Survive and advance.
That’s all that matters in postseason play.
The Ankeny Centennial softball team got a tougher-than-expected battle from visiting Waterloo West in a Class 5A regional semifinal on Saturday, but the fifth-ranked Jaguars held on for a 4-3 victory.
“Postseason time brings out the best in everybody,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “They just put a few balls in play and scored a few runs, and it was a close game. It was a good battle. You could tell we hadn’t played in more than a week. We were just a little rusty.”
Centennial scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Payton Drefke led off with a single for her third hit of the game and advanced to second when Mackenzie James reached on an error.
After both runners moved up on a passed ball, Addi Starr hit a grounder to second to drive in Drefke.
“We hit the ball really hard,” Delaney said. “We had a good scouting report on them, so we came up with a good game plan. We eventually found a way to get that last run in.”
Centennial pitcher Jadeyn Stahr (13-4) then closed out the game with back-to-back strikeouts. She fanned eight batters overall while scattering 11 hits.
“It was a good night for her,” Delaney said of Stahr. “She’s pitching really well when we need her to pitch well. She took a ball off her leg at one point in the game, but she was ok.”
Centennial (25-12) has won six straight games and 11 of its last 12. The Jaguars will host No. 8 Linn-Mar (Marion) (35-4) in Tuesday’s regional final.
Waterloo West ends the season at 10-26.
The Jaguars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Drefke led off with a single and then scored on an error.
Lauren Gustofson later hit an RBI single. Jordyn Kennedy then beat out a bunt to drive in another run.
The Wahawks used a two-out rally to score two runs in the second inning. They added another run in the third to tie it up.
Centennial left several runners on base over the next three innings before finally breaking through in the sixth.
“We left 10 girls on base,” Delaney said. “We put the ball in play, but we just hit it really hard right at them.”
Drefke went 3-for-4 and stole a base. Kennedy went 2-for-3 in the win, while Gustofson went 2-for-4.
Linn-Mar advanced to the regional final with a 4-2 win over Cedar Rapids Washington (2-35), which was looking to pull off a huge upset until the Lions scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“They’ve got a good team,” Delaney said of Linn-Mar. “They’re a senior-heavy team.”
The Lions are riding an eight-game winning streak. They boast a pair of strong pitchers in Jordyn Beck (17-2) and Emily Koranda (14-1), while Hannah Gralund leads the offense with eight home runs and 47 RBIs.
“I think they’re very similar to us,” Delaney said.
