By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not even a 50-minute mid-game rain or a two-hour starting time delay could slow down the No. 23-ranked Washburn Ichabods as they rolled to an 8-0 win over Emporia State behind Jaycee Ginter's no-hitter in the opening game of the 2022 MIAA Softball Championships.
Washburn, the No. 1 seed and MIAA regular season champions, will face Missouri Western on Friday at 4 p.m. The Ichabods have won 23 straight games.
Jaycee Ginter threw her second career no-hitter for Washburn in Friday's 8-0 MIAA tournament win over Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Ginter, a former Shawnee Heights star, tossed her second no-hitter in a Washburn uniform, improving to 29-3 in the circle while striking out three and needing just 76 pitches in the game.
The Ichabods (43-11) scored the first runs of the game, striking four times in the bottom of the second inning when JadenLaBarge led off the frame with a single and after a Hornet (24-29) error allowing Autymn Schreiner to reach, Kimi Patterson singled to score LaBarge. Maddie Stipsits followed with a single to load the bases.
Marrit Mead reached on a fielder's choice and Patterson would score on a wild pitch as the Ichabods went up, 2-0. Paige Robbins followed with a single to right, driving in Mead and Stipsits to stretch the WU lead to 4-0.
With the Ichabods still holding the 4-0 lead batting in the bottom of the fifth, a 50-minute weather delay pulled the teams off the field before action resumed.
On the third pitch of the restart, Ginter doubled down the right field line, sending Robbins to third with no outs. Ashton Friend picked up her first hit of the day with a single to right, scoring Robbins and sending Ginter to third as Washburn went up, 5-0.
Following Friend's single, LaBarge singled up the middle to score Ginter as the Ichabods pushed their lead to 6-0. With runners on the corners, Silver Lake product Ellington Hogle swiped second and on the throw Friend stole home putting Washburn up, 7-0.
Washburn scored the game-ending eighth run when the Hornets committed their second error of the inning, sending Hogle home.
Robbins and LaBarge each had two hits, leading the Ichabod nine-hit attack, and eight different Ichabods scored a run for Washburn.
