PEMBROKE — As The University of North Carolina at Pembroke softball team took the field Friday to begin a new season, it culminated an offseason, in which the program made a major transition — but also an easy one.

Stephanie Graziani was named head coach in June, moving to the lead role after five seasons as a Braves assistant coach, replacing Brittany Bennett. The promotion of an assistant allowed for some continuity in the program even as a new era begins.

“I’m very fortunate for this head-coaching opportunity to happen the way it did,” Graziani said. “It wasn’t too much of an acclimation process for me; you just realize you’ve got to make a little more decisions. … The transition has been smooth; I think that’s why we’re able to, on day one, get after it.”

UNCP finished 27-17 last season and 14-10 in conference play last season, and the Braves hope to be even more competitive this spring with a strong mix of returners and newcomers.

While the Braves lineup saw major departures in Mary Sells, Jordan Adcox, Emily Bidle and Tatum Brumitt from the 2022 team, Graziani expects others to adequately replace that leadership.

“We’ve got a good group,” Graziani said. “We did lose some key players but it was no hesitation for others to step into those roles.”

Graziani calls fifth-year senior catcher/outfielder Lauren Hilbourn (.325 batting average, six home runs, 37 RBIs, 30 runs last season) a “player to watch,” while sophomore utility player Samantha Allred (.385, three home runs, 22 RBIs, 19 runs) had the highest batting average last year of any Braves returner. Graziani also expects breakout sophomore seasons from Pembroke native Marijo Wilkes (.241, three home runs, 11 RBIs, 20 runs), saying the outfielder is “a completely different player this year and she’s really blossomed,” and infielder Olivia Hall, who “really made some big transitional moves for herself over the winter” and has had a strong preseason.

Key freshmen offensively will include Kadence Sheppard, an outfielder from Scotland County Graziani described as “an animal” who always has a dirty uniform and brings the team energy, and Cirsten Calloway.

“I’m excited to see how these young kids grow into our program because I think they’re going to be a good start — I tell our players, it’s a new era, and I think we’ve got a good group to start that era,” Graziani said.

In the circle, Kinsley Sheppard (13-6, 3.06 ERA, 121 strikeouts) will redshirt this season due to injury, but junior Madison Dyson (11-6, 4.38 ERA, 86 strikeouts) returns, along with three talented newcomers. Summer Bullard, a Purnell Swett graduate and the 2022 Robeson County Player of the Year in high school softball, will pitch for the Braves after initially signing with Charleston Southern, and will also likely get some offensive at-bats. Georgia Southwestern transfer Trinity Whitfield brings a year’s experience from the left side, and Graziani calls freshman Riley Fox a “sneaky pitcher.”

“We’ve got a good mix,” Graziani said. “Trinity is a lefty, we’ve got some speed, we’ve got some movement. It’s going to be fun to see how we put them all together and how they work with each other, offsetting each other in the bullpen. Our hitters have had a hard time with them in intrasquad scrimmages.”

The Braves’ goals in Graziani’s debut campaign are to finish in the top three in the conference, “being a presence in regional play, being a consistent presence in the postseason, and … get all the way to the World Series,” she said. The means to that end, though, is simply to have a “championship mindset” — and that message has been stamped all over the program to provide constant reminders.

“Our hashtag is ‘championship mindset,’ that’s the name of our GroupMe message, it’s just something they have to look at every day and understand that details are important,” Graziani said. “We’re going to go into this season and our goal is just to leave it all out there.”

After Friday’s opener, the Braves are home Sunday at 5 p.m. against Tusculum, and play their first six games of the season at home.