After getting knocked out of the Division II playoffs by North Smithfield in the first round last season, Pilgrim softball head coach Bill Aquilante said his team was one year away from making a deep run.

A year has passed, and the Pats have the depth and experience to make a run at the Division II title.

“We brought back most of the team,” Aquilante said. “We brought back a lot of players, a lot of experienced players, who’ve been through the system now. We’re playing with a sense of urgency this year, because there’s a lot of uncertainty going on with everything. So we had a quick talk at the beginning of the season about how this is our year, and we’re not gonna talk about anything in the future.”

Pilgrim posted a 13-3 record in Division II-West in 2015, and it returns most of the pieces from that squad. The biggest loss is shortstop and starting pitcher Ellen McDonnell, who has since taken her talents to Lafayette College.

McDonnell will be tough to replace, but the Pats have a plan in order. Aquilante said he always likes to have a one-two punch in terms of pitching, including that this year’s duo will be junior Morgan Almon and sophomore Katrina Kazen. Almon and Kazen both had a rough start to their respective outings in Pilgrim’s scrimmage against West Warwick on Tuesday, but they settled down and the defense came together behind them.

“I like having two pitchers,” Aquilante said. “We’ve always had two pitchers. So they’re both gonna throw. We’re gonna let them work with each other, let them help each other out. We’re gonna use two pitchers in a game if need be, and then if one really starts to take off, we’ll ride them, but I’ve always liked having two pitchers. I’ve always liked having that option in giving teams things to look at during a game.”

Defense was an important factor in Pilgrim’s early exit last season, and Aquilante stressed numerous times throughout the scrimmage and after that it was a facet of the Pats’ game that has to get stronger.

Errors cost the Pats last season, especially after Pilgrim got a tough draw in the playoffs, opening with deceivingly strong North Smithfield. The Northmen, despite posting a 9-7 regular season record, made it all the way to the losers’ bracket final. They started that surge with a 7-2 win to shock Pilgrim in the first round.

“We have to play better defense,” Aquilante said. “Our playoff losses in the past have all been due to defensive breakdowns, defensive lapses. We can’t have that against good teams.”

Of the 10 players that Aquilante said he could play every day, only one is a senior. Leadoff hitter Madison Balutowski is the only player on the roster who has had the experience of playing late in the postseason at Rhode Island College in 2013, when Pilgrim made it to the Final Four of the winners’ bracket before losing its next two. The seasoned veteran will be integral as she and the Pats aim to make it to the pinnacle of D-II.

“She’s well respected,” Aquilante said. “The kids love her. She’s been on successful teams, she knows what it takes to win. She’s tough, she’s resilient. If things start to go down, she’s the perfect kid to pick everybody back up.”

Below Balutowski in the lineup are a slew of sophomores and juniors who display a wide range of talents. The sophomore class, notably, makes up half of the 10 potential everyday players. Outfielder/first baseman Karly Evans and catcher Olivia King, both guaranteed a place in the starting nine, were thrown into the fire last season as freshmen and stood out from the pack.

“They both jumped in right away and felt like they belonged the whole time,” Aquilante said. “Olivia caught, like, every inning but one last year, and now we’re starting to get her a little bit more into calling the pitches.”

King said that she suffered an injury to her catching wrist playing with her travel team, but said it’s “feeling good” and has been getting better every time she gets behind the plate.

Aquilante experimented with having Kazen hit fourth against the Wizards on Tuesday, which could make it difficult not to play her if she gathers momentum in the cleanup spot. Rachael Serra batted in the last spot, but hit a rope to left field in her first at-bat.

Aquilante also said that Emma Hlavacek had surprised him with her early season play, adding that he would like to find a spot for her somewhere in the field.

“Emma had a really good tryout week,” Aquilante said. “Hit the ball well, played well, got to find a place to put her. She surprised us.”

Not to be outdone is the junior class, led by Almon and shortstop Jeriann Evans. Evans suffered a broken wrist late in the fall, but it has healed and she is back to playing every day on the diamond. She was the Pats’ third baseman in 2015, but her defensive skill allows her to excel at either spot on the left side of the infield.

“It’s important that I get my throw back,” Jeriann Evans said. “I can field ground balls the same way, but my throw is most important.”

“Jeriann’s been looking really good in the preseason games,” Aquilante said. “At the end of last year, the bat was starting to come around. So far, she’s started off that way, too. We’re gonna let her take charge over the infield.”

Juniors Taryn Stringfellow and Victoria Blanchard had impressive at-bats during the scrimmage, making decisions on where to put players in his lineup and in the field more perplexing for Aquilante.

The Pats will still have to deal with the heavy favorite and D-II runner-up North Providence (15-1 in 2015), as well as Johnston and Cranston East. Despite sweeping the latter two last season, their contests were only decided by a combined six runs. The Panthers return a number of starters from last year’s squad, including Jordan Moretti, and the ’Bolts boast one of the best players in D-II, McKenzie Richards.

That Pats team that was “one year away” was young, and it still is this season; but one more year of playing together could give Pilgrim the boost it needs to find itself hoisting a trophy at RIC later in the spring.

When King was asked if Pilgrim can take home a title this season, her answer was “absolutely, absolutely.”

“I think it’s important that we make a better appearance in the playoffs than we did the past two years,” Jeriann Evans said. “We’re a better team than to lose in the first round, and I think this is a good year to show it with a lot of the same girls returning from last year.”

“We set our goal,” Aquilante said. “Win our division, get a good seed, get to RIC.”