Confidence breeds success, and that is exactly the ingredient that Leslie King has brought to the Penn softball team.
For a team that has not won a league title since 1981 or produced a winning record in 20 years, King, heading into her fourth year with the Quakers, has cultivated a mindset necessary for a championship team.
And a recent restructuring of the Ancient Eight playoff system, Penn will have its best chance to alter its losing history.
"I think the parity in the league is going to be really high and anyone can basically beat anyone on a given weekend," King said.
This season Ivy League softball will be adapting the baseball format, in which the conference is split into two divisions of four with the top team from each division playing a three-game series for the Ivy championship.
The Quakers' division will consist of the toughest teams - Princeton, Cornell and Columbia.
Though Penn went 18-26 last season, it tied the program's all-time wins mark.
Led by Ivy League Player of the Year Christina Khosravi, Penn was first in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, hits, doubles, triples, walks and runs battled in.
With average play in the field, the reason behind the sixth place Ivy finish is mostly attributed to pitching woes.
"I think the definite key to our success, because offensively and defensively we're very strong, . will be how our pitching staff holds up," King said.
Penn had the worst earned-run average in the league last season, with a 4.71 ERA.
The pitching staff also gave up the most home runs and walks, with the least strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the two teams to finish the season with a winning record, Princeton and Cornell, had the best ERAs in the league with 1.45 and 2.44, respectively.
Of all the storylines to consider as Penn heads into the season, the most important may be the potential of the team's middle infielders, juniors Khosravi and Annie Kinsey.
The classmates were first and second, respectively, in the Ivies in batting average, and also cracked the top five in both hits and total bases - proving to be catalysts for the Quakers.
With 10 returning seniors, there may be a much different look to the standings this year.
"I don't think anyone is going to dominate. Princeton has come as close to dominating as anyone," King said. "They had a really strong pitcher [Erin Snyder, 0.76 ERA] who has now graduated. No one has that now."
And with that in mind, the Quakers are looking to capitalize on the level playing field and create their own tradition.
"Obviously we all want to finish with a winning record. I've got 10 seniors who are determined to go out on a winning note this year," said King.
