Complete game notes

Leading off
The Washburn Lady Blues enter their second NCAA North Central Regional in the last three seasons when they travel down the Kansas Turnpike for postseason play in Emporia, Kan. The Lady Blues are the No. 8 seeded team in the regional and will play top seeded and nationally ranked No. 21 Emporia State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

On Deck
A summer break begins as it is two losses and you're done.

Media exposure
Media contact is Gene Cassell, Washburn sports information director. Phone: 785-670-1791 or email: gene.cassell@washburn.edu.

Ticket information for NCAA tournament
Daily passes will be sold at the south entrance. This shall be the only entrance for spectators. Teams, tournament administration and media may enter through the north entrance with a proper pass. To obtain a media pass, contact the Emporia State Media Relations Office. Ticket prices are as follows: Adults $5; Students with I.D. $3; Senior Citizens $3.

Media services at NCAA regional
Press box seating will be limited to participating sports information directors and any media certified by those SIDs. Seating and credential arrangements shall be made through the Emporia State Media Relations Office. Those doing radio broadcasts with approval from IMG College will be given first priority for seating. Programs, game notes and media guides will be available to the media by the Emporia State Media Relations Office and participating sports information directors. An NCAA box score and play-by-play packet will be made available following each game.

Post game interviews at NCAA regional
All requests for postgame interviews must be made through the respective team's SID or through the Emporia State Media Relations personal on site. All interviews will be conducted in the back portion of the press box. After a 10-minute cooling-off period the winning coach and requested players will be made available in the media area, followed by the winning coach and players. For the region finals, the losing team will be first, followed by the winning team. All credentialed media will have access to the interview area. Coaches cannot make themselves available exclusively to one media agency before the 10-minute cooling-off period ends.

NCAA North Central regional tournament schedule
Wednesday, May 7
Game 1 Central Missouri vs. Winona State 10:00 a.m.
Game 2 Southwest Minnesota vs. Northwest Missouri 12:30 p.m.
Game 3 Neb.-Omaha vs. Minn. State-Mankato 3:00 p.m.
Game 4 Emporia State vs. Washburn 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 8 • Day 2
Game 5 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 10:00 a.m.
Game 6 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 12:30 p.m.
Game 7 Winner Game 1 vs. winner Game 2 3:00 p.m.
Game 8 Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 5:30 p.m.

Friday, May 9 • Day 3
Game 9 Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6 10:00 a.m.
Game 10 Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5 12:30 p.m.
Game 11 Winner game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 3:00 p.m.
Game 12 Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 9 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 10 • Day 4
Game 13 Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11 1:00 p.m.
Game 14 Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 11 3:30 p.m

Sunday, May 11 • Day 5
Game 15 Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14 1:00 p.m.
Necessary only if Winner Game 13 defeats Winner Game 11 in Game 14

About the Lady Blues
Washburn enters the NCAA regional with a 29-26 overall record and finished the conference season with a 10-8 record. They are the No. 8 seeded team at the North Central Regional. This season the Lady Blues are making their second NCAA regional appearance in the last three seasons. Washburn was also in the 2006 NCAA regional. The other trip to the NCAA postseason was during the 1999 season, when it was held in Kearney, Neb., when it was a four-team region and the Lady Blues fell to Nebraska-Kearney 4-0, then fell to Truman 6-3 and was eliminated.

