Coming off a day one sweep over the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Washburn softball wrapped up day two of the ESU Classic with an afternoon doubleheader against Quincy University.

They would match the day one performance by coming up with another sweep to finish out the weekend a perfect 4-0.

“We started off kind of rough, we were 3-6 coming into the weekend and 7-6 now after four games on our home field,” said head coach Brenda Holaday. “There were some good moments and there were some really ugly moments, but when you go 4-0 on a weekend you are happy about that.”

After sophomore pitcher Jaycee Ginter threw a scoreless top of the first inning, the Ichabods took over offensively. The first four hitters to step to the plate all reached base, starting with sophomore third baseman Marrit Mead who walked.

Fellow sophomores Autymn Schreiner and Hadley Kerschen followed with a single and a double respectively, with the double from Kerschen scoring Mead.

After hitting three home runs the day before, senior designated player Ashton Friend followed up with a two-run double her first at-bat, putting Washburn up 3-0. Two hitters later freshman first baseman Jaden LaBarge sent a ball over the left field wall for a home run to give the Ichabods a five run first inning.

In the circle Ginter cruised through the first three innings, striking out four batters in the process, on her way to a career high 12 in the game. The Hawks started off the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles, to get on the scoreboard.

That is all that Quincy would get in the inning as the score stayed the same until the sixth inning. In the sixth, Washburn scored two runs on only one hit, capitalizing on mistakes from the Hawks.
Each score came on groundouts in the infield, the first coming from Mead and the second from Schreiner, making it a 7-1 game.

Quincy picked up one run in the seventh by stealing home, but that is all they would muster before falling 7-2 in the first game.

Both teams’ offenses were active to start the second game. Quincy picked up three hits and a walk in the top of the first inning off sophomore pitcher Ashlie Thissen.
Washburn’s top of the order continued to be dominant with the trio of Mead, Schreiner and Kerschen all reaching to load the bases. A passed ball would score one and the bases would reload after a walk by LaBarge.

“They have different ways to beat you, they have good speed, they’ve got some power and some pop,” Holaday said. “Right now, they are the heart and soul of our offense but … we’ve got some freshmen stepping up and hitting the ball real well.”

Working out in center field the second game, Ginter tripled to the right field wall to clear the bases and give the Ichabods a one-run lead. Junior right fielder Maddie Stipsits grounded out to the right side next, but drove in Ginter to make it a 5-3 game after one.

Both teams settled in defensively the next two innings, as the game stayed scoreless through the fourth inning. In the fifth the Hawks had runners on second and third with no outs, forcing Washburn to bring Ginter back into the circle.

She came through again, getting two groundouts and a strikeout to finish the inning with the game still tied.

It did not stay that way long as the Ichabods mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning, beginning with a single from Friend who scored on a double into right field by junior first baseman Jenna Moore to take a 6-5 lead.

An additional run was tacked on in the sixth inning on a first pitch leadoff home run from freshman right fielder Rylee Seymour, the first of her career.

Ginter ran into some trouble in the top of the seventh inning, as runners got to second and third base with no outs. A single into right field brought one runner in before Ginter closed the door with three straight strikeouts to win the game.

“I wasn’t worried, I felt in control and I trusted my defense and everybody else to do their job,” Ginter said.

Ginter threw ten innings on the day, allowing only two earned runs and striking out 16 batters, including the career-high 12 in game one.

“It feels good, just to keep improving,” Ginter said. “It gets tiring (pitching so much) but you got to do what you got to do to help the team.”

At the plate Friend had three combined hits, with two RBI’s and scored three runs. Ginter knocked in three RBI’s and Schreiner had three hits on the day.

“I was really glad for them to get the wins and the payoff for that,” Holaday said.

After the 4-0 weekend the Ichabods moved to 7-6 on the year as they head into the Washburn Classic beginning Feb. 26.

Edited by: Ellie Walker, Simran Shrestha