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Washburn softball rallies from 6-0 deficit to earn split with No. 5-ranked Bronchos
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod softball team split an MIAA doubleheader with No. 5-ranked Central Oklahoma Friday at Gahnstrom Field, rallying from a six-run deficit in the nightcap for a come-from-behind win.
Washburn softball celebrates Friday night after rallying from a 6-0 first-inning deficit to take a 10-7 win over No. 5-ranked Central Oklahoma. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
After taking a tough 3-2 loss in the opener, Washburn trailed 6-0 after the top of the first in the second game before battling back behind three home runs, including a Jaden LaBarge grand slam, for a 10-7 win over the Bronchos.
The victory secured Washburn's 20th 30-win season and sixth under Ichabod coach Brenda Holaday while WU posted its first win over UCO since a 5-1 win over the Bronchos on April 20, 2019 in Edmond, snapping an 11-game losing streak against the Bronchos.
"First of all, UCO is an incredible program and incredible team,'' Holaday said. "They're No. 5 in the nation for a reason, so to play really good ball against them all day long was really good for us. I thought (pitcher) Sadie Walker was as good as she's been all year long and up and down our lineup we had a lot of kids with big hits for us and when you can share the load you've got a chance to win.
"When you get down 6-0 to a team like that it takes a lot of mettle to come back and I'm just really proud of the fight of the kids.''
In the opener, the Ichabods took the early lead with a solo run in their first at bat when Alexis Tangma doubled to score Ellington Hogle, who walked to lead off the inning.
UCO knotted the score in the fourth with a solo run and took the lead in the fifth, taking advantage of two Ichabod errors to scoring two unearned runs.
In the sixth and seventh innings, Washburn stranded two in each inning but could not push across a run, coming up one run shy.
Washburn out-hit the Bronchos 9-8 in the opener as Tanguma collected three hits while Hogle and LaBarge both had two hits.
Walker turned in a strong pitching performance for Washburn, striking out six Bronchos and giving up just one earned run.
After falling behind 6-0 in the first inning of the nightcap as the Bronchos (41-8 overall, 18-4 MIAA) sent 12 batters to plate, the Ichabods (30-19, 12-10) came back with two runs of their own as LaBarge picked up a two-out single, scoring both Hogle and Makenzie Sais, who singled to start the inning.
Neither team scored again until the third inning when UCO added a run to take a 7-2 lead.
Washburn cut the lead to 7-6 in the bottom of the inning when LaBarge cleared the bases with her grand slam to center, scoring Ashlyn Gaughan, Kaylee Wagner and Erin Boles.
Washburn freshman Kate Dolan is mobbed by her teammates after hitting the first home run of her collegiate career in Friday's 10-7 MIAA win over No. 5-ranked UCO. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
In the fourth, Washburn took the lead at 8-7 after a two-run homer from Wagner, and in its next at bat, Washburn added two more insurance runs when freshman Kate Dolan collected her first collegiate home run with an opposite field shot with two outs on a 1-2 pitch.
Washburn junior Sadie Walker gave up just one earned run in nine innings in Friday's twinbill split with No. 5-ranked Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Walker pitched two scoreless innings of relief for her third save of the season after replacing winning pitcher Jenna Sprague, who improved to 8-6 after tossing 42/3 innings in relief.
The Ichabods outhit the Bronchos 13-10 in the second game as Hogle led the Ichabod attack with three hits and Tanguma, Wagner, Boles and LaBarge all had two.
LaBarge tallied a career-high-tying six RBI while Wagner and Dolan each drove in two runs.
Washburn will wrap up the regular season on April 26 hosting Emporia State.
Ichabod baseball looking to put together late-season hot streak, starting at Pittsburg State
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball will play its final road series of the season this week at No. 19 Pittsburg State, beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday, with the Ichabods looking to end what has been an up and down campaign with a late-season hot streak.
Washburn senior standout Jett Buck is in the midst of an outstanding season for the 21-21 Ichabods. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn fell to 21-21 overall and 14-15 in the MIAA after losing 10-8 to No. 20 Fort Hays State in 10 innings on Tuesday.
