•The Washburn Ichabod softball team opens the 2022 season with a five-game trip to Mankato, Minn. facing four different opponents starting Friday at the Minnesota State Sport Dome Classic.
•The Ichabods will open the season on Friday facing Concordia-St. Paul at 9:30 a.m. and then Minnesota Duluth at 12 p.m..
•On Saturday Washburn will take on Maryville (Mo.) at 3:30 p.m. and then host squad Minnesota State at 6 p.m.
•Wrapping up the event, the Ichabods will face Minnesota State again at 9 a.m. Sunday morning before returning to Topeka.
•Minnesota State is ranked No. 11 in the NFCA Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll.
•The appearance at the Minnesota State Dome Classic is the first dome event for the Ichabod softball team since the 2016 season when they played in the Winona State Dome Classic.
•Brenda Holaday enters her sixth season as the Ichabod softball head coach entering the 2021-22 school year. In five seasons Holaday has recorded a 133-101 overall record going 67-41 in MIAA contests leading the Ichabods to their first MIAA Regular Season title in her second year in 2018 and an NCAA Central Regional berth, the fourth in school history.
  •Sophomore Marrit Mead was a D2CCA Third Team All-American and first team D2CCA all-region selection as well as a second team NFCA all-region selection and was voted as the top freshman in the MIAA and a first-team all-MIAA selection at third base after leading the league in total hits (73) and was second overall in batting average (.453) and runs scored (45) and third in on-base percentage (.480) and stolen bases (22)
•Senior Ashton Friend was named first team all-MIAA and a second team all-region selection as a designated player leading the Ichabods in home runs with 12 while driving in a team-high 47 … finished second on the team with 46 hits and had 11 doubles starting 44 of 45 games this season … her six sac flies broke a single-season school record which had stood since 1999
•Sophomore Jaycee Ginter was a second team all-region pick and a first-team all-MIAA selection as a pitcher/utility player … tossed a seven-inning no-hitter in a 2-0 over Fort Hays State on March 26 … in the circle she was 14-4 with a 2.80 ERA in 19 starts with 10 complete games and three shutouts striking out 100 batters … at the plate, she was second on the team with 30 RBI recording six home runs and scoring 22 times with 35 hits and a .434 slugging percentage
•Sopphomore Hadley Kerschen was an honorable mention all-MIAA choice at shortstop after batting .309 with 42 hits, 11 doubles 24 RBI and 24 runs scored starting all 46 games … led the Ichabods in sacrifice hits with 13 and stole three bases … was also hit by pitch nine times which led the team
•Senior pitcher Reagen Hamm returns after leading the Ichabod pitching staff with 30 appearances going 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA tossing 132 1/3 innings.
  •Marrit Mead led the team with 29 multi-hit games.
•Ashton Friend has a team-high 14 multi-RBI games.
•The Ichabods were 15-2 this season when scoring in the first inning and 25-5 when scoring first.
•The Ichabods are 22-1 when leading after four innings this season.
•The Ichabods 23-4 when out hitting their opponents this season.
•Washburn has outscored its opponents 226 to 153 including a 30 to 12 advantage in the first inning, 36 to 18 in the second and 47 to 15 in the third inning … the only innings the Ichabods were outscored was the fifth (33 to 24), sixth (32-30) and seventh (22 to 18).
  The Washburn Ichabod softball team was tabbed sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll that was released prior to the start of the season by the league office. 
The Ichabods picked up 117 total points trailing Missouri Western in fifth with 118 and Missouri Southern in fourth with 124. Central Oklahoma was the preseason favorite with eight first-place votes and 162 total points and Central Missouri had 158 points with six first-place votes. Rogers State was third with 142 points.
  May 5, 2021 - WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabod softball season came to an end with a 4-2 loss to Central Missouri in the final game of the best 2 of 3 series of the MIAA Quarterfinals Saturday afternoon. The Ichabods end the season 28-17.
After the Jennies (33-12) scored two runs in their first at bat taking the early 2-0 lead, Washburn trimmed the lead to 2-1 with a lead-off home run by Ashton Friend, her team-leading 12th of the season.
The Jennies added two more in the bottom of the second taking a 4-1 lead and the score would remain the same until the top of the seventh when Bri Francis hit the second of her two doubles of the day and then came around to score on a pinch-hit single by Jenna Moore but the next Ichabods would go down in order to end the game.
Francis had two of Washburn six hits in the game and Jaycee Ginter relieved Reagan Hamm tossing 4 2/3 innings of shutout innings striking out one. Concordia St. Paul
•Concordia-St. Paul was picked to finish sixth for the second year in a row in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll.
•With the departure of pitcher Kali Kaestner and outfielder Kris McIntyre, the Golden Bears look to fill the gaps created by the seniors with Bryanna Olson, a sophomore pitcher/ outfielder from Cottage Grove, Minn., and sophomore infielder/ catcher Grace Beseman, a product of Woodbury, Minn.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series 7-5 winning the last meeting 5-2 on Feb. 21, 2020.
 
MARYVILLE (Mo.)
•Maryville was 21-16 last season going 17-11 in the GLVC.
•The Saints were picked in a tie for third place for the 2022 Great Lakes Valley Conference standings in a preseason coaches' poll
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series 4-0 after sweeping a doubleheader on Feb. 26, 2017 and then winning singles games during the 2020 season.
 
Minnesota Duluth
•The University of Minnesota Duluth softball team will enter the 2022 season as the fourth best team in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
•The Bulldogs are coming off of a 2021 season that saw the team post an impressive 32-15 overall record, including a record of 21-9 through NSIC play. UMD returns three seniors, including 5th-year senior Jordyn Thomas, who posted a team-high eleven home runs last season.
•On the mound, the Bulldogs return senior pitcher Sam Pederson, who tallied a 12-5 record in 2021, while carrying an ERA of just 2.05 on the season.
•New Head Coach Lynn Anderson will have plenty of options at her disposal during her first season in Duluth.
•The Ichabods lead the all-time series 5-4 and have played only twice since the 2008 season last falling to the Bulldogs in a 10-2 loss on Feb. 22, 2020.
 
Minnesota State
•The No. 11-ranked Minnesota State softball has been selected to finish second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Additionally, senior Mackenzie Ward has been tabbed as the NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
•The Mavericks finished the 2021 season with a 40-10 record (23-5 NSIC) and finished second behind Augustana which was selected to finish first in the Preseason Poll.
•The Mavericks would go on to win the NSIC Tournament Championship in 2021 and would advance to the final day of the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
•Minnesota State returns 13 letter winners from the 2021 roster, including MSU's Pitcher to Watch in senior right-handed pitcher Mackenzie Ward and MSU's Player to Watch in senior infielder Torey Richards.
•The all-time series with the Mavericks is tied 11-11 with MSU winning eight of the last nine meetings including a 7-0 win on March 5, 2021.
  •is 133-101 in her sixth season as the Ichabod head softball coach.
•coached 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. •The Ichabods are 1206-923-1 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.