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Senior captain Alisha Prystowsky, who leads Penn with 13 RBI, says the team has one goal: “An Ivy championship — there is nothing else.”

It’s Ivy League Champs or bust for the Penn softball team this year.

As the team begins Ivy play this weekend, expectations among the players are soaring. In each of the past three seasons, Penn has improved in the league standings but has not been able to get over the hump.

Senior first baseman Kelsey Wolfe believes this year will be different.

“We have the talent, we have the motivation, and we have the people on the team we need in order to win the championship,” Wolfe proclaimed. “This year, our biggest enemy is definitely going to be ourselves.”

Ivy softball is divided into two divisions — North and South — where the two division winners meet at the end of the season for the championship series. Cornell has won the last two South Division titles, with Penn finishing second both times.

“You have to call them the team to beat because they’ve done so well in the past two years,” senior catcher Alisha Prystowsky said of the Big Red.

Prystowsky has been through it all over the previous three seasons. She is the only Penn player during that time to start in every game, grinding most of them out at the grueling position behind the plate — and it’s normal for her to catch both ends of a doubleheader.

“Alisha is the hardest worker on the team,” Wolfe said. “She is always taking the extra reps, staying after practice, working out with anybody who wants extra help … She pushes herself, and I think that translates to the rest of the team pushing themselves harder.”

It was this exceptional leadership and hard work that earned her the title of captain for her senior year.

With Harvard (14-10) and Dartmouth (5-10) coming to town this weekend, Prystowsky says she is excited to begin the Ivy portion of the schedule but not as anxious as some players.

“The upperclassmen [are] a little more reserved, a little more calm,” she said. “Whereas the underclassmen are just so super-stoked to get there.”

Prystowsky credited the younger players with infusing energy into the Quakers — more than the team has ever had during her time here.

“We definitely have a lot more energy now,” she said. This season’s team includes six freshmen and nine sophomores. “Young players bring that sense of just getting to college, just starting a career … so there’s a lot of hype.”

Wolfe added that the young players have brought more than just energy with them.

“I think this is the most talented team we’ve had,” she said.

The key for the Quakers’ success this season, Prystowsky said, is the ability to handle the good with the bad.

“All seasons have ups and downs,” she explained. The team needs to be “able to come up and stay up, that when something bad happens, we don’t let it knock us down for a game or two.”

Still, she remains confident that the team can go all the way. When asked what would define success for the 2011 Quakers, Prystowsky provided only one option.

“An Ivy championship — there is nothing else,” she said.

Wolfe was in agreement. The only thing that will satisfy her at the end of this season?

“A ring on my finger.”

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