Washburn wrap up homestand with Emporia State on Friday . . . 
•    The Washburn Ichabod softball team will wrap up their eight-game homestand with No. 20-ranked Emporia State on Friday starting at 2 p.m. in a pair of MIAA games. 
•    On Saturday, the two teams will play another doubleheader in Emporia as non-conference games starting at 2 p.m.
•    The Ichabods will then resume MIAA play on March 17 at Northeastern State and at Central Oklahoma the following day.
•    Washburn will then travel to the Missouri Western Regional Crossover March 20-22 with six games. Five of the games will be against Northern Sun schools and one will be against Missouri Southern in a non-conference game.

 Warm ups . . . 
•    The Ichabods are coming off a 3-1 week after sweeping Lincoln in an MIAA doubleheader on March 6 and then splitting with Lindenwood on March 7. 
•    The Ichabods picked up another sweep on March 9 over Upper Iowa on March 9.
•    Lauren Thimmesch pitched a 1-hit shutout against Upper Iowa in a 4-0 win while striking out seven in the game … in the nightcap she tied a Washburn and an MIAA record with three home runs giving her a team-high seven this season … her win in the opener with the Peacocks gave her an 8-0 record and a 0.45 earned run average.
•    In 15 games this season the Ichabods have hit 27 home runs … the school record is 59 set last season … the 27 round trippers the Ichabods have hit this season is already 11th on the Ichabod single-season chart.
•    Kristen Bell leads the team with a .458 batting average with a team-high 22 hits … her batting average is fourth in the MIAA rankings.
•    Cassidy Merriman has scored a team-high 17 runs while collecting 18 hits and a team-high eight doubles and a team-high 15 RBI.
•    The Ichabods are scoring their opponents 20-5 in the third inning and 27-9 in the fourth inning of games this season … in the sixth inning the Ichabods are outscoring opponents 21-9.
•    The only inning this season the Ichabods are being outscored is the seventh and eight innings with a 3-2 and 1-0 deficit.
•    The Ichabods will be looking to snap a 33-game losing streak to Emporia State on the softball field.
•    The last win by the Ichabods over the Hornets on April 25, 2005 in a 4-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader.
•    The Ichabods are leading the MIAA in hitting with a .354 batting average as a team.

  Scouting the opponent . . . 
Emporia State
•    The Hornets are 12-4 this season and 4-0 in the MIAA after sweeping Lincoln and Lindenwood shutting out both opponents in four games outscoring them 27-0.
•    Taylor Zordel leads the team with a .500 batting average collecting 31 hits in 16 games driving in 12.
•    Stephanie Goodwin leads the team with 22 RBI while hitting .404 collecting 21 hits.
•    In the circle Eryn Stockman has a 1.43 ERA with a 5-3 record with four complete games and three shutouts.

 WU Bod Notes . . . 
#1 • Courtney Todd • IF/OF • Fr. • Has not appeared in any games yet.
#2 • Alex Sweeney • OF • So. • Has scored one run and recorded a putout in three games.
#3 • Kristen Bell • C • Jr. • Leads the Ichabods with eight multi-game hits.
#4 • Megan Stegman • C/UT • So. • Carrying a six-game hitting streak into the weekend facing Emporia State.
#5 • Marina Quimby • P/IF • Jr. • Has reached base in each of the last six games and has reached base in 14 of 15 games overall this season.
#6 • Brianna White • IF • Fr. • Has not appeared in any games this season.
#7 • Savannah Moore • 3B • Fr. • Has 10 hits and two home runs driving in nine this season.
#8 • Jordan Erickson • OF • So. • Has reached base in the last six games.
#9 • Haylee Marsteller • OF • Jr. • Has five multi-hit games this season and three multi-RBI games.
#10 • Kimberly Euler • P/OF • Fr. • Has recorded 1 1/3 innings pitched allowing two runs.
#11 • Samantha Carson • P/IF • So. • Has pitched 18 1/3 innings this season striking out six.
#14 • Taylor Kemp • P • Jr. • Has pitched 11 1/3 innings striking out seven.
#15 • Berkley White • C • Fr. • Has not appeared in any games this season.
#16 • Lauren Thimmesch • P/IF • Sr. • is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA after two MIAA starts in the circle.
#17 • Cassidy Merriman • 3B/SS • Fr. • Batting a team-high .600 in MIAA play with nine hits in 15 at bats.
#18 • Maddie Abbs • IF/OF • Fr. • Has played in five games recording two hits.
#20 • Taylor Zimmerman • IF • Jr. • Recorded a team-high 7 RBI after the first weekend of MIAA play against Lincoln and Lindenwood.
#21 • Lindsey Marcus • IF/P • Fr. • Has made two pitching appearance this season allowing three earned runs.
#22 • Sierra Kemp • IF • Jr. • Batting .231 with three hits and a double.

 Last time out for the Ichabods . . . 
(March 9) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods swept a non-conference doubleheader on Monday at the Washburn Softball Complex topping Upper Iowa 4-0 and 9-1 in six innings.
Game 1 - Washburn 4, Upper Iowa 0
Jordan Erickson hit two home runs and Lauren Thimmesch struck out nine pitching a complete game one hit shutout in the 4-0 win in the opener. Erickson's two-run shot in the first scoring Marina Quimby who led off the inning with a single. 
Neither team would score until the bottom of the sixth when Jordan Erickson led off the inning with a solo home run to center field and then Haylee Marsteller singled and then scored on a double by Kristen Bell.
Lauren Thimmesch struck out a career-high nine batters allowing only a second inning single by Riley Kruel as she shutout the Peacocks in the shutout on 111 pitches improving to 8-0 in the circle. In the opener Erickson finished with two hits as did Bell in the win. 
Game 2 - Washburn 9, Upper Iowa 1 (6 innings)
Lauren Thimmesch tied a Washburn and an MIAA record with three home runs in the game while driving in four runs in the 9-1 win. It was the eighth time a member of an MIAA team had hit three home runs in a single game and the first since Washburn's Dani White did so against Northwest Missouri on April 3, 2009.
The Ichabods hit four home runs in the game as Cassidy Merriman hit a grand slam in the fourth inning scoring Taylor Zimmerman, Megan Stegman and Marina Quimby as she finished with 4 RBI in game two joining Thimmesch's 4 RBI in the nightcap. Quimby picked up the win striking out three allowing an unearned run going the distance scatter five hits. 

 Ichabod head coach Vanessa Becerra . . . 
• was named the Washburn Ichabod head softball coach on Aug. 3, 2011 after spending four seasons at Metro State in Denver, Colo., with the final season coming as the head coach. 
• is 63-84 in her fourth season on the bench at Washburn and overall Becerra has recorded a 97-102 mark in her fifth year as a head coach.
• in her lone season as the head coach at Metro State, Becerra led the Roadrunners the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championship while advancing to the NCAA regional tournament for the third-straight season finishing with a 34-18 record. 
• has coached 12 Ichabods to all-MIAA honors.
• has had 38 Ichabods named to the MIAA's Academic Honor Roll.

 Ichabod softball history. . . 
• The Ichabods are 1078-791-1 in their 46th year of softball. 
• The Ichabods have made three NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008). 
• Washburn won the 2002 regular season MIAA title.

 Up next . . . 
•    The Ichabods will then resume MIAA play on March 17 at Northeastern State and at Central Oklahoma the following day.
•    Washburn will then travel to the Missouri Western Regional Crossover March 20-22 with six games. Five of the games will be against Northern Sun schools and one will be against Missouri Southern in a non-conference game.