WELCOME BACK to another episode of ‘Inside the Circle,’ GameTimeCT’s weekly podcast of all things Connecticut high school softball.
It was a chaotic week in softball, with a number of Top 10 showdowns and several surprising results across the state. GameTimeCT’s softball writer Ryan Lacey and editor Sean Patrick Bowley attempt to wade through the carnage and take a look at what it all means heading into another round of mega-matchups this week.
This week’s special guest star is Notre Dame-Fairfield’s head coach Jeff Bevino, a longtime baseball and football coach who got into the sport only a decade ago when Foran, where he teaches and coached football, was in the market for a softball coach.
Since his daughter, Fallon, played, Bevino says he quickly fell in love with the game and — unbelievably — won a state championship with the Lions in just his third year.
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Bevino resigned to follow his daughter at Sacred Heart University, but not for long. Notre Dame-Fairfield, where he’d once been athletic director and football coach, came calling for a softball coach. Bevino says he happily took the job, owing to his relationship with Notre Dame High School president Fr. Bill Sangiovanni, who helped Bevino rekindle his high school coaching career.
Bevino talks about his time at Foran with his daughter; on the untimely death of his former player Danni Kemp from brain cancer in 2017 and the continued impact her life has had on softball; and about Father Bill, who died in February at age 77.
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And, of course, Bevino talks about his young, but talented Notre Dame-Fairfield softball team, which began the season 8-0 before suffering its first loss of the season, 13-4 to Griswold. (The Lancers subsequently lost their second game of the season, 2-1, to Newtown on Monday night, after the recording).
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RUNDOWN
0:00 — Introduction: Sean and Ryan discuss a wild week in the Top 10.
15:52 — Notre Dame-Fairfield coach Jeff Bevino.
47:30 — Wrapping up, looking at the week ahead.
