By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 24-ranked Washburn Ichabods softball team wraps up the regular season after two weeks off from game competition as WU travels down the turnpike on Saturday to face Emporia State in an MIAA twinbill (11 a.m. start).
Senior Marrit Mead, a former Santa Fe Trail star, holds multiple Washburn softball career records. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn enters the weekend 36-12 overall and 17-7 in the MIAA after sweeping Missouri Southern and being swept by Pittsburg State the weekend of April 12-13.
The Hornets are 29-19 and 12-12 after defeating Rockhurst in a single game on April 23 in Kansas City.
Washburn has already secured its 19th season with at least 30 wins and its fourth under head coach Brenda Holaday, who won her 600th career game as a head coach earlier this month. Holaday had 351 career high school coaching wins and has 251 wins at Washburn entering the weekend.
Hitting the 30-win mark for the third straight season is the longest streak since the Ichabods won at least 30 games in six straight seasons from 2002-07.
The Ichabods are ranked seventh in the nation with 94 doubles and are also ranked seventh in the nation in doubles per game (1.96), eighth in earned run average (1.63) and third in shutouts (17).
The Ichabods need five more doubles to tie the Washburn single-season record of 99 set in 2022.
Individually, sophomore pitcher Sadie Walker is eighth in the nation in wins (20) and seventh in games started (26) as well as 15th in shutouts and 21st in earned run average at 1.26.
Senior Jaycee Ginter is 37th in the nation in wins (16).
Senior Marrit Mead holds Ichabod career records for stolen bases (95), career hits (269), runs scored (196) and doubles (59).
Ginter is one is one run batted in from tying the school's all-time record of 167.
The Hornets are 29-19 this season and 12-12 in the MIAA.
Shawnee Heights product Alexis Dial, a high school teammate of Ginter for the T-Birds, leads Emporia State with a .432 batting average, collecting 65 hits in 148 at bats while driving in 54 runs with eight home runs, 18 doubles and 37 runs scored.
Former Rossville standout Gracie Rabe leads the team with a 2.89 ERA, going 8-9 on the season. Jordan Harrison is 8-4 and Jayda VanAckeren is 8-2.
ESU leads the series with Washburn 91-62-1, with the Ichabods winning five of the last six in the series.
The MIAA Tournament will start on Wednesday, May 1, in Edmond, Okla., hosted by Central Oklahoma.
