It might seem like a lifetime ago that Penn State softball sat on the brink of an NCAA Tournament bid, coming off record-setting season when it finished third in the Big Ten and backed it up in the Big Ten Tournament it hosted with a win in front of a sellout crowd over national power Nebraska.

It might not have ended up in a regional during that 2016 season, but it hasn’t come anywhere near the NCAA Tournament these past two seasons, finishing near the bottom of the conference both years and capping off last season with a historically-bad 9-41 campaign.

The last time the Nittany Lions made the tournament was 2011, but a stacked freshman class is primed to change that during its time in Happy Valley.

That’ll start with the experience these first-year players get this season — Coach Amanda Lehotak said as many as five could be starting, all up the middle of the field, this weekend at the Florida Gulf Coast tournament.

At this point, Penn State’s hoping for a total overhaul. The team’s pitching was atrocious last season, with the Nittany Lions’ staff posting a 5.96 team ERA — good for No. 279 out of 296 Division I teams. Yet, even if it improves pitching, the team still had the Power Five’s worst batting average (.217).

The good news: There’s enough new talent on both sides of this equation to produce some optimism.

Pitching

Penn State returns two pitchers from last season — senior Madison Shaffer and junior Madey Smith. Both have been go-to starters at some point. Shaffer’s time in the circle last season produced a 2-21 record and 7.00 ERA while Smith’s promising freshman season quickly went south, finishing her 6.1 innings of work her sophomore year with 27 runs conceded, 22 walks, 14 wild pitches, and 12 hit batters.

The freshman reinforcements are Kylee Lingenfelter and lefty Bailey Parshall, while Delaware State junior transfer and State High graduate Hannah Shields, a drop ball pitcher, will also add to the team’s staff.

“This year, I would say, is the first time we have the potential to have an elite staff. I mean they’re all so different,” Lehotak said. “This is the best pitching staff we’ve ever had here in my six years. The best thing about them as a unit is that they’re highly competitive.”

All five players figure to get innings in the team’s five-game stretch in Florida over the weekend, but Punxsutawney’s Lingenfelter will likely get the nod in the opener against Ball State for matchup purposes.

Batting

Outside of All-Big Ten outfielder Tori Dubois, who even couldn’t finish batting above .300 last season, producing hits these last two seasons has been a significant struggle.

The biggest offseason addition to solve this problem isn’t one of the freshmen or a transfer, but a new hitting coach. Alisa Goler Perrin, a National Pro Fastpitch legend who broke all sorts of hitting records in her time at Georgia and comes to Happy Valley after successfully starting her Division I coaching career at Syracuse, is bringing confidence to the lineup.

“She’s added a much more powerful lineup. You know we’re hitting a lot more home runs, doubles. We haven’t hit this many home runs in practice ever since I’ve been here. Her ability to individually design a program for a kid, and to make them be the best double hitter, single hitter, slapper, or home run hitter is quite phenomenal,” Lehotak said.

“For me, personally, I think she’s improved my game in all areas,” Dubois said. “It’s honestly hard to describe how much of an impact she’s had on me as a player in four months.”

The other new element to Penn State’s offense will come on the basepaths. According to Lehotak, there’s a true speed to the Nittany Lions this season, which will allow them to play more aggressively and create a different style to how they attack at the plate.

Outlook

It’s difficult to get a read on the Nittany Lions considering the number of freshmen who will need to step up and the lengths both the pitching staff and offense will have to go to be competitive, even if significant improvements have been made.

To be fair, it’s not impossible to have success with a freshmen-laden side. Oklahoma won a national title in 2016 with freshmen as four of its top five batters, and three significant contributors — including the conference’s player of the year — to Minnesota’s 2017 Big Ten championship lineup were freshmen. The big difference between those teams and Penn State, though, is that they had proven collegiate pitchers leading the youth.

The Nittany Lions don’t have a particularly difficult schedule, playing four NCAA Tournament teams from last season and squaring off in just one series against a currently ranked opponent.

This year should mostly be about working the way back to a .500 record and securing a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.