Leading off . . .
? The Washburn Ichabods softball team will finish off the regular season with four games this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders at Missouri Western and at Northwest Missouri starting Friday.
? The Ichabods are 15-7 in MIAA play entering the weekend setting in third place tie with Central Missouri trailing Central Oklahoma at 20-2 and Missouri Western at 17-5.
? Thanks to Mother Nature, the Ichabods have had 25 games canceled this season.
? The Ichabods played only four games on their home field this season because of construction of new dugouts and weather.
? Samantha Stallbaumer is carrying an 18-game hitting streak into the final weekend of the season … it is the longest streak by an Ichabod since Candi Madill had 17 in 2008.
? Brianna Fuchs has reached base in 20-straight games this season … it's the second-longest streak on the team this season as Savannah Moore had a 25-game streak earlier this season … Stallbaumer has reached base in 18-straight games this year.
? Washburn finished the 2018 season with a 39-14 record going 23-3 in MIAA play winning its first conference title since the 2002 season.
? The Ichabods also made their first NCAA postseason appearance since the 2008 season last year.
 
 Weekend recap . . .
? The Ichabods were 2-2 splitting doubleheaders at Northeastern State and at No. 2-ranked Central Oklahoma.
? The win over UCO snapped the Bronchos 20-game home field winning streak and was only their fourth loss all season and second in MIAA play.
? Bri Francis and Halle England each had a .455 batting average …Taylor Kirk drove in six with six hits scoring four runs.
? Bailey Zuniga won both starts going 2-0 in the circle with a 1.95 ERA with a complete-game win over UCO.
 
 Stat Watch . . .
? The five triples this season by Brianna Fuchs is tied for seventh all-time on the single season chart … the school record is eight.
? Savannah Moore has 115 runs scored which is eighth all-time at Washburn.
? Moore's 42 doubles is eighth all-time at Washburn.
? Moore's 27 home runs is seventh all-time at Washburn.
? Moore's 153 RBI is third all-time at Washburn.
? Samantha Stallbaumer's 58 career stolen bases are third all-time at Washburn.
? Samantha Stallbaumer's current .402 career batting average ranks first on the all-time Ichabod chart head of Tish Williams who had a .399 career average.
? Taylor Kirk's .745 season slugging percentage is seventh on the all-time list and the best since Tish Williams recorded a .889 percentage in 2007.
? Taylor Kirk's career .645 slugging percentage is third on the all-time list and the best since Tish Williams recorded a .792 percentage from 2006-10.
? Taylor Kirk's 13 home runs this season is seventh on the Ichabod single-season chart and her 48 RBI is tied for fourth on the single season chart … Savannah Moore's 47 RBI is tied for seventh.
? Taylor Kirk's 114 total bases is the most since Brooke DeVader had 115 in 2008.
? Savannah Moore has a .559 slugging percentage which is eighth on the career chart.
? Savannah Moore needs six more hits to reach 200 for her career becoming the 11th Ichabod in program history to reach that mark.
? Raegen Hamm's 38 appearances this season is the fourth-most on the single season chart and only four behind the single-season leader of 42 set by Amy Heiman in 1999 …Bailey Zuniga has 34 appearances this season which is 10th.
 
 On Deck . . .
Missouri Western
? The Bearcats are 30-14 overall and 17-5 in the MIAA this season.
? WU leads the all-time series 48-47 with the Griffons winning the last one.
 