Last time out for the Lady Blues
SHAWNEE, Kan. - (May 1) The Washburn Lady Blues went 1-2 last weekend during the MIAA Postseason Tournament. Washburn won their first game topping Pittsburg State 6-0 before falling to Emporia State 11-2. In a continued game from May 1, the Lady Blues fell to Central Missouri 2-0.
Game No. 1 - Washburn 6, Pittsburg State 0 (first round)
The Washburn Lady Blues softball team improved to 29-24 on the season with a 6-0 win over Pittsburg State in the first round of the MIAA Championship Softball Tournament.
The Lady Blues broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning as Whitney Tapp's two-out double to right chased home Brooke DeVader, who also doubled in the inning. The following inning, PSU had runners two runners on for their best scoring chance the remainder of the day. Washburn added two more in the top of the sixth capped by DeVader's 14th home run of the season which scored Tish Williams who reached on a Gorilla error. The Lady Blues added three more in the bottom of the seventh as Williams added to her school single-season record 16th home run of the season – a three-run shot to left which scored Candi Madill and Maggie West who each singled in the inning. The Gorillas had two runners on in the bottom of the seventh, but Kelly Swygert shut the door on PSU retiring the next three batters to close out the game. Swygert improved to 18-9 on the season, holding the Gorillas to three hits with a strike out and a pair of walks. Williams finished with 3 RBI and DeVader was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and two runs scored.
Game No. 2 - Emporia State 11, Washburn 2 - six innings (second round)
After the Hornets scored two runs in the bottom of the first, the Lady Blues tied the score on Mandy Tarbutton's third home run of the season. It was a two-run homer which tied the score at 2-2. From that point on it was all Emporia State as they pounded out 15 more hits taking advantage of three Lady Blues errors in a run-rule six inning game. Williams had the other base hit for the Lady Blues.
Game No. 3 - Central Missouri 2, Washburn 0 (elimination game)
SHAWNEE, Kan. -- The Washburn Lady Blues fell to Central Missouri 2-0 in a suspended game resumed from Thursday night dropping their record to 29-26 on the season. The loss now puts Washburn's postseason hopes in the hands of the NCAA selection committee as the Lady Blues entered the MIAA tournament in eighth with the top eight teams vying for regional bids. The regional announcement is scheduled to be made on Sunday night.
The game was resumed in the top of the third inning with Washburn batting, Washburn drew two straight walks before a flyout to right ended the inning. In the fourth and fifth innings, Washburn had six straight batters retired. The sixth inning saw Tish Williams lead off the inning with a single to center. UCM's Megan Leonard sat down the next two Washburn hitters with a strikeout and fly out. Dani White singled to center to move Williams over to second base and a Lady Blues ground out ended the Washburn threat in the inning. In the seventh, the Lady Blues were retired in order.

Lady Blues series history vs North Central regional teams
This season, the Lady Blues are 6-5 against regional tournament foes this season.
No. 1 seed Emporia State
The Lady Blues are 0-3 this season against Emporia State and have lost two of the three games via the run-rule. Washburn and ESU played in a double header on April 27 in Emporia and the Hornets took both games winning the opener 4-2 and taking the night cap 11-2 in six innings. The two teams would play again for the third time in under a week in the second round of the MIAA Tournament and the Lady Blues fell 11-2 in six innings. In the series, the Lady Blues have lost their last 14 games to ESU with the last win coming on April 20, 2005 in a 4-3 win. ESU topped the Lady Blues in the only meeting in NCAA Tournament play as the Hornets took a 9-0 win on March 11, 2006 in the first round in Emporia.

No. 2 seed Southwest Minnesota State
The two teams did not play this season. Overall, Washburn is 3-1 all-time against the Mustangs, who won the last meeting 3-2 on Feb. 19, 2006.

No. 3 seed Central Missouri
Washburn is 1-2 against the Jennies this season. The two teams split a doubleheader on April 5 with Central winning the first game 4-1 while the Lady Blues won the second game 5-0. The two teams met in an elimination game in the MIAA Tournament and the Jennies won 2-0 on May 1. In series history, the teams have split the last 10 meetings and in the last 20 meetings, Washburn has won 11.

No. 4 seed Nebraska-Omaha
The Lady Blues took an 8-4 win over the then-No. 3 nationally ranked Mavericks on March 29. Washburn has won four straight games over the Mavericks with UNO's last win over Washburn coming in a 1-0 win on March 8 in Omaha.

No. 5 Minnesota State, Mankato
Washburn is 2-0 against the Mavericks this season picking up a 3-2 win on March 22 at the Missouri Western Invitational and a 6-5 win on March 29 at the UNO Classic when the Mavericks were ranked No. 23 in the country. Overall, Washburn is 8-3 all-time against the Mavericks and have won five of the last six games.

No. 6 Winona State
The Lady Blues and Warriors have not played this season and they have never met in school history.

No. 7 Northwest Missouri
Washburn is 2-0 against the Bearcats this season after sweeping a doubleheader in Maryville on April 15 taking the first game 6-0 and winning the nightcap 9-4. Washburn has won the last five games in the series. The teams have met once in the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats won that meeting 11-5 on March 12, 2006 in Emporia.

