cassie Lavigne and Ava Pepin in a five-run fourth inning.

Fairhaven added three more in the sixth and two in the seventh, triggered by another home run, this one by Kenna Cruise.

Diman got a two-run single in the sixth by Jenna Medeiros and an RBI single from Kaylee Kochanek in the seventh.

"We've won our league every year for the last six-to-eight years or something," Noversa said. "Games against quality teams like this are good for us."

It was also Diman's Senior Day. The Bengals have four seniors: Kochanek, Sarah Alston, Veronica Concepcion and Wileshka Melendez-Hernandez.