The season got off to a rough start on Monday for the Ankeny Centennial softball team.
The Jaguars traveled to Waukee for a matchup against the sixth-ranked Warriors, who pounded out 14 hits and rolled to a 15-5 victory in six innings.
Molly Platte and Reagan Bartholomew each had a pair of doubles in the win. The duo combined to knock in seven runs.
“Waukee is a really good team,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “They’re going to be a solid outfit that we’re probably going to have to beat to get to Fort Dodge (for the state tournament) down the road.”
Elly Bates was the winning pitcher, allowing four earned runs, four hits and five walks over the first five innings. She had three strikeouts.
Marissa Meyer drove in two runs for the Jaguars.
“I think when we put the ball in play, we took advantage of mistakes that they made and scored a few runs,” Delaney said. “But we just didn’t have enough of that tonight.”
Cassi Garland had one RBI for Centennial. Lily King scored a pair of runs, and Cassie Severson doubled and also scored a run.
Madi Huisman took the loss, allowing five hits and six earned runs before being replaced by Kayla Stone in the second inning. Karlie Kaiser later pitched for the Jaguars as well.
“We’re going to continue to evaluate our pitchers, and we may have to use the entire staff at times,” Delaney said. “It just depends on who has the hot hand at the moment.”
The Jaguars will play at Newton on Wednesday.