For Terri Mesko, ace of the Cougar's softball pitching staff, it's vital she not step on the line when taking the field at Patriots Point.
"Never, ever ... you can't step on the line," says a smiling Mesko. "And I can't look the batter in the eye. Any time I look them in the eye, they get a hit."
She may have 535 career strikeouts for the College, the most in Cougar softball history, but in true ballplayer fashion, Mesko has her superstitions. Superstitions are all they are, though. Because it's not whether she locks eyes with the opposition or steps on the chalk that has shaped her success, it's her fervent devotion to the game. That, and her deceptive drop and curve balls.
"Her ball completely drops off the end of the table," notes softball coach Shelly Hoerner. "The movement on her pitches is amazing."
For a decade now, Mesko's been sending batters back to their dugouts shaking and scratching their heads. Softball has always been a passion, Division I always an aspiration.
"I never had any doubt I wanted to play in college," she says. "As soon as I visited Charleston, I was sold - the campus, the academics ... King Street, of course."
She's struck out thousands since her years playing traveling ball in metro Atlanta, but it was last March in Charlotte when she notched the K to place her in College of Charleston eminence. Not bad for a gal with a season and a half left in her career.
"I didn't really know about the record until the season began and people started bringing it up," she says.
While 45 school records and a career 2.88 ERA are striking, the accounting major says wins and rings are what matter, not records.
"The most important thing this year is winning the league," Mesko says. "I take a lot of pride in my pitching. It's a team sport, but we all have our individual roles."
Hoerner acknowledges Mesko's trait of personal responsibility.
"We win and lose as a team," Hoerner says, "but there's no denying that a lot of responsibility falls on the pitcher. Terri understands that and takes it very seriously. She holds herself accountable."
Still, Hoerner says, the star hurler can act a lovable prima donna at times - enough so to earn her the well-embraced nickname of "Princess."
"Princess, that's how we all know her," Hoener observes. "It's not meant in a bad way. All pitchers can be princesses at times. She works extremely, extremely hard, but she's still a little princess."
Although maybe now it's time to call her "the Queen." 