While it may not have been as easy as past years, this season's Big Ten softball title was as sweet as any for Michigan coach Carol Hutchins.
The depths from which Michigan had to rise were unusual for the defending league champs, but that made last weekend's Big Ten championship all the more satisfying.
Three wins in three games - two over the No. 3 team in the nation - were beyond Michigan's realm of thinking earlier in this campaign.
The trouble started early in the conference season.
It was April 6 when Hutchins' problems came to a head.
Her top pitcher, Sara Griffin, collided with teammate Traci Conrad, Michigan's top hitter, in a game against Iowa, and both fell to the ground.
Griffin emerged with a broken left arm, sidelining her for the year, and Conrad suffered a concussion.
"We all knew we had to step it up with Sara being out," Conrad said. "She's a big part of our team that we had to fill in."
Iowa had ended Michigan's season the two previous years at the College World Series and was putting a similar hurt on the Wolverines this time around.
The Hawkeyes trounced Michigan, 8-2 and 15-4 - this was not the Michigan team which won two straight Big Ten championships. This team was only 3-2 in the Big Ten and destined for mediocrity.
There are moments when a coach needs to take control of her team and make changes.
This was one of those moments.
The freshmen anchoring the left side of the infield - Pam Kosanke and Melissa Gentile - continued to develop, but their inexperience was the least of Hutchins' concerns.
The Wolverines, stocked with talent from all corners of the nation, could overcome the loss of their stars and were about to prove it.
After splitting a doubleheader with Purdue two days after the Iowa debacle, Michigan began to roll.
And it was senior pitcher Kelly Holmes doing the pushing.
Hutchins made her the full-time starter and she left the Big Ten in her wake.
Following a dramatic doubleheader sweep of visiting Michigan State on April 22, Hutchins made her intentions clear.
"We're going to pitch her until her arm falls off," she said.
And she did.
Holmes won 18 straight games to close out the regular season, earning Big Ten pitcher of the year honors in the process.
But she wasn't finished. At the Big Ten tournament in Iowa City last weekend, Holmes won all three games for Michigan, including two over the Hawkeyes.
During Michigan's current 15-game winning streak, opponents have mustered just over one run per game, while Michigan has hit consistently, averaging 5.3 runs per outing.
The defense solidified and Michigan began playing with a sense of purpose.
Conrad, who had been hovering near .300 at the time of the collision, returned to the field with a vengeance.
"With the whole left side (of the infield) being freshmen, I had to step up," she said. "That's the role you have to take."
She is currently hitting at a .400 clip, after a 7-for-10 performance at Iowa City. But it was Conrad's leadership that stood out among her peers.
Michigan defeated the Hawkeyes twice on their home field to capture the Big Ten title last weekend, and nothing could have been sweeter for the Wolverines than avenging the events of April 5 and 6.
"We had something to prove - that we could beat them," Holmes said. "It showed we had the courage to come back and win."
Three more wins at Alumni Field will be necessary for Michigan to keep playing beyond this weekend, but after this season's obstacles, that is a minor distraction.