By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
This past weekend was more suited for the Winter Olympics than it was for softball, but host Washburn University did what it needed to on and off the field to get the Washburn Invitational in the books.
Washburn senior pitcher Sadie Walker improved to 8-1 Sunday with a five-hitter in the Ichabods' 5-1 win over Minnesota State-Crookston. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn was able to get the tournament, which included games at three sites, in the books while dealing with cold weather throughout and Saturday morning snow.
"All these teams, they all have the same conditions and it puts everybody in a tough spot because you travel here, you spend the money and you want to play,'' Washburn coach Brenda Holaday said. "I felt like it was our job to get the fields ready for those teams that wanted to play.
"We had some dads that jumped in and helped out and our maintenance crew here and the folks out at Silver Lake and Washburn Rural did everything they could to get it ready and that's all we could do is get it ready and then leave it up to the teams whether they wanted to play or not. But I felt like we owed it to everybody to do that. I would want teams to do that for us and I think teams overall were glad to get the games in.''
On the field the Ichabods posted a 4-1 record to improve to a glossy 17-3 record on the season.
The Ichabods capped the event on Sunday with a 5-1 victory over Minnesota State-Crookston on Sunday at Gahnstrom Field.
"The loss that we took against Wayne State (6-0 on Friday night) was more of a credit to them,'' Holaday said. "Their pitcher pitched really well against us and we struggled a little bit pitching and gave up some hits we wouldn't normally give up, but for the weekend I was really pleased overall with how we did.
"Today I don't think we hit the ball as well as we did (Saturday) for sure but it feels like 25 (degrees) out there so it's easy for me to sit back here and want them to hit a little bit better, but it's hard to square it up in that. I thought Sadie was really strong for us today and needed to be, knowing that it was going to be a lot harder to hit. It's hard to spin it, too, in this weather and she did a good job.''
Sophomore Makenzie Sais now has a school-record 43 stolen bases on the season for 17-3 Washburn. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN] 
Washburn freshman Taylor Brees had two hits and three RBI in Sunday's 5-1 win over Minnesota State-Crookston. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
