•  The Washburn Ichabod softball team will make its final regular season road trip of the year when they travel to face Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State this weekend before playing its final eight games of the season at home.
•  Washburn is coming off a 3-1 MIAA weekend after sweeping Central Missouri and splitting with Southwest Baptist in a pair of conference doubleheaders.
•  Nebraska-Kearney is 14-24 overall and 5-15 in the MIAA and Fort Hays State is 13-26 and 7-13 in conference play entering the weekend action.
•  The Ichabods currently sit ninth in the MIAA race and the top eight in the final standings will head to Oklahoma City for the MIAA Tournament.
•  Fort Hays State is 11th in the conference standings and Nebraska-Kearney is 12th.•  Sophomore infielder Cassidy Merriman is second on the team with a .363 batting average and her 41 hits leads the Ichabods … she also leads the team with 28 runs scored and 31 RBI … her .699 slugging percentage and her .414 on base percentage  also lead the team …  this season she has 12 multi-RBI games.
•  Freshman Ashley Ruder is batting .333 this season and has 25 hits with two doubles and 7 RBI.
•  Senior second baseman Taylor Zimmerman is third on the the Ichabods with a .330 batting average and has 33 hits this season which is third on the team and her seven home runs are second … her 22 RBI is second on the team and her .600 slugging percentage is second on the squad … she was named the NFCA National Player of the Week following the weekend games with Lindenwood and Lincoln.
•  Freshman Lacie Myers is fourth on the team with a .327 batting average and she is hitting .409 in MIAA play which leads the Ichabods … she is 18 for 44 in MIAA play.
•  Senior infielder Marina Quimby is fifth on the team with a .321 batting average and her 36 hits is second and her 18 RBI is second … she needs one run scored to reach 100 for her career starting 158 of 163 career games.
•  Senior outfielder Haylee Marsteller is sixth on the team with a .308 batting average and she has 28 hits with 18 runs scored and five home runs.
•  Freshman infielder Erin Keeney is batting .296 with 29 hits … she's scored 14 runs and has 14 RBI … Keeney is second on the team 11 multi-hit games.
•  Junior pitcher Samantha Carson leads the team with a 2.49 earned run average in 112 1/3 innings pitched going 8-8 in the circle … in relief she has pitched 14 1/3 innings with a 2.44 earned run average striking out eight allowing five earned runs recording a 3-0 record and a save.
•   Haylee Marsteller drove in her 50th run of her career at the regional crossover … … her 64 walks are fifth on the Ichabod career chart.
•   Cassidy Merriman's 20 career home runs 11th all-time at Washburn and she needs one more to move into the top 10 all-time … Taylor Zimmerman's 17 career home runs are 12th at Washburn.
•   The Ichabods are 13-4 when leading after four innings, 8-4 when leading after five innings and 8-1 when leading after six innings.
•   Washburn have been outscored by their opponents 161 to 153 this season and have been outscored 21 to 20 in the first inning and 24 to 13 in the sixth inning … Washburn is outscoring opponents  21 to 15 in the seventh inning and 16 to 8 in extra innings.
 Nebraska-Kearney
•  The Lopers are 14-24 this season and 5-15 in the MIAA.
•  Kate Ruew leads the team with a .466 batting average hitting 15 home runs and 37 RBI.
•  Meg Housholder is 3-5 with a 4.34 ERA … as a team the Lopers have a 5.29 ERA.
•  The Lopers lead the all-time series 27-17 … Washburn has won the last two sweeping a doubleheader last season.
 
Fort Hays State
•  The Tigers are 13-26 this season and have lost their last nine games entering the weekend.
•  Rilee Krier has a .336 batting average leading the team with 41 hits.
•  Paxton Duran is 8-16 with a 3.10 ERA and the Tigers have a 4.26 ERA as a team.
•  Washburn leads the all-time series 38-32 and have won the last two in the series.
 TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod softball team wrapped up the weekend splitting a pair of games against Southwest Baptist falling 13-6 in the opener before coming back to win the nightcap 10-1 in five innings.
Game 1 - Southwest Baptist 13, Washburn 6
SBU scored one in the first, five in second and six in the fourth leading to the 12-1 win.
SBU took advantage of three Ichabod errors in the second inning giving the Bearcats four unearned runs.
The Ichabods were held without a hit until a leadoff double by Cassidy Merriman in the fourth inning.
In the fifth, Washburn scored five runs when Ashley Ruder singled up the middle scoring Haylee Marsteller. Megan Stegman then followed along with a single up the middle scoring Lacie Myers. A bases-loaded walk by Merriman scored Lexie Myers cutting the lead to 12-3. Marina Quimby singled to right driving in Merriman and Stegman trimming the lead to seven at 12-5.
In the sixth inning, Lacie Myers led off the inning with a double to right center and moved to third on a single by Ruder. A wild pitch by Kacey Ayers scored Lacie Myers and moved Ruder to third cutting the SBU lead in half.
In the seventh, SBU added another run going up 13-6 and the Ichabods were held scoreless in the bottom of the inning wrapping up the game.
Ruder, Quimby and Lacie Myers each had two hits and Quimby drove in two for Washburn.
Samantha Carson fell to 8-8 in the circle allowing two earned runs in two innings allowing six runs overall. Quimby pitched the final five of the game striking out one.
Game 2 - WU 10, SBU 1 (5 innings)
The Ichabods jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-run homer by Cassidy Merriman scoring Ashley Ruder who led off the game with a walk.
After SBU scored one on a solo home run in the second, Haylee Marsteller hit a two-run homer off the scoreboard scoring Lacie Myers stretching the Washburn lead up to 4-1.
Washburn went up 5-1 after Megan Stegman drew a walk and then moved to second on a ground out and then scored on back-to-back wild pitches in the third.
An RBI single by Lacie Myers scored Marina Quimby stretching the lead to five at 6-1 in the fourth inning. With the Ichabods' next batter Marsteller hit her second home run of the game, this time to left field scoring Lacie Myers putting Washburn up 8-1 with Marsteller's third and fourth RBI of the game. Later in the inning Merriman connected on her eighth home run of the season to left scoring Ruder who singled as the Ichabods took a 10-1 lead.
Ashley Wills sat the Bearcats down in the top of the fifth picking up her eighth win of the season striking out three giving up one earned run scattering four hits.
Merriman and Marsteller each had two home runs and 4 RBI scoring twice as well. Ruder and Lacie Myers each scored twice too.
 • 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 96-121 in her fifth season on the bench at Washburn and overall Becerra has recorded a 130-139 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 1111-826-1 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 return home for their final eight games of the season starting with Central Oklahoma on April 13 and Wayne State on April 14. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season with Missouri Western on April 22 and Northwest Missouri on April 23 for senior day.