The Toledo softball program started its fall practice season on Tuesday. Read about what Head Coach Joe Abraham and the Rockets are doing in preparation for its 2021 season.

Q: A typical fall season normally consists of 4-5 weekends of games against other schools. Since you won't be able to play that type of schedule this fall, can you talk about what your approach is going to be?
COACH ABRAHAM: We're going to play 15 intra-squad scrimmages. We have a large roster so that makes it easy for us to play some games.  We're going to bring in one umpire behind home plate and treat them like regular games. It's going to be important to get in some actual games because our players from last year haven't played a game in nearly six months.
 
Q: Were any of the returnees able to play many games since your season ended last March?
COACH ABRAHAM: A few of them could play a little bit during the summer in some 23-and-under tournaments. They were limited, though, because they have summer jobs or internships.  There will be quite a bit of rustiness for them to shake off. On the other hand, our freshmen played a full summer of travel ball where they played 50-60 games so they're ready to go. Everybody's at a different place and we need to get everyone up to speed.
 
Q: How do you go about doing that?
COACH ABRAHAM: Our team already has played a big role in getting ready to play. We have a ton of competition within our team which is driving them to get better. They have been coming in and taking extra reps in our indoor hitting facility since school started two weeks ago. Now that we're able to practice 20 hours a week, we're going to do everything we can to maximize everybody's reps. We're going to use our first couple of weeks of practice to figure out our defensive positions the best we can. After that, we're going to get right into it and start playing games.
 
Q: You mentioned the competition that's developing for playing time. Can you talk about the depth and talent your team will have among the position players?
COACH ABRAHAM: We have a decent number of returning players who either started or received significant playing time. We're also going to be adding 13 freshmen who we're really excited about. Not just for the 2021 season but for the future of our program.  There is a ton of talent in our freshman class that will be battling for playing time.  We have a lot of speed, a good amount of power and just a lot of good all-around players in that class.
 
Q: What does your pitching staff look like?
COACH ABRAHAM: We're going to have a lot of competition with our pitching staff as well. It's great to have Erin Hunt as our ace, but we need to develop good solid No. 2 and No. 3 pitchers at a minimum and that's up for grabs right now. A championship-level team is going to need at least two and probably three reliable pitchers to feel solid about its chances of winning the league. Since we won't be having a conference tournament this season, a deep pitching staff is critical. It's a whole different type of mindset than it used to be.
 
Q: Who are the candidates for the supporting roles on the pitching staff?
COACH ABRAHAM: We have returnees McKenna Schmidt and Sophia Schwegel. McKenna ended up getting quite a few Innings as a freshman last year, so she has some experience under her belt. Sophia has really been putting in a lot of time lately, and we're hoping that pays off for her. We also have two additions with transfer Makenna Durieux from Wright State and freshman Annika Johnson from Oshkosh, Wis. Makenna throws hard and has Division I experience, and Annika has very good movement and control.
 
Q: Is there a big adjustment for a pitcher going from high school to the collegiate level?
COACH ABRAHAM: Sometimes it's made easier if they played a strong travel schedule, but it typically is a huge adjustment for two reasons. The first is that the hitters they're facing are consistently good and they never get a break. The second is that the strike zone is smaller at our level. As a result, they aren't getting strikes called they used to get for pitches that might be a couple inches off the plate.
 
Q: Another part of the program you take great pride in is the academics, especially after the team posted a 3.7 grade-point average or higher in each semester last year. Can you talk about your program's success in the classroom and your approach to academics?
COACH ABRAHAM: Our program's academics were good when we arrived and have steadily improved. I like to recruit good, serious students who truly put academics first. We emphasize academics with our team, but we don't really need to push them a lot with the type of girls we have in our program. They do that themselves. Another important factor with our academics is the character we look for in our recruits. Character plays a huge factor in our recruiting. It doesn't matter how good someone is if they aren't going to be a good fit for our program.