2018: Toppel helped Carson-Newman to two South Atlantic Conference regular season titles, a pair of tournament titles and three trips to NCAA regional play. A life-time .290 hitter and two-time All-SAC selection, Toppel started 197 games for Carson-Newman and played in 199.  She had 169 knocks, 34 doubles and nine home runs. She stole 48 bases in 56 attempts in her career.  Toppel ranks just outside the top 10 in SAC history for runs scored and stolen bases for a career.  She matched the single-game school record for doubles with three in a game at Fort Valley State her freshman season.  Twice that year she matched a then 20-year-old record for runs scored in a single-game.  She crossed home plate five times against Fort Valley State and also against Bluefield State.  Toppel was hit by a pitch 32 times in her career, narrowly missing out on the top 25 in NCAA history for the most time struck by a pitch in a career.  She also owns the fifth longest hitting streak in school history.  That came during an All-SAC sophomore season.  She also earned SAC and TSWA player of the Week and hit .345 for the year.  Toppel produced a 16-game hitting streak between February and March for the Eagles, the fourth longest in school history.  As a sophomore she finished in the top 15 in the conference in eight offensive statistical categories.  During her player of the week run, Toppel batted .526 (10-for-19) with one double, two home runs, seven RBIs and eight runs scored in six games for the Eagles. The Roanoke, Va., native posted two hits in both games of a doubleheader versus Bluefield State College, scoring twice in the opener and hitting a three-run inside-the-park homer in the second contest.

2017: Toppel earned All-SAC honors for a second straight season at shortstop.  The junior hit .310 with 48 hits in 155 at bats.  Toppel has dropped down a team-best 15 sacrifice hits, she was second in the league in that regard. Toppel also swiped 24 bases in 26 attempts and ranked third in the conference in pilfers.  The Roanoke, Va.-product produced 13 multi-hit and five multi-RBI efforts.  Included in that is Toppel's first career four-hit game, which she did at King on Feb. 11.  Carson-Newman went 27-7 when she scored a run. Toppel was a black hole defensively, especially in conference play.  She only made one error at short.  Toppel is one of the most dogged players at the plate to deal with. She faced off against a 22-pitch at-bat and a 19-pitch at-bat against Young Harris in game one in back-to-back appearances at the plate.  She fouled off 17 and 15 pitches respectively,  While records for longest at-bats and number of foul balls hit in an at bat are not kept, here's some perspective. As of 2017, the longest recorded Major League Baseball at-bat happened in 1998 when Bartolo Colon of the Cleveland Indians threw 20 pitches to Ricky Guiterrez of the Houston Astros. Guiterrez took two strikes and three balls and fouled off 13 pitches before striking out on the 20th pitch.  Toppel struck out looking and walked in the two lengthy at-bats. She accounted for 38 percent of the pitches that Nikkie Kovalsy tossed in the game. She spent a total 19:20 at the plate, accounting for 15.3 percent of the total game time of game one of the doubleheader.

HONORS

• All-SAC Honorable Mention 
• SAC All-Tournament Team 

2016: An honorable metion All-SAC selection, SAC and TSWA player of the Week, Toppel started all but two games at short this year (she and Siebert switched positions for those two games) and hit .345 for the year.  Toppel produced a 16-game hitting streak between February and March for the Eagles, the fourth longest in school history.  The sophomore finished in the top 15 in the conference in eight offensive statistical categories.  Toppel tallied up 15 multi-hit performances, second on the team to Siebert, and five multi-RBI days.  She had a pair of three-hit performances on the season at Clark Atlanta and Tusculum, while she produced a trio of runs batted in against Belmont Abbey, Bluefield State and USC Aiken. She peaked in early March when she won TSWA player of the week.  Toppel batted .526 (10-for-19) with one double, two home runs, seven RBIs and eight runs scored in six games for the Eagles. The Roanoke, Va., native posted two hits in both games of a doubleheader versus Bluefield State College, scoring twice in the opener and hitting a three-run inside-the-park homer in the second contest.

The sophomore infielder added another three-run homer in the second game of a twinbill against USC Aiken and went 3-for-3 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored in the first of two contests versus Clark Atlanta. Toppel singled, walked and scored twice in the second game as well.

2015: Saw her freshman season shortened due to knee injury, but still managed to put together a memorable freshman campaign at Mossy Creek. She hit .330 with a team best five triples. Toppel also drove in 31 runs to rank fourth on the team.  Toppel matched a 20-year-old school record for runs scored against Bluefield State (2/6) and Fort Valley State (2/19) crossing home plate five times in each game. She had nine multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games.  Toppel had two, three-hit games against Fort Valley State and Brevard (3/18).  She also tied a school record for doubles in a single game with three against Fort Valley State. She hit her two home runs of the year against Concord (3/2) and King (3/7).  Drove in a career best four runs against FVSU.  

High School: A slick-fielding shortstop for coach Cheryl Shockley out of Lord Botetourt High School, Toppel comes to Carson-Newman as a three-time All-District selection.  She's also earned All-Region, All-Timesland Conference, and All-State honors in her high school career. She's hitting .527 with 39 hits, seven doubles, a trio of triples and 17 RBI.  She's also scored 29 runs with seven walks against three strikeouts. 

Personal: The daughter of Todd and Betty Toppel, Kristen plans to study accounting at Carson-Newman.  She was the editor of her high school's yearbook.