Since Mount Hope High was founded in 1993, the school has captured a modest total of six state championships in various sports. But since the school added softball in 2001, the Huskies had yet to win a state title.

Now, fast forward to 2015 when the Huskies annexed the Division III-East title with a 13-0 record and zipped through the Division III Tournament with a 3-0 record – including 2-1 and 7-1 victories over Rogers in the best-of-three finals.

But way before the season began the softball program was on life support for the following reasons:

* Coach Steven Zina was arrested last August and charged with embezzling approximately $20,000 from the school’s booster club.

* From 2009-14 the softball team’s combined record was 27-79.

* Because of the Huskies’ lack of success, realignment dropped the team down to Division III from Division II.

* Not surprisingly, there was concern that Mount Hope would be able to field a team for the 2015 season.

“The A.D. (Christy Belisle) and I talked about it in October and we wondered if we would have enough girls for a team - one reason being soccer is big in our area,” said coach Don Silva. “Of the 15 players on our roster, only six had played travel ball.”

Arguably another question is why would Silva accept the appointment in October as head coach given what had transpired last fall and during the previous six seasons?

“I like challenges,” said Silva who served in the Navy for 28 years, including in Vietnam, and who retired in 1999 as a Senior Chief Petty Officer. “I’ve never shied away from challenges my entire life. The Navy taught me that. I knew some of the kids going into the season were great kids. I thought they should play in an environment that should be free from yelling.

“It should be an enjoyable situation. Games should be fun.”

Silva isn’t exactly a novice when it comes to coaching softball. He’s coached the sport off and on for 30 years and has coached travel and recreation teams. In 2012 and 2013, he was the pitching and catching coach at Mount Hope and, in 2014, he was the head coach at Kickemuit Middle School.

One aspect of Silva’s philosophy was crucial to the Huskies’ success.

“What we impressed upon the girls is don’t be afraid to make a mistake,” he said. “Making mistakes is part of life and sometimes you have to work harder. Plus, we never yelled at the kids. I had two great assistant coaches in Nicole Clemens and Kristin Furtado. All three of us don’t have egos because it’s not about us. Our rules are to motivate and instruct.

“The players must have confidence in their abilities,” added Silva. “We tried to keep that in mind the entire season.”

That’s exactly what happened.

“I wasn’t familiar with Division III ball so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Silva. “What I did expect was for the girls to give 100 percent and conduct themselves in a way where they would represent their school.

“Winning isn’t everything but giving your best is everything.”

That the Huskies gave their best is exemplified by the fact that, not only did they go 16-0 but they also outscored their opponents by an average margin of 13.4 to 1.6.

Just like in baseball, the key to Mount Hope’s success began with its pitching.

Junior Maddie Reis finished the regular season with a 13-0 record, a 0.79 ERA, 12 walks, 108 strikeouts and 34 hits allowed in 72 innings. Reis’s WHIP was a microscopic 0.65 and 69 percent of her pitches were strikes.

“It’s not only leadership by the coaches but also the captains – Sam Eddy and Maddie Reis,” said Silva. “What we asked of them was to be leaders. We had a lot of younger players whom we knew would make mistakes. We wanted the captains to help your younger players.

“We rode Maddie’s arm and Eddy did a tremendous job playing first base.”

Overall the Huskies did “a tremendous job” when it came to swinging their bats. Five players hit over .500: Carisssa Rego (.605); Eddy (.588); Reis (.525), Jessica Cerce (.510) and Brianna Gendreau (.510).

Reis led Mount Hope with 30 hits while Rego and Cerce had 26 apiece. Eddy topped the Huskies with 30 RBI while Rego had 26 and Gendreau 22. Cerce flashed her speed by leading the team with 26 stolen bases.

And perhaps the most remarkable stats were that Rego didn't strike out on the year while Gendreau and Lindsay LeFebvre each fanned only once.

“It’s critical to have a good shortstop which we did in Rego,” said Silva. “Our infield was as solid as could be. We had what I would call one of the best defensive center fielders I’ve had the pleasure of coaching in Jess Cerce.

“You can have a really good pitcher (i.e. Reis). But our catcher, Brianna Gendreau, didn’t commit an error all season and she caught nearly every inning. She also shut down our opponents running game.”

The only casualty in a sense was Silva especially when Mount Hope reached the finals.

“I was having allergies and laryngitis,” said Silva. “And I was keeping my fingers crossed the entire time. I had so much respect for Rogers because they were well-coached. When we beat them, I was so happy for the kids.

“The never complained throughout the year and if we asked them to do more, they did more. They were a true team.”

Mike Scandura has been covering high school sports, college basketball, football and hockey, plus minor league baseball in Rhode Island since the early 1970s. A native of Oswego, N.Y. he’s a member of the Words Unlimited Hall of Fame which is the statewide organization of sportswriters, sportscasters and sports publicists.