TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo softball program was working hard to build on its 2019 Mid-American Conference Tournament title when its season came to an abrupt halt due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Rockets were close to wrapping up their spring-break trip to Tennessee and Florida and getting ready to open their conference season vs. Kent State when their season has halted.

"Our lineup was starting to come together, and our pitchers had really good outings in their last games in Florida," second-year Head Coach Joe Abraham said. "Our record was around .500, which wasn't bad at all considering the amount of talent we lost from last year's team."

Junior 3B Dayna Denner was putting together an all-conference type season. The former NCAA Division II All-American at Ashland Univ. was leading the team in seven offensive categories, highlighted by a .408 batting average, a .690 slugging percentage and 19 RBIs. Denner was the second impact transfer to join the Rockets in as many seasons after junior Erin Hunt _­­made tremendous contributions in the 2019 campaign. Hunt picked up where she left off from a year ago by tallying a 9-4 win-loss mark, two saves and a 2.06 ERA in 81.2 innings this spring.

"Dayna proved to be an invaluable addition and showed just as Erin did that the top Division II players can be extremely successful at this level," Abraham said. "A lot of people get it in their head that if someone isn't initially a Division I recruit that they aren't a Division I-level player.  That can't be further from the truth. Erin was having another excellent season as well. We were trying to limit her innings as much as possible to save her for the conference season. That's hard to do when she gives you a good chance to win every game she pitches."

Senior 1B Morgan Paaverud (.288, 5 HR, 13 RBIs) and senior OF Samantha Golden (.235, 10 RBIs) were also having solid offensive seasons for the Rockets. They were joined in the Rockets' lineup by freshman 2B/OF Leah Munson (.328, team-high 12 runs), sophomore 2B Bri Robeson (.300, 10 runs, team-high 11 walks), sophomore OF Anna Dixon (.271 average), sophomore OF Aubrey Reed (.256 average) and freshman SS Lily Beyer (8 runs, team-high 6 SB, 8 walks). Sophomore Raquel Emery (.286, 6 RBIs) and freshman Macey Moore (.282, 7 RBIs) were also platooning behind the plate.

When Abraham looks back at the 2020 season, one game he will always remember was the 10-9 loss at Tennessee in nine innings. It was a contest in which the Rockets showed they could compete with the nation's top programs.

"Our game at Tennessee was a great one for us because it put us in one pressure situation after another," Abraham said. "It was televised on the SEC Network with a good crowd on hand. The back-and-forth nature of the game made it more pressure-packed than even when we played in the NCAA Regionals last year at Kentucky. We had four or five first-year Division I players on the field.  If someone made a list of top games in the country this year, I imagine it would be in the top five."

Abraham and the Rockets are now looking ahead to the 2021 season and looking forward at the chance to defend their 2019 MAC Tournament title.

"We're returning the overwhelming majority of our players and we have an excellent incoming class," Abraham said. "That means we'll have intense competition for playing time as we strive to win another championship."