• Washburn will return home to Gahnstrom Field for the first time in 12 games hosting Missouri Western on Friday April 1 starting at 4 p.m. followed by Northwest Missouri on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. in the Ichabods' first home games since March 6.
• The Ichabods (24-11, 6-2 MIAA) are coming off a 4-0 weekend of MIAA play sweeping both Lincoln on March 25 and Central Missouri on March 26.
• Brenda Holaday is in her sixth season as the Ichabod softball head coach recording a 157-112 overall record going 73-41 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.
  • The Ichabods were 4-0 last week with sweeps over Lincoln and Central Missouri returning to MIAA play.
• Jaycee Ginter was named the MIAA Pitcher of the Week after recording three of the four wins in the circle for the Ichabods as she was 3-0 with a 1.35 earned runs average striking out 28 in 20 2/3 innings pitched. In the opener against Lincoln, Ginter she allowed one hit to the Blue Tigers striking out 10 allowing one earned run. In the opener with Central Missouri, Ginter struck out eight in the complete game allowing two earned runs. After Washburn's starting pitcher pitched the first 5 1/3 innings of the game, Ginter came in and pitched 6 2/3 inning picking up her nation-leading 17th win striking out 10 in relief with no walks in the 5-3 win. Overall she struck out 28 while walking only three. She also batted .412 driving in six with three doubles and scored four runs recording a .588 slugging percentage.
• Marrit Mead led the Ichabods with a .471 batting average and a team-leading eight hits while scoring four runs and driving in four runs with a .500 on base percentage and a .706 slugging percentage. The sophomore third baseman had one double in each of the four games and had four hits in the Ichabods' second game win over the Jennies.
• Ashton Friend had two home runs during the week batting .438 scoring a team-high five runs.
• Washburn outscored its opponents 29 to 6 in the four games recording a .321 team batting average.
  • Jaycee Ginter leads the nation with 17 wins season entering the weekend and ranked third in total strikeouts with 170 … the Washburn NCAA single-season strikeout record is 180 recorded by Megan Deiter in 2018.
• Ashton Friend is ranked fourth in the nation in home runs with 12 and leads the MIAA in the category … she is also ranked 28th in RBI.
• Autymn Schreiner leads the MIAA and is second in the nation in getting hit by a pitch  with 11 and Maddie Stipsits is 14th with eight.
• As a team the Ichabods lead the nation in being hit by a pitch … Washburn has had 44 batters reach base after getting plunked.
• Washburn is also 10th in fielding percentage, eighth in the nation in hits, sixth in doubles, 14th in runs and 20th in home runs.
• Ashton Friend is batting .833 (10 for 12) this season with less than two outs and a runner on third.
• Hadley Kerschen leads the team with 17 2-out RBI this year … Marrit Mead has 13 and Jaycee Ginter has 11.
• Hadley Kerschen also leads the team with 20 hits (20 for 41 - .488 batting average when batting with two outs.
  • Marrit Mead leads the Ichabods with 15 multi-hit games and Hadley Kerschen is second with 14 multi-hit games … Ashton Friend and has 10 multi-hit games and Autymn Schreiner and has nine.
• Ashton Friend has 11 multi-RBI games which leads the team.
• Marrit Mead has the longest on-base streak at nine games.
• The Ichabods have outscored their opponents 225 to 131 this season and 51 to 33 in the first inning, 40 to 23 in the fourth inning and 39 to 12 in the fifth inning.
• Washburn is 15-3 when scoring in the first inning and 21-1 when leading after the fourth inning.
• The Ichabods are 14-0 at home this season.
  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.
  WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabod softball team had to work overtime to finish off a doubleheader sweep of Central Missouri on Saturday as they picked up game one 10-2 before taking the nightcap 5-3 in 12 innings.
Game 1 - WU 10, UCM 2
The Ichabods broke open a scoreless game in the fourth with a solo home run by Ashton Friend, her 12th of the season. In the fifth, the Ichabods sent nine to the plate as they scored four more times as Jaden LaBarge singled and then Autymn Schreiner singled to third on a bunt. Jaycee Ginter then doubled to left driving in Robbins and Schreiner. After Friend walked on four straight pitches, Kimi Patterson singled to left scoring Ginter as the Ichabods went up 5-0.
In the sixth, the Ichabods added four more runs when Schreiner reached on a Jennies' error and after a wild pitch, she would come around to score on a double by Marrit Mead. Ginter came up and then singled scoring Mead as Washburn went up 7-0. Friend hit her second home run of the game sending herself and Ginter as the Ichabods led 9-0.
Central Missouri got on the board with two runs in the sixth, but the Ichabods came back with a solo run on an RBI groundout by Rylee Seymour scoring Patterson finishing off the scoring and the 10-2 win for the Ichabods.
Robbins, Ginter, Friend and LaBarge had two hits while Ginter and Friend each drove in three.
In the circle, Ginter recorded her 16th win of the season striking out eight allowing two earned runs.
Game 2 - WU 5, UCM 3 (12 innings)
The Ichabods came out on the right side of a 3-plus hour contest as they picked up the sweep over the Jennies.
Central Missouri (8-19, 2-4 MIAA) took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning off an Ichabod error and then the Ichabods (24-11, 6-2 MIAA) came back with two of their own when LaBarge tripled and then came around and scored on a single by Patterson taking the 2-1 lead.
The Jennies scored another unearned run in the sixth inning tying the score at 2-2. Neither team would score until the top of the 11th when Mead walked and then stole second base and after moving to third on a sac bunt by Robbins, Ginter connected on an RBI double to right field putting the Ichabods up 3-2. However, the Jennies tied the score with a solo run of their own in the bottom of the 11th.
In the 12th, using the international tiebreaker, Hadley Kerschen was placed on second and then Patterson doubled scoring Kerschen. Patterson would later score when Schreiner reached on an error as the Ichabods took a 5-3 lead.
The Jennies went down in order in 12th as Washburn finished off the sweep.
Mead led the Ichabods with four hits and Patterson finished with three while scoring two runs.
Ginter relieved Ashlie Thissen after she pitched 5 1/3 innings striking out five. Ginter tossed 6 2/3 innings picking up her nation-leading 17th win striking out 10 more moving her total to 18 strikeouts on the day.
  Missouri Western
• The Griffons are 14-14 this season and 5-3 in MIAA play under first-year head coach Joe Yegge.
• Emma Hoffart leads the team with a .380 batting average with 35 hits and 28 RBI …Sydni Hawkins is batting .364 with 32 hits and 23 RBI.
• The Ichabods trail the series 49-51.
 
Northwest Missouri
• The Bearcats are 6-25 this season and 0-6 in MIAA play and have lost their last five heading into the weekend facing Emporia State before the Ichabods on Saturday.
• The Bearcats are led by new coach Naomi Tellez.
• Skylar Pieper leads the team with a .344 batting average. Overall the Bearcats have a team ERA of 8.21 and batting .269.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series 56-36 after being swept in their last meeting on April 22, 2021 in a doubleheader.
  • is 157-112 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 1230-934-1 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.