"It's hard because it seems like the whole team can't play good at once,'' WU senior standout Jett Buck said. "It seems like one part of the game is off at a time.''
Washburn is 6-2 in games against NCBWA nationally ranked opponents this season.
"I think it's showed that when we have everything clicking at the same time we're really hard to beat, but it's just consistency and everyone playing like we should,'' Buck said.
The Ichabods posted a third straight 30-win season in 2024, going 32-21 overall and 21-12 in the MIAA.
Pittsburg State improved to 31-7 overall and 19-7 inside the MIAA after defeating Missouri S&T 17-12 on the road Tuesday evening, winning its program-record 13th game in a row.
Washburn is scoring 8.67 runs per game while opponents are averaging 7.79 runs a start.
At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .307 with 74 home runs, 96 doubles and drawing195 walks while striking out 291 times.
The WU pitching staff has a 7.05 ERA with 293 strikeouts across 365.1 innings. The Ichabods have allowed 397 hits and issued 259 walks.
Buck leads the team with 15 games of recording multiple RBI and he has two games with five or more driven in.
Buck is hitting .360 while starting in all 42 games. He has a team-high 17 home runs on the year with 58 RBI, also tops on the team. He ranks second in the MIAA and seventh nationally in home runs. Buck is also second in the conference in RBI, hits and total bases while ranking fourth in slugging percentage. He has multiple hits in each of the last five games.
Trojans turn to former star, assistant coach Sanders to guide boys basketball program
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Robbie Sanders, who starred at Topeka High as a player and spent 13 seasons on the Trojans' coaching staff, had long dreamed about getting the opportunity to guide his own program at his alma mater.
That dream came true Thursday night when the USD 501 school board approved the 1996 High grad as the Trojans' new boys basketball coach.
"It's been a long time coming, but better late than never,'' Sanders told TopSports.news. "It just feels so good to be home. It's like everything has come full circle.''
Robbie Sanders (right) was approved as Topeka High's new boys basketball coach Thursday night after coaching the past six seasons on Ken Darting's staff at Shawnee Heights. [File photo/TSN]
The 47-year-old Sanders earned All-City and All-Class 6A recognition for Bill Bagshaw at Topeka High and played collegiately at Independence Community College and Coe College before embarking on a 19-year coaching career.
After coaching under Mike Henson and Pat Denney at Topeka High, Sanders has been a member of Ken Darting's Shawnee Heights' staff the past six seasons, including back-to-back berths in the Class 5A state tournament the past two seasons.
"I got the opportunity to play at Shawnee Heights (for Topeka High) one time and I got the opportunity to go back there and coach,'' Sanders said. "I've obviously coached at Topeka High before and to be able to step back into this role, it seems surreal. It's really special and I'm just honored and excited.''
Sanders had expressed interest in the Topeka High coaching vacancy twice earlier in his career, but said that everything has worked out for the best.
"The first time, to be totally honest, I had some more growing to do so I understood why they felt they needed to go in a different direction,'' Sanders said. "And the last time it just didn't work out for a lot of different reasons. One of the reasons was my son Jaren was just going into college and he was playing football.
"It just was a huge transition and a lot of responsibility to want to be there for him, but to try to take on all these new roles and everything, so the timing just wasn't right. Thank God that another chance came about and we were ablte to make it happen this time.''
Sanders said that he has learned a lot from coaching under Henson, Denney and Darting as he embarks on his first head coaching job.
"Obviously, coach Henson was my introduction to coaching and the biggest thing that stuck with me from coach Henson was just the everyday skill development,'' Sanders said. "He wanted 25 to 35 minutes every day of individual skill development, working on dribbling, passing and shooting, and that's something that I plan to implement here at the High now.
"Coach Denney is a mentor to me. He's somebody that I'm still really close with and I can run any idea across him and he's just an unbelievable resource, and coach Darting, he just changed the way I looked at everything. He made me understand that winning is attainable if we go about it the right way. If we build it brick by brick, if we start on the defensive end, if we hold these kids accountable, if we set high standards, anything is achievable.
"I've learned so much from all these guys and I would say that my philosophy and style is a combination of everything that I learned from everybody.''