Last time in the NCAA regional tournament for the Lady Blues
Lady Blues drop NCAA regional opener at ESU • May 11, 2006
EMPORIA, KAN. - The No. 23 ranked Washburn Lady Blues fell 9-0 to the No. 2 ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets in the quarterfinals of the NCAA North Central Regional Tournament. Washburn was held without a hit through three and two-thirds innings as Shannon Gosser broke up the no-no with a single to left field. But that is all the offense the Lady Blues could muster as ESU's Melissa Stevens retired the final four batters of the game leading to the 9-0 win. ESU jumped on the board in the second inning scoring a solo run on a Courtney Nitz single and the Lady Hornets blew the doors open as Brea Beattie hit a two-run homer to center pushing the lead to 3-0. ESU added a pair of unearned runs in the fourth and four more runs in the fifth, which two were unearned as Nitz's home run ended the game.
WU's Kelly Swygert fell to 20-11 on the season with the five earned runs.

Lady Blues season ends with loss to Bearcats • May 12, 2006
Washburn was up 5-4, but the Northwest Missouri scored seven unanswered runs taking an 11-5 win ending the Lady Blues season with a 36-21 record.
Malarie Fellers and Kala Huske each had two hits for the Lady Blues and Fellers scored two of Washburn's five runs.

Washburn's White lone Lady Blue named all-MIAA 1st team
Washburn junior first baseman was named first team all-MIAA in vote by the MIAA Coaches which was announced before the opening round games in the MIAA Tournament. Entering the tournament, White was hitting .333 with 10 home runs and 10 doubles.
Named to the second all-MIAA team was senior shortstop Brooke DeVader and sophomore third baseman Tish Williams. Senior pitcher Kelly Swygert, sophomore catcher Whitney Tapp and senior outfielder Mandy Tarbutton all earned Honorable Mention all-MIAA honors.

Scoring in the first equals more wins for Lady Blues
Washburn is 12-6 when they score in the first inning and 25-9 when they score first during the game … when their opponents score first, Washburn is 4-17 overall and when their opponent scores in the first inning, Washburn is 5-11.

Looking for at least six runs
The Lady Blues are 19-0 this season when they score at least six runs in a game … the Lady Blues are 10-26 when scoring fewer than six runs.

Early lead pays off for Washburn
Washburn is 18-4 when leading after five innings this season, but only 1-17 when trailing after five innings.

At bat attack
This season's Lady Blues have three of the top four career totals in at bats in school history. Mandy Tarbutton currently owns the school record for at bats in a career with 698. Malarie Fellers has 669 and Brooke DeVader has 664. Fellers' total would rank second all-time at Washburn and DeVader's total is fourth all-time. The MIAA record for at bats in a career is 760 held by Emporia State's Megan Davison set last season.

Better to give
Malarie Fellers has the school record for assists in a career with 519 which is 137 ahead of second place all-time. The MIAA record is 555 held by Shari Heider from Missouri Southern (1993-96) … Brooke DeVader broke Washburn's single-season assist record at the MIAA Tournament … she has 183 this season, which topped the previous record of 178 set by Cory Bergstrom during the 1995 season. The MIAA record for assists in a single season is 195 set by Karen Hopewell of Northwest Missouri during the 1985 season.

Home run queen
Looking to become the first Lady Blue to reach 40 home runs in a career is current leader Brooke DeVader … DeVader has 38, which is tops all-time at Washburn ahead of Chris Torrez's 32 set between 1993-96. Hot on DeVader's pace is junior Dani White with 31 and sophomore Tish Williams who has 30. Williams has the top two single season totals in school history with 16 this season and 14 as a freshman.

You're outta here
Junior first baseman Dani White has set the school record for putouts in the season with 544 topping the previous record of 509, which has stood for 20 years set by Tish Yarnell in 1986. The MIAA record is 576 set by Shally Lundien of Missouri Southern in 1994.

I'm walking
Senior shortstop Brooke DeVader has walked 61 times in her career at Washburn … the school record is 65 set by Katie Schmidt from 2001-04.

Bombs away
The Lady Blues have hit 48 home runs this season, which is third all-time in school history … the school record is 50 set during the 2002 season.