• The Washburn Ichabod softball team, fresh off of a six-game weekend series stretching into Monday, will now begin a stretch of 14 games over the next 11 days starting at Missouri Southern on April 21 followed by two games at Northwest Missouri on April 22 wrapping up the week with two more games on April 25 hosting Emporia State.
• The Ichabods were 4-2 last week after sweeping both Newman and Lincoln while falling in a doubleheader sweep by No. 16 Central Oklahoma.
• Washburn enters the games this week with a 23-6 overall record and a 9-3 MIAA mark.
• The Ichabods will celebrate senior day on April 25 against Emporia State. Washburn will welcome back 2020 senior Winter Henry and will also honor the 2021 seniors of Bri Francis, Brianna Fuchs and Ellie Dixon.
• The MIAA has made a change to the 2021 Championship Softball Tournament after a unanimous vote from the conference's athletic directors and SWAs. This year's format will include a best-of-three game quarterfinal series starting the weekend of May 7-8. The advancing four teams will play in a double-elimination tournament at the University of Central Oklahoma the following week, beginning on Thursday, May 13. The quarterfinal round weekend will feature games at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds from the regular season. Those teams will host seeds No. 5-8, with the winners advancing to the semifinal round in Edmond, Okla., the following weekend.
 
 Last time the Ichabods were in action
• Marrit Mead led the Ichabods with 11 hits in six games scoring 10 runs with 5 RBI and was a perfect 8 of 8 in stolen bases.
• Ashton Friend drove in eight runs during the week as did Jaycee Ginter.
• Kamryn Garvie hit .429.
• Raegen Hamm and Ginter were each 1-1 during the week.
 
 Bods and Ends
• Brianna Fuchs has started all 104 games of her career as an Ichabod.
• Marrit Mead has 22 multi-hit games and is batting .500 in MIAA play.
• The Ichabods are 13-0 this season when scoring in the first inning and 22-2 when scoring first.
• The Ichabods are 19-0 when leading after four innings this season.
• The Ichabods 21-1 when out hitting their opponents this season.
• Washburn has outscored its opponents 180 to 87 this season including a 23 to 4 advantage in the first inning, 34 to 8 in the second and 40 to 10 in the third inning … the only innings the Ichabods are being outscored in this season is the fifth (15 to 12) and the seventh (15 to 6).
• Washburn leads the nation in total sacrifice flies and Ashton Friend is second in the nation in sacrifice flies.
 
 Opponent quick scout . . .
Missouri Southern
• The Lions are 20-13-1 this season and 11-6-1 in the MIAA.
• As a team the Lions are batting .284 with Josie Tofpi hitting .377 with 40 hits and 10 doubles.
• Abby Atkin is 8-5 with a 2.52 ERA with 16 starts and five complete games.
• The Ichabods lead the series 40-31 and the teams have split the last two doubleheaders.

Northwest Missouri
• The Bearcats are 14-18 and 8-12 in the MIAA.
• The Bearcats went 1-3 last weekend after being swept at Fort Hays State and splitting with Nebraska-Kearney.
• Kaitlyn Weis leads the team with a .430 batting average with 12 home runs and 40 RBI with a .925 slugging percentage.
• Breck Dickey leads the team with five wins in 16 starts and has a 4.62 ERA.
• Washburn leads the series 44-24 and have won the last six in a row … the Bearcats' last win over Washburn was on April 23, 2016 after sweeping a doubleheader in Topeka.
 
Emporia State
• The Hornets are 18-18 overall and 8-10 in MIAA after splitting with No. 16 Central Oklahoma last weekend.
• Hannah Steeby leads the team with a .405 batting average with 30 hits and 24 runs scored … she also leads the team with 19 stolen bases.
• Kerrigan Dixon leads the team with seven wins going 7-0 in the circle with a 3.12 ERA with 27 strikeouts compared to only seven walks.
• The Ichabods trail in the series 69-42 and the teams have split the last 10 meetings.
 
 Head coach Brenda Holaday . . .
• is 132-90 in her fifth 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 1188-920-1 in their 52nd 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 . . .