Last Meeting with MWSU - April 27, 2018
Facing elimination, the Ichabods moved to the loser's bracket and dropped an 5-4 decision in eight innings to Missouri Western. The Ichabods took a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Halle England scoring Savannah Moore who reached on a fielder's choice.
Washburn added to its lead adding a solo run in the fifth inning on an RBI single to left by Moore scoring Ashley Ruder who singled to lead-off the inning.
Washburn stretched the lead to 4-0 after scoring two runs in the top of the sixth on a 2 RBI double by Lexie Myers scoring both Brianna Francis and Maddie Anderson. However in the bottom of the seventh, the Griffons rallied scoring a run with one out and then adding three more to tie the score all coming with two outs sending the game to extra innings.
The Ichabods moved runners to second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, but could not chase any across and the Griffons scored the winning run on a single by Shelby Uhl.
Kelsee Henry pitched six innings scattering three hits holding the Griffons to only one hit in the first six innings before giving away to Lexi Crabtree in the seventh as she dropped to 6-7 on the season.
Samantha Stallbaumer, Savannah Moore, Maddie Anderson and Ashley Ruder all hits two hits for the Ichabods.
The Ichabods had nine stranded base runners after out hitting the Griffons 14 to 7.
 
Northwest Missouri
? The Bearcats are 11-24, 6-16 in the MIAA after getting swept by Central Missouri on Tuesday.
? WU leads the all-time series 55-34 with the Bearcats
Last Meeting with the Bearcats - April 20, 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods wrapped up the 2018 regular season with a senior day sweep over Northwest Missouri winning the opener 5-1 before rallying for a 3-2 victory in the nightcap. The Ichabods finished the regular season 39-10 going 23-3 in the MIAA. Washburn will be the No. 1 seed at the MIAA Tournament starting Thursday in Oklahoma City. Check wusports.com for bracket updates once released by the conference office.
Game 1 – Washburn 5, Northwest Missouri 1
Washburn jumped on the board in its first at bat scoring three in the frame after three straight singles by Samantha Stallbaumer, Emilee Baker and Savannah Moore to load the bases, Taylor Kirk's double to right scored two and Halle England's ground out scored Moore staking the Ichabods to a 3-0 lead.
Washburn added another on Taylor Kirk's two-out blast into the left field trees on her team-leading 12th home run of the season pushing the lead to 4-0. Neither team scored until the fifth when the Bearcats pushed across their only run of the game.
Washburn added a solo run in the sixth after Lexie Myers walked and Courtney Todd was inserted as a pinch runner and would come around to score on a sac fly by Baker wrapping up the scoring.
Kelsee Henry picked up the win going 5 1/3 innings with three strikeouts improving to 15-3 on the season and Lexi Crabtree recorded the first of her two saves of the afternoon tossing 1 2/3 innings not allowing a base runner for her sixth and seventh saves of the season.
England had three hits and 3 RBI in the opening game.
Game 2 – Washburn 3, Northwest Missouri 2
Washburn stranded 12 base runners, but rallied from a 2-1 deficit scoring two times in the bottom of the sixth inning for the comeback win.
After Washburn took a 1-0 lead on an Alyssa Carney single scoring Taylor Kirk who doubled one batter before in the third inning, the Bearcats came back scoring an unearned run in the fourth tying the score at 1-1.
Northwest added a run in the fifth to go up 2-1 setting the table for the Ichabod rally in the sixth. Pinch hitter Lenae Salinas singled to lead off the inning and Ashley Ruder re-entered the game to come around and score along with Halle England on a two-run single up the middle by Savannah Moore.
In the top of the seventh, Lexi Crabtree relieved starter Megan Deiter, who won her 17th game of the season, with a strike out allowing one Bearcat to reach, but ended the game with a strikeout.
Moore and Kirk each had two hits in the game and Moore finished with 2 RBI adding to her Ichabod single-season record of 60.
 
 Head coach Brenda Holaday . . .
? is 88-66 in her third 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 and was inducted into the Washburn Rural High School Hall of Fame in 2018.
? was named the Centennial League Coach of the Year 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 1152-898-1 in their 50th year of softball.
? The Ichabods have made four NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008, 2018).
? Washburn won the 2002 and 2018 regular season MIAA titles.
 
 Up Next . . .
The Ichabods will open the MIAA Tournament May 1 in Edmond, Oklahoma at Central Oklahoma's softball complex. Brackets will be announced as soon as the regular season ends. Check back to wusports.com for more information.