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When Monmouth Academy handed Dirigo its first loss of the season after 14 straight wins, coach Scott Robbins still raised his arms to hype up the cluster of fans standing on the first-base side of Sally Clark Field in Dixfield. 

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” played, and Robbins appeared unbothered by the loss, motioning to those watching as if to signal everything was going to be OK.

“When we lost, my point was ‘hey, nobody needs to be down right now,’” said Robbins. “‘This is not a bad thing. This is going to be a good thing.’ And as it turned out, it was.”

The Cougars (18-1) avenged that loss on Tuesday when they beat the Mustangs 3-2 in the Class C South final, winning their second regional title and first since 2012.

That Journey song has become somewhat of an anthem for Dirigo, perfectly capturing the team’s motto of “believe.” 

“Of course I’m way old compared to these kids, so that song just stuck and I think the girls bought into it and just kind of like it,” Robbins said. “I mean, it just says it, ‘don’t stop believing.’ The song starts out, ‘just a small town girl,’ and that’s what Dixfield is. It’s just a small town. So it just kind of fit and became kind of our theme song.”

The Cougars will try to win the first softball state championship in school history when they face North champ Bucksport at 1 p.m. Saturday in Brewer.

“I’m very pumped that I get to be in it and that it’s always going to be remembered,” senior captain Nikole Turnbull said. “Even when I’m not in school, it’ll be like 20 years later and Dirigo will be on the banner for winning regionals and going to states. I think it’s awesome, I think it’s legendary and I’m very happy that we made it this far.”

Turnbull knows as much as anyone how special this run has been for Dirigo. She was a freshman when Robbins began his tenure as head coach, and every season since then, the Cougars have advanced one round further in the playoffs. 

Dirigo lost to Maranacook 6-3 in the quarterfinals in 2023, lost to Hall-Dale 8-0 in the semifinals in 2024, and lost to Hall-Dale 4-3 in last year’s Class C South final. 

“It’s definitely very cool to be able to be a part of the team that builds up from it,” junior captain Abby Luczynski said. “It was fun to build up with this team and hopefully reach the mountaintop this Saturday.”

Luczynski is one of several Cougars who play other sports together. She competed alongside Turnbull, seniors Autum Knox and Madison Knowles, and juniors Xandria Libby and Madeline Bell this past fall on the soccer team, and with sophomores Emma Witas, Abby MacFarlane and Madisyn Bradeen and junior Raeleigh Ricci on the basketball team. 

That multisport connection has bolstered the team’s chemistry. 

“We all have that type of chemistry that we all know each other really well,” Bradeen said. “We all know how each other plays, just a bunch of that stuff. And having that connection with the seniors and being able to look up to them and knowing that they’re so good.”

The last time Dirigo was in a state final, it lost to Bucksport, 2-0. So Saturday will seemingly be less about fast-tracking its incremental season-by-season success and more about history. 

“I think that we’re going to go into this game like we went into regionals, especially me as a pitcher, even though I’m still nervous,” said Lana Waite, another senior captain. “I think we’re going to keep our composure. We know we can hit the ball and our fielding is great, so we’re just going to bring that all together and hopefully minimize the errors in the field and when we’re hitting. Yeah, we’re just super excited.”