Washburn's Ashton Friend is congratulated by Ichabods coach Brenda Holaday after hitting a two-run home run in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
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Washburn University's return to the softball diamond for the first time in three weeks didn't go as the Ichabods hoped, with WU dropping a 4-3, 10-1 MIAA twinbill to No. 16-ranked Central Oklahoma Saturday at Gahnstrom Field.
But the Ichabods will have plenty of opportunities to get back on track, beginning with Sunday's 1 p.m. home doubleheader against Newman.
"I thought we would struggle a little bit at the plate because we haven't seen live pitching in three weeks and have had very little opportunity to practice, and not together,'' Washburn coach Brenda Holaday said. "You're going against really good pitchers and it takes awhile to figure that out.
"I was pretty proud of our first game. I thought we played hard and well. The second game, I felt like when we left runners on early in the game and didn't score that (WU's players) got pretty defeated. They played defeated.''
Washburn, 19-6 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA, had not played the previous two weekends due to COVID-19 protocols and the rustiness showed at times Saturday.
But now the Ichabods go from not playing at all to playing a bunch, facing a grind of 20 games over the next two weeks.
"What I told our kids is it's a difficult situation to play 20 games in 14 days but we didn't start the way we needed to and we've got to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps because everybody would love the opportunity to play a team that hasn't played for three weeks,'' Holaday said. "That's on us and we've got to respond to that in a better way than we did today.''
Washburn seemed to be on the way to a first-game win over the Bronchos after Ashton Friend hit a two-run home run and Jaycee Ginter a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the third to stake the Ichabods to a 3-0 lead.
Central Oklahoma (26-8, 15-3) answered in its very next at bat, however, with Amelya Huggins hitting a three-run homer in to tie the game.
The Bronchos then pushed an unearned run across the plate in the fifth and Central Oklahoma pitcher Corrina Rivas blanked the Ichabods the rest of the way to improve to 13-4 on the year.
Raegen Hamm took the pitching loss for Washburn, falling to 10-4, while Ginter and Paige Robbins both had two hits for the Ichabods.
Ginter got the second-game start on the mound and held the Bronchos scoreless over the first three innings, but Central Oklahoma scored a run in the fourth and three in the fifth before putting the game away with six runs in the sixth.
Shayla Harper went 2 for 2 with a home run, three RBI and three runs scored, while Hazel Puempel had a triple and three RBI.
Washburn third baseman Marrit Mead, a Santa Fe Trail product, throws out a baserunner Saturday against Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Robbins scored Washburn's lone run in the sixth, doubling and scoring on a hit from Santa Fe Trail product Marrit Mead, who had two hits in the game.
Kylee Lynch went the distance for Central Oklahoma on the mound to improve to 11-3 while Ginter fell to 9-2.
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 4, WASHBURN 3
Central Oklahoma 000 310 0 -- 4 6 0
Washburn 003 000 0 -- 3 8 1
Rivas and Huggins. Hamm and Francis. WP -- Rivas (13-4). LP -- Hamm (10-4). 2B -- Central Oklahoma: Dubler, McKittrick. 3B -- Washburn: Ginter. HR -- Central Oklahoma: Huggins. Washburn: Friend.
SECOND GAME
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 10, WASHBURN 1
Central Oklahoma (26-8, 15-3) 000 136 -- 10 9 4
Washburn (19-6, 5-3) 000 001 -- 1 6 2
Lynch and Huggins. Ginter and Francis. WP -- Lynch (11-3). LP -- Ginter (9-2). 2B -- Central Oklahoma: Minter, Robbins 3B -- Central Oklahoma: Puempel. HR -- Central Oklahoma: Harper.
