The Washburn University softball team took on Newman University in a doubleheader April 7 and added two wins to its season.
The Ichabods kept Newman scoreless in both games. The first game ended after just five innings, as the Ichabods run-ruled the Jets 8-0. The second game ended in a regular seven-inning fashion as the Ichabods fell just one run short of the run rule, topping Newman 7-0.
On the offensive front, Washburn kept its hot streak going by putting up nine hits in game 1 with two each coming from senior first baseman Jaden LaBarge, senior shortstop Ellington Hogle, freshman center fielder Makenzie Sais and junior right fielder Erin Boles.
In game 2, LaBarge continued to contribute to the offensive effort by adding a double and a home run to her stat sheet, giving her 2 of Washburn’s 16 hits.
“Today felt really good in the box, seeing it and trusting my hands in the whole process,” LaBarge said. “The rest of the season has been kind of tough, so today it felt good to just step out and relax and see it and hit it.”
Brenda Holaday, head coach, credited the team’s self-discipline for their effective performance at the plate in the match-up.
“We met after last weekend when we didn’t play very well as a team, and our girls met by themselves and put some parameters in place for themselves all week to say, ‘Hey, let’s hold ourselves more accountable at practice and if we’re having bad swings, let’s step out and run some sprints,’” Holaday said. “That was all self-imposed kind of things they wanted to do to just bring their accountability up a little bit to put a little pressure on themselves in practice so that it would carry over into games.”
The Ichabods hit the road after an eight-game homestand to take on Missouri Western State University and Northwest Missouri State University before returning home to round out the regular season.
Holaday is confident that the team’s effort in practice and games recently will provide a positive outcome in the upcoming games.
“We’ve got one more road trip, which is this coming weekend with Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri, both really good teams and really hard to play on the road … our schedule is never easy. It doesn’t get any easier, for sure, but hopefully, we’re in a little better mindset than we were before [for those games],” Holaday said.
Edited by Jayme Thompson and Jeremy Ford.
