When the Mt. Hope High School softball team convened last week for the 2025 season with the start of pitchers-and-catchers spring training and then full squad practices this past Monday, the Huskies did so with a new full-time head coach as Lis Braun formally takes over the program.

Braun was brought into the fold on an interim basis by district athletic director Christy Belisle at the beginning of the 2024 campaign upon the sudden, though somewhat anticipated, departure of Craig Giarrusso, who left the role last spring to a take a position in sports administration on the naval base in Newport.

Braun actually was part of a quartet of coaches along with Mt. Hope High teacher Jen Alexander and and former Husky player Carissa Rego that guided the team last spring. Alexander and Rego remain on Braun's staff in 2025. Long-time MHHS head coach Don Silva briefly aided the squad before he, too, needed to step aside.

A former Warren Police officer who also spent seven years in the town as a supervisor with the Main Street Program, Braun is currently an assistant registrar at the Community College of Rhode Island.

On her role last season, Braun said, "I stepped in as really a guide, but then I realized the program really needed some direction."

Braun's softball life began as a child growing up in West Warwick then being part of the group of Wizards who transitioned that program from the slow-pitch version of the game to the fast-pitch variety in the last 1980s. She eventually was an All-State catcher at West Warwick and standout on the Wizards's first fast-pitch championship club in 1989.

Braun next played softball at Leslie University in Cambridge, Mass., and later coached at her alma mater.

Career and personal reasons, however, took her away from the profession, but now that family and professional commitments aren't as pressing she decided it was an opportunity to get back into coaching in a more dedicated fashion.

"Softball has always been a love of mine and with that said sometimes life takes you away from the game," Braun explained. "And when I was asked to step in, it was a good time in my life. It was a good time to get back into some of the things I love."

That love of softball didn't wane last spring when the Huskies struggled to a 3-11 record in Division II. Mt. Hope was coming off two terrific years in 2022 and 2023 when they reached the league championship game before falling to Prout and East Greenwich, respectively.

"Once I stepped in, I could see the deficiencies with the team and the program. And then I started brainstorming about how we could move it forward and it really got my interest going," Braun said.

Her 2024 season didn't end with the final pitch of the high school team. The lack of an established feeder system was a priority, so Braun reached out to her counterparts at King Phillip Little League, leading to the creation of a fall ball program between the sides. In addition, she ran summer clinics and off-season workouts. She's also included the staff and players at Kickemuit Middle School in her efforts.

"Basically, what we're trying to do right now is really focus on development of players because, unfortunately, I feel like there's a lot of learning about the game that they need to do," Braun said. "I feel like with the recreational league (KPLL), the middle school and the high school is all one big program. I really want to the develop the kids who are interested in the sport. And those girls that we have that are interested are hungry. They want want to learn, they want to get better and they love the game."

Braun emphasized another part of her job is to make Mt. Hope softball fun again, to help rebuild the culture. After being a contender for several years, the program is in a rebuilding mode, which can take some of the enjoyment out of the game. Also, expectations can't supersede effort and the process of growing together as a group.

"I'm trying to teach the girls about unity, being united as a team," Braun added. "Our motto this year is 'hustle, hard work and heart.' Those to me are the key ingredients that make any great team. And also being a good teammate. Everyone wants to win, but you need to give 100 percent of yourself to the team and be positive. If you do all those things, the winning will come."