By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It took some waiting and a lot of snow shoveling, but the Washburn University softball team finally got the opportunity to play its home openers on Sunday, running its winning streak to four games with a pair of victories in the Washburn Invitational at Gahnstrom Field.
Washburn opened its tournament bid in the delayed event with a 9-3 win over Missouri S&T, followed by a 4-3 victory over Minot State.
Junior Sadie Walker picked up her fifth pitching win of the season in Sunday night's 4-3 Washburn win over Minot State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn went through some ups and downs, not a surprise given how early it is in the season, but veteran coach Brenda Holaday was pleased overall with her team's performance.
"I thought we had a lot more positives than we had negatives, but our negatives are things we can clean up and will clean up,'' Holaday said. "The first game we had a couple of errors that gave them the runs they had, but I liked our response to that. It was early in the game and I thought we really took control after that and had some good defensive plays and had good pitching and some key hits. The second game was a lot tighter game.''
The Ichabods will be back in action on Monday at 3:30 p.m., hosting Concordia-St. Paul, followed by a contest against Minnesota Crookston in the nightcap.
The Ichabods, 9-4 on the season after Sunday's wins, jumped on the Miners (0-11) in their first at bat in Sunday's opener, scoring three runs on four hits to take a 3-0 lead.
Erin Boles led off the inning with a single and then, after Makenzie Sais singled down the third base line, Kaylee Wagner singled to score Boles.
Sais then stole third and scored on a throwing error. Kate Ediger finished the inning with a single, scoring Wagner as the Ichabods took a 3-0 lead.
The Miners came back with three runs of their own in the top of the second to tie the score, but in the next Ichabod at bat in the bottom of the frame, Jaden LaBarge led off the inning with a solo home run to center field.
Wagner picked up her second RBI of the day, scoring Sais who singled and then stole second base.
Washburn then scored on a passed ball to go in front, 6-3.
Washburn added three more runs in the fifth inning when Mariah Wheeler doubled to left with a pinch-hit RBI and LaBarge picked up a sac fly, scoring Ellington Hogle. Danielle Schlader continued the inning with a single, driving in Wheeler to wrap up the scoring.
Alexis Tanguma pitched the first three innings and Ava Bloyd tossed the final four innings, striking out two while improving to 3-2 on the season.
Wheeler had two hits, as did Boles and Sais while Wagner and LaBarge both drove in two runs.
In WU's second game of the day in Sunday night's finale the Ichabods jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three innings.
Ediger drove in Hogle with a double to center in the second inning and in the third, Washburn took advantage of a Beaver error.
In the fourth, Minot State (7-4) scored three runs to take a 3-2 lead, but Washburn rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the on a two-run double by Boles that scored Dalaney Anderson and Gracie Gallagher to put Washburn up 4-3.
Washburn pitcher Sadie Walker retired 10 of the last 11 batters, improving to 5-1 in the circle for the win while striking out six.
"It took Sadie and Kaylee (catcher) a while to kind of figure out and get in sync with what we were needing to do to get a strike zone that worked, but they made adjustments and got better as they went,'' Holaday said.
Boles led the Ichabods with two hits and two RBI in the win.
Holaday said that the best thing about Sunday was finally getting a chance to play on the Ichabods' home field.
"To be able to play at home for the first time and get a couple of wins after shoveling snow and all that kind of stuff all week is good,'' Holaday said.
Game 1
WASHBURN 9, MISSOURI S&T 3
Missouri S&T 030 000 0 -- 3 3 2
Washburn 330 030 x -- 9 9 2
Beecham, Miller (3), Kanoy (5) and Davis. Tanguma, Bloyd (4) and Wagner. W -- Bloyd (3-2). L -- Beecham (0-5). Missouri S&T: Kelly. Washburn: Wheeler. HR -- LaBarge.
Game 2
WASHBURN 4, MINOT STATE 3
Minot State 000 300 0 -- 3 5 2
Washburn 011 200 x -- 4 6 0
Floyd, Olson (6) and LaCount. Walker and Wagner. W -- Walker (5-1. L -- Floyd (4-1). 2B -- Washburn: Boles, Wagner, Ediger. 3B -- Minot State: Smith.
