Leading off . . .
•  The Washburn Ichabods will continue their 12-game road trip returning to MIAA play with a pair doubleheaders starting Friday at Lincoln and wrapping up on Saturday at Lindenwood.
•  The Ichabods are coming off a 3-1 weekend winning three games against the Northern Sun teams topping Northern State, Wayne State and Upper Iowa.
•  In non-conference play, the Ichabods have gone 4-1 against teams from the NSIC, 5-2 against the Heartland Conference, 3-2 against the GLVC and 3-1 against teams from the GAC this year.
•  The Ichabods are off to their best in MIAA play since the 2014 season when they would begin the year 7-2 in league play.
•  The 20 wins this season is five shy of the 25 the Ichabods all of the 2017 season.
•  Washburn is 10-1 in games in which the Ichabods have hit a home run.
•  Emilee Baker leads the team with a .448 batting average with 39 hits scoring 22 runs which is second on the team … her 13 multi hit games also lead the team.
•  Savannah Moore leads the team with 12 multi-RBI games and her 37 RBI is tops on the team as are her seven doubles.
•  Samantha Stallbaumer had her streak of 21-straight games of reaching base snapped last weekend … she leads the team with 26 runs scored and 10 stolen bases.
•  Megan Deiter has a team-best 2.18 earned run average going 8-0 in the circle. She has a 2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio with 100 K's compared to 47 BB's and opponents are batting .188 against her.
•  Kelsee Henry is 9-3 in the circle and has a 3.50 ERA.
•  The 30 stolen bases this season for the Ichabods in 27 games has already passed the final season total dating back to every year until 2011 when the Ichabods swiped 46 bases … the Ichabods stole 25 bases as a team in 2017 and nine and eight respectively in the 2016 and 2015 seasons.
•  This season as a team the Ichabods are batting .307 compared to their .245 batting average from last season.
•  The Ichabod pitching staff has also lowered its ERA dropping from 3.30 in 2017 to 3.12 in 2018.
•  Washburn is outscoring its opponents 21 to 8 in the first inning, 23 to 14 in the third inning, 16 to 10 in the fourth inning, 30 to 20 in the fifth inning and 19 to 15 in the sixth inning.
•  The Ichabods are 11-0 when scoring in the first innings of games this season.
•  Washburn is 17-3 this season when leading after four innings and 9-0 when scoring at least six runs.
•  Washburn opponents are 0-12 when scoring two runs or less.
•  Washburn was picked 10th in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
•  The Ichabods return seven letterwinners off last season's squad which went 25-30 finishing ninth in the MIAA race. Of the seven returnees, two were honorable mention all-MIAA selections in junior third baseman Savannah Moore senior pitcher Kelsee Henry.
 
Where to follow . . .
•  Fans can also follow the Ichabod softball team at @WashburnSB for updates as well at the athletic department twitter handle at
@wusports.
 
Last time out . . .
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabod softball split a pair of games on the second day of the Hy-Vee/Missouri Western Regional Crossover falling 4-3 to Concordia-St. Paul before taking the second game over Upper Iowa 2-1.
Game 1 – Concordia-St. Paul 4, Washburn 3
The Ichabods scored all three of their runs in the second inning taking advantage of an error by the Golden Bears with Emilee Baker driving in one of the runs on a double to left. Washburn held the lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when CSP tied the score at 3-3 on a 3-RBI double and then would take the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run.
Baker had two of the Ichabods' six hits in the game. Lexi Crabtree took the loss allowing the one run in the sixth.
Game 2 – Washburn 2, Upper Iowa 1
The Ichabods jumped on the board first in the top of the third wen Savannah Moore singled to score Samantha Stallbaumer who also singled earlier in the inning. Neither team scored until the top of the sixth until Brianna Francis connected on a solo home run to left center putting the Ichabods up 2-0.
The Peacocks cut the lead in half in the top of the seventh on an RBI ground out, but Crabtree recorded the last out getting the save and securing the win for Megan Deiter who improved to 8-0 striking out five in 5 1/3 innings.
Moore, Francis and Alyssa Carney each had two hits to lead the Ichabods.
 
Head coach Brenda Holaday
•  is 45-37 in her second season as the Ichabod head softball coach.
•  coached the previous 19 seasons at Washburn Rural High School in Topeka compiling a 351-93 record.
•  led the Junior Blues to three 6A state championships as well as winning 14 league championships earning 16 6A state tournament berths, five second-place state finishes and three third-place state finishes.
• was named the Centennial League Coach of the t and City Coach of the Year nine different times earning the Midwest Sectional Coach of the Year in 2011 and the 6A Kansas Coach of the year two times in 2008 and 2011 and was named the overall Kansas Coach of the Year in 2011.
•  while at Washburn Rural, she coached more than 40 players who have gone on to play college softball including three at the NCAA Division I level including former Ichabod head softball coach Lisa Carey, the winningest coach by wins in program history.
 
Washburn Ichabod softball history . . .
• The Ichabods are 1112-864-1 in their 49th 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 return home March 27 for a doubleheader against Northeastern State before facing Emporia State in a four-game series starting March 30 in Emporia and returning to Topeka on the 31st for a twin bill against the Hornets.