•    The Washburn Ichabod softball team opens the 2016 campaign at the Sailfish Showdown hosted by Palm Beach Atlantic on Feb. 12-14.
•    The Ichabods will have five games over three days starting with Barry on Friday along with Florida Tech.
•    On Saturday, Washburn will take on host school Palm Beach Atlantic and Nova Southeastern and will wrap the even up on Sunday with Lynn before returning home.
•    The Ichabods will return to action at the NSIC/MIAA Dome Tournament Feb. 19-20 at Winona State.
•    The Ichabods are one of three MIAA squads who have not played a game yet this season joining Northwest Missouri and Fort Hays State as the last three to take the field this year.
 The Washburn Ichabod softball team enters the 2016 season with momentum and experience as they return five all-MIAA players from last season after reaching the conference postseason tournament for the first time since 2012. Overall the Ichabods will return nine letterwinners with six starters returning and three starting pitchers from 2015's 27-24 squad.
Returners
The Ichabods return five playes who were named honorable mention all-MIAA last season headlined by the team's top two hitters in senior first baseman and sophomore shortstop Cassidy Merriman. Quimby finished fourth in the MIAA in batting average with a .394 batting average while recording 69 hits with 43 runs scored. Merriman batted .341 with 56 hits and 12 doubles adding a team-high 48 runs scored.
Others who received honorable mention all-MIAA honors were junior outfielder Megan Stegman who batted .319 with 37 hits scoring 22 runs. Fellow outfielder senior Haylee Marsteller batted .314 with 44 hits and 32 runs scored adding 20 RBI.
Senior Taylor Zimmerman was the Ichabods' final returning all-MIAA selection from last season at second base starting all 51 games, one of four Washburn players to start all 51 games as she batted .253 with 37 hits and a team-high 13 doubles and finishing second on the team with 39 RBI.
Also returning for the Ichabods are senior third baseman Sierra Kemp, who started 27 games hitting .242 with 16 hits and 10 runs. Joining Sierra Kemp is her sister Taylor Kemp who recorded 14 appearances in the circle picking up a pair of wins and junior Samantha Carson, who appeared in 27 games recording a pitching in for Washburn. Junior outfielder Alex Sweeney appeared in 14 games last season recording a pair of stolen bases scoring six runs.
Washburn also redshirted three players in Courtney Todd, Brianna White and Berkley White and all three will look to compete for time this season.
Newcomers
Washburn will have seven newcomers who will look to make their mark on the Ichabod softball program.
Junior outfielder Chantal Prester joins the Ichabods from Dodge City Community College while playing second base and batted .254. She's a versatile player who also was an all-league pick in high school as a catcher.
Junior transfer from Labette Community College earned all-Jayhawk honors as a sophomore hitting .323 with 31 RBI with five home runs after batting .348 as a freshman with 37 RBI and 33 runs scored also picking up all-region honors.
Five freshmen round out the Ichabod team this season in Ashley Ruder, Lacie Myers, Lexie Myers, Erin Keeney and Ashley Wills.
Ruder can play both on the infield and in the outfield.
Lacie Myers was a first team all-league catcher as a senior and a second team selection as a junior and her twin sister Lexie was a first team all-league pick and all-area pick at first base.
Keeney was a first team all-area, all-district and all-league selection after batting .452 with an .850 slugging percentage at third base.
Wills was a first team all-league, all-district and all-region pick as a senior.
2016 Season
The Ichabods will open the 2016 at the Palm Beach Atlantic Classic on Feb. 12 with five games with opponents from the state of Florida before heading to the Northern Sun/MIAA Dome event in Winona, Minn., the following weekend on Feb. 19-20.
The Ichabods will open MIAA with six-straight road games at Lincoln (March 4), Lindenwood (March 5) and Emporia State (March 11) before having their first home games of the season in a non-conference battle against the Hornets the following day on March 12.
After home games on March 13 against Northeastern State, the Ichabods will head to the Apple Market Regional Crossover in St. Joseph where they will take on six Northern Sun schools over a three-day period.
Washburn will return home on April 1 after a six-game roadtrip to face defending MIAA and regional champion Central Missouri.
Washburn finishes the regular season with a eight-game homestand from April 13 to April 23.
The MIAA Tournament is scheduled for April 28-30 at the USA Softball Hall of Fame stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla. NCAA play begins on May 5 with the Super Regional taking place on May 11. The Division II World Series is set for May 15-21 in Denver, Colo.
 •    Marina Quimby led the team in 2015 with 24 multi-hit games …she enters her senior season with a career .375 batting average collecting 134 hits with 17 doubles, 62 RBI and 82 runs scored.
•    Senior Haylee Marsteller has started 120 games appearing in 122 overall and has a career .291 batting average with 96 hits, 44 RBI and 68 runs scored.
•    Cassidy Merriman started all 50 games as a freshman and had 56 hits with 48 runs scored with 12 home run.
•    Megan Stegman started 45 games with 47 games played as a sophomore collecting 37 hits.
•    Taylor Zimmerman started all 51 games at second base and had 39 RBI with 37 hits, and a team-high 13 doubles.
 Barry
•    The Ichabods have never faced Barry.
•    Barry is 2-1 this season after having a pair of games rained out last weekend.
Florida Tech
•    The Ichabods are 1-1 all-time against Florida Tech.
•    The were ranked No. 14 in the NFCA Preseason top 25 poll.
•    The teams have not met since March 19, 2002 when the Ichabods won 4-2.
•    Florida Tech won the first meeting in the series 6-2 on March 21, 1999.
•    The Panthers are 5-2 this season entering a doubleheader with Spring Hill on Feb. 9.
Palm Beach Atlantic
•    The Ichabods have never faced Palm Beach Atlantic.
•    The Sailfish are 1-6 this season entering their event this weekend.
Nova Southeastern
•    The Ichabods have never faced Nova Southeastern.
•    The Sharks are coached by former Fort Hays State and Emporia State coach Julie LeMaire.
•    The Sharks are 1-3 this season losing their last three games.
Lynn
•    The Ichabods have never faced Lynn.
•    Lynn is 4-4 this season.
 Cassidy Merriman was tied for second on the team with 16 multi-hit games … Haylee Marsteller recorded 13 multi-hit games … Taylor Zimmerman had two five-or-more RBI games last season and was third on the team with nine multi-RBI games … Haylee Marsteller needs four more hits to reach 100 for her career … Marina Quimby needs 16 runs for 150 … as a program, the Ichabods need six wins to reach 1,100.
 • 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 79-104 in her fifth season on the bench at Washburn and overall Becerra has recorded a 113-122 mark in her sixth 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 20 Ichabods to all-MIAA honors.
• has had 54 Ichabods named to the MIAA's Academic Honor Roll.
 • The Ichabods are 1094-811-1 in their 47th year of softball.
• The Ichabods have made three NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008).
• Washburn won the 2002 regular season MIAA title.
 •    The Ichabods will return to action at the NSIC/MIAA Dome Tournament Feb. 19-20 at Winona State.