Tim Geary, Herald News Staff Reporter
04/26/2007

FALL RIVER - When Diman Regional pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon at rainy Harrington Field, it appeared the Bengal softball team had nailed the coffin shut against visiting Blue Hills.

Instead, the runners Diman left stranded, not only in the sixth but throughout the contest, came back to bite the Bengals.

An error opened the floodgates in the top of the seventh and the Warriors scored three times to tie the game and then tallied once in the eighth to steal a 5-4 victory, pushing their record to 3-2.

It also was Diman's second loss in a row after opening the year with five straight victories.

"In our last two games we were ahead in the seventh inning," said Diman coach Cathie Noversa. "We made some mistakes and (Blue Hills) took advantage of them.

"We're really not hitting. We looked at a lot of third strikes and we swung at too many bad pitches. They had been very disciplined, but then we had the vacation break and that hurts. Every other league plays during vacation week except ours. That break, the rains and indoor practices, they tend to get bored and bad habits sneak in."

Blue Hills had only managed two hits and one run against Diman pitcher Ashley Bouchard through six innings and the seventh seemed a mere formality.

But pinch hitter Tony Shapiro opened things by lining a shot to short that should have been handled but was dropped and after that nothing went right for Diman.

Ashley Niles followed with a base hit to left center and after a strike out the runners moved up on a wild pitch and then scored when Simone Wornum tripled to the gap in left center.

Wornum scored the tying run a moment later on a single up the middle by Amanda Ortiz.

In the eighth, Erin Howell hit a grounder to third that was fired past first base, allowing Howell to race all the way around to third.

She scored the tie-breaking run on Tiffany Myer's single to center and pitcher Analyssa Manning shut the Bengals down in their half of the eighth to secure the game for the Warriors.

Diman scored two runs without benefit of a hit in the third inning, thanks to a pair of Warrior errors, a walk, fielders choice and a sacrifice fly by Amanda Carpenter.

In the fourth, it was just the opposite as the Bengals had three hits but could not score.