The entire Mt. Hope High School softball program, from the players to the coaches to the athletic administrators, came into the 2025 season with the understanding this spring would be one of rebuilding, and to date all of the Huskies involved appear to have accepted that notion and are working accordingly.

The Huskies entered the new week having dropped both of their outings: 13-1 to Portsmouth and 11-7 to Davies Voc. Mt. Hope compiled just a 3-12 record in Division II a year ago after reaching the league championship game the previous two springs.

In steps Lis Braun as the now permanent head coach. Braun came to the squad late in the 2024 preseason in more of an advisory role. Since, she has taken the reins full-time, having already led a fall ball program last calendar year and running off-season efforts leading up the 2025 campaign.

"We have a lot of young players. We only have two seniors and three juniors with experience. So we're really a very young team and we're not going to measure our success this season by wins and losses," said Braun, who is assisted by Carissa Rego and Jennifer Alexander.

She continued, "We're trying to focus on what we can do well. We have a great fielding percentage so far. We need to keep our strikeouts down, keep improving our batting average. We're trying to keep the girls positive and help them understand we're building a program. For some of the older girls, that's difficult because they know what success looks like. But we're just working on keeping a good attitude."

Braun takes over a team that is a mix of players, some with meaningful varsity experience, some coming off injury and some new to the high school level.

One of those in the latter category has been tasked with playing the sport's most important position, pitcher. Freshman Braun has tabbed Madison Andrews as the Huskies' No. 1 hurler.

"She's pitched a little bit, but she's worked super, super hard since last summer on her control," Braun said of Andrews. "She's young, but she's determined and she works hard. She understands what's on her shoulders. I definitely think in the next few years she will only get better. Her confidence will grow and she's only 14. I think she'll settle down as the season goes on and the weather cooperates. She knows we're asking a lot from her, but she has a great attitude. She's competitive. She's a fighter."

Braun considers the Huskies' defense behind their young hurler as one of the team's better attributes.

Junior Ava Waddell is an All-Division catcher. Around the rest of the diamond, junior Sofia Haberman moves from the outfield to third base, classmate Hailey Ferreira returns from missing all last season to start at short, senior Callie DaPonte is back at second and senior Anna Van Amberg moves to the infield to start at first, likewise after being injured for all of 2024. DaPonte also serves as Mt. Hope's second pitcher. She, VanAmberg, Waddell and Haberman are the team captains.

In the outfield, sophomore returning starter Liliana Bowden shifts from right to left, freshman Macie Comeau joins the team to play center and senior Emily Moran, after playing lacrosse previously, comes to softball and starts in right.

"We have a strong defense behind Madison," Braun said. "She's in a big position, but it's wonderful to see the girls rally around her."

The rest of the varsity roster includes sophomore Mekayla Neves, who when healthy will play left field, freshman Tayla Simas will play second if and when DaPonte pitches, sophomore Jessica Macial will be the designated player (hitter) when Andrews is in the circle and freshman Oakley Centazzo will potentially see time in the outfield. Both senior Lila Maloney and sophomore Piper Nunes are injured and likely out for the entire season.

At the plate, the early batting order has been as follows: Ferriera, Haberman, Waddell, VanAmberg, Moran, Bowden, Neves, Comeau, Andrews/Maciel and DaPonte.

Of her offense, Braun said, "We have clusters. Our top four, five batters are off to strong starts, then I feel like the other girls as they get more comfortable and start to see more pitches will come around. But we're going to have good days and bad days."

Attempting to limit those "bad" days is really the aim of the spring, to use 2025 as a launching point for the next several to follow.

"What's going to make me happy by the end of the year is if the girls continue to fight every game. We're going to face teams skills-wise that are better than us. We know that. What we have to focus on is our attitude, keeping things positive," Braun said. "The idea for all of us is to leave the program better than how we found it. Right now we're rebuilding, but the girls have been great. The older kids have been super kind and supportive to the younger ones. It's cool to see. They're good kids, they're fun to be around and they have a great attitude. They care about each other. We'll be O.K. We'll get better this year, the next year and the year after. It's just going to take some time."