– There have been more than a few meaningful games for a Mater Dei Prep softball in the 40 years since Jeanne Dickinson convinced seven friends to go out for the baseball team, forcing the school to give them a softball team a year later in 1976.

But it's safe to say that as Wednesday's game unfolded in the shadow of the embattled school, Dickinson was waving runners around third base with all the intensity of an NJSIAA Non-Public B final, even though it was a season-opening 22-4 thumping of Keyport.

Because 57 days after it was announced that the school would close due to shrinking enrollment and a growing operating deficit, Dickinson was back in her element.

And six days after the fund-raising drive to save the beloved school reached the magic $1-million mark, Dickinson, such a prominent figure in the Mater Dei community at large for so long, and her team's return to the field was incredibly symbolic.

As the Seraphs poured it on their opponent, it was as if they were making a statement that they weren't going anywhere.

""Feb. 3 was such an awful day, such a devastating thing for me,'' said Dickinson, who likely has more invested emotionally in all of this than anyone else.

""And it just seemed like within the next 48 hours everything changed. Like a switch was turned on and the kids got together, the community rallied and once they gave us that 60 days it seemed like it was a completely different attitude. Everybody just took a step back and said, "we can do this.' ''

In many ways, it's been a never-say-die, sports-type mentality that has permeated the entire effort, from prolific fund-raising of the Seraph's Fund, to the plans to reorganize the 50-year-old school.

""This kind of relieves all the stress,'' said Jamie Luminoso, one of only two seniors on the team. ""It is kind of a symbol because softball is such a strong sport here. We need to show that we're going to be here and one of the reasons we need to stay open.''

Interacting with her players, teaching, encouraging, cajoling them even as the lead mounted, you began to understand how many life lessons Dickinson has imparted under the pretext of softball. And what a tragedy it would be if one of the great ambassadors for Shore area athletics lost her forum for molding young lives.

""It is an incredible feeling, but it's not a relief yet because we don't have the final approvals,'' Dickinson said, referring to the need for the Bishop and the Diocese of Trenton to sign off on the reorganization plan, which would have Mater Dei operate as a private Catholic school. ""We have everything in place that they've asked us to do, they gave us a checklist of 15 things, we've gotten everything done. Now we're just waiting for them to say "go ahead.'

""We are very positive and taking that next step, and we're talking to the kids who are thinking about Mater Dei and we've got to find them, the ninth graders and tell them to come on back. We're going to be here. This is not a one year shot. We're going to be here. Bigger and better. The whole plan, everything we have in order, is just going to be such a bigger and better place.''

On this day, none of that seemed to matter as the Seraphs went about the business of turning a very young group into the kind of team the program has been producing with regularity in recent years, including the 24-4 team from two seasons back.

""The only time I have not been involved in this program were the four years I was in college,'' said Dickinson, who has over 450 wins as the Seraphs' coach. ""I've been at this a long time. And back when I was a sophomore we did what we had to do to force the school to create a softball team.''

She's still at it. Except now, Dickinson is an integral part in the battle for the school's very existence. And if Wednesday was any indication, she's up for the fight.

Staff writer Stephen Edelson is an Asbury Park Press columnist:; Twitter: @SteveEdelsonApp