¦ The Washburn Ichabod softball team, who for the second week in a row was just outside of the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll at No. 27, will open its home slate with six games this weekend at the Coldwell Banker / Washburn Invitational running Feb. 23-25 at Gahnstrom Field.
¦ The Ichabods have won 17-straight games hosting their own Invitational.
¦ This weekend the Ichabods will face Southwest Baptist and Rockhurst from the Great Lakes Valley Conference and Winona State, Minot State, Minnesota Crookston and Augustana from the Northern Sun Conference.
¦ The Ichabods were 2-1 at the Raising Canes Festival in Edmond, Okla. last weekend.
¦ Following the six games at the Washburn Invitational, Washburn then head to the McKendree Invitational for six more games before opening MIAA at Central Oklahoma on March 8.
¦ The Ichabods finished the 2023 season with a 37-16 record going 15-11 in MIAA play.
¦ Washburn was picked in the No. 4 spot in the MIAA preseason coaches poll trailing Central Oklahoma, Rogers State and Missouri Southern.
¦ The 2024 Washburn schedule features seven teams who reached their NCAA Regional, two more NCAA Super Regional teams, and two teams who reached the NCAA D2 Softball World Series … Ichabods open their home slate on Feb. 23 with the Washburn Invitational.
¦ Brenda Holaday is in her eighth season as the Ichabod softball head coach recording a 224-135 overall record going 104-52 in MIAA contests leading the Ichabods to two MIAA Regular Season titles (2018, 2022) and NCAA Central Regional berths in those years as well, the fourth and fifth in school history. Holaday trails Lisa Carey as the all-time winningest coach by victories at 256. ¦ #1 Marrit Mead - Tied for the team lead with 10 runs scored and tied for second with 12 base hits.
¦ #2 Autymn Schreiner - Batting .357 with 10 hits and tied for team-lead with 10 runs scored.
¦ #3 Hailey Neira - Tied for team lead in batting with a .545 average going 12 for 22.
¦ #4 Molly Gilbert - 2 for 2 batting this season scoring a run with a double.
¦ #5 Ashlynn Wolff - Made second start of the season against Oklahoma Baptist.
¦ #7 Riley Stephens - Had a hit, scored a run and had an RBI against Ouachita Baptist last week.
¦ #8 Sheyenne Cheek - Struck out two in 1 1/3 innings pitched against Ouachita Baptist.
¦ #10 Zoe Quinn - Scored two runs in two games last week in Oklahoma.
¦ #11 Rylee Moore - Struck out one in collegiate debut against Ouachita Baptist.
¦ #12 Jaycee Ginter - Has reached base in each game this season riding a six-game hitting streak into the weekend batting .545 this season.
¦ #14 Danielle Schlader - Has 3 RBI this season.
¦ #15 Ellington Hogle - Has 12 hits with seven runs scored.
¦ #16 Erin Boles - Had a double and RBI against Missouri S&T in the last game.
¦ #17 Kaylee Wagner - Has both of Washburn's 4 RBI games this season and leads the team with three multi-RBI games.
¦ #18 Jaden LaBarge - Has scored six runs in 10 games season.
¦ #19 Allie Stipsits - Has appeared in two games this season.
¦ #20 Gracie Gallagher - Scored a run against Missouri S&T.
¦ #21 Sadie Walker - Leads team with five wins and a 0.74 ERA.
¦ #22 Madi Moore - Had a double against Missouri S&T last time out..
¦ #23 Mariah Wheeler - Has two multi-RBI games including a 3 RBI game against Ouachita Baptist.
¦ #24 Alexis Tanguma - Has two hits in seven games.
¦ #25 Kinlei Boley - Had first collegiate at bat against Ouachita Baptist.
  ¦ Marrit Mead enters her senior season within reach of several Ichabod offensive categories …her career batting average of .405 is tied for the best in school history … she needs 23 runs scored for the career record of 188 and needs 23 base hits for the career record of 258 …also needs seven doubles for the school record of 56 … Mead is within 154 of the total bases record and 14 stolen bases from the career mark of 87.
¦ Jaycee Ginter is 32 RBI from the school's all-time record of 167 … her 72 career wins is the most all-time at Washburn … Ginter also needs two saves for the career mark and 18 more appearances will break Washburn's all-time record of 137 … with 126 innings pitched, Ginter will have thrown the most innings in a Washburn career … Ginter already holds the Ichabods record for career strikeouts with 672, which sits 222 more than the second-place holder. EDMOND, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabod softball team wrapped up the Raising Canes Festival with a 9-0, five win over Missouri S&T.
The Ichabods (9-3) scored three in their first at bat off the former MIAA member starting with a walk by Marrit Mead followed by Hailey Neira bunt single. Jaycee Ginter drove in the first run of the game with a ground out and then a Kaylee Wagner single scored Mead putting the Ichabods up 2-0. Washburn scored its final run of the inning on a double by Erin Boles that scored Wagner.
Washburn added two more runs in the bottom of the third when Wagner doubled to left sending both Gracie Gallagher and Autymn Schreiner to the plate. Gallagher entered as a pinch runner for Ginter after her single and Schreiner drew a walk.
In the fourth, Washburn used five hits in the frame to score four runs pushing its lead to 9-0 after a double by Madi Moore started the inning off. Zoe Quinn entered as a pinch runner and swiped third and later scored on a single by Mead. Mead then stole second and scored on Neira's single. Ginter added another RBI with a double scoring Neira. Wagner then finished off the inning with her fourth RBI of the game scoring Ginter.
Sadie Walker tossed the complete game shutout striking out four allowing five hits improving to 5-2 on the season.
The Ichabods recorded 10 hits on the day with Wagner collecting three hits and Neira and Ginter each had two. Both Mead and Schreiner scored twice.
  SOUTHWEST BAPTIST
¦ The Bearcats are 4-4 this season.
¦ Washburn topped the Bearcats 8-0 in five innings on Feb. 9 earlier this season.
WINONA STATE
¦ The Warriors are 5-1 this season winning their last five games including a doubleheader sweep over Upper Iowa on Feb. 19.
MINOT STATE
¦ The Beavers are 5-3 this season and schedule for four MIAA opponents this weekend.
MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
¦ The Golden Eagles are 2-2 this season after splitting a doubleheader with Dakota Wesleyan on Feb. 11.
AUGUSTANA
¦ The Vikings are 4-4 this season after splitting a doubleheader with Arkansas Monticello last time out on Feb. 5.
ROCKHURST
¦ The Hawks are 2-2 this season entering the weekend after splitting their four games at the ESU Classic last weekend in Emporia.
  ¦ is 224-135 in her eighth season as the Ichabod head softball coach.
¦ In seven seasons, Washburn has had 34 all-MIAA picks, one MIAA Player of the Year, one MIAA Pitcher of the Year, two MIAA Freshmen of the year and 17 all-region selections and six All-American picks and three members of the MIAA Gold Glove team.
¦ 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 1297-957-1 in their 54th year of softball.
¦ The Ichabods have made five NCAA Tournament appearances (1999, 2006, 2008, 2018, 2022).
¦ Washburn won the 2002, 2018 and 2022 regular season MIAA titles.