It’s never easy losing players to graduation. The loss of experience is tough to replace, but that’s just the challenge Old Rochester Regional softball coach Don Dibiasio is taking on this season.

“It’s a big difference to replace a senior with a younger player,” he said. “It’s going to be a learning curve for them to pick up where the experienced seniors left off.”

The seniors that left were two infielders, a pitcher and an outfielder – all tough slots to fill. However, Dibiasio said a Bishop Stang transfer Ashley Soares has been a good addition in the pitching department.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with our new pitcher,” Dibiasio said. “To have a good pitcher is a very positive thing.”

However, because of the cold and rainy weather for much of March, Dibiasio said it was hard to get his players outside, which stunted some of the progress that could have been made.

“It’s tough for all of the teams right now to have their kids one hundred percent where they want them to be,” he said.

Dibiasio also said he specifically wants to work on the underclassmen, now that the team can spend more time practicing out on the field.

“[The underclassmen] have a lot of work to do to catch up with the girls who have already been on the team,” he said. “Lots of work to do on their part.”

To help these younger players out, Dibiasio has brought in coaches Janelle Calson and Amanda Codeiro.

“I’m trying to bring in some good talent coaches to help get those girls up to speed,” he said.

In the meantime, Dibiasio hopes to continue to sharpen up his team’s pitching and outfield, while taking on a talented South Coast Conference.

“There are very good teams in the conference, and Dighton-Rehoboth and Seekonk are very strong. Fairhaven showed us they’re no slouch. Wareham has a very good pitcher. New Bedford Voc is always really strong,” he said. “So I think we’re going to fit into the middle of the conference – if we do our work. It’s going to amount to how hard these girls work.”