Ankeny Centennial’s Addi Starr didn’t see the ball go over the fence.
But she heard the reaction from her teammates.
Starr hit the first home run of her high school softball career to punctuate the top-ranked Jaguars’ 7-2 victory over visiting Des Moines East in a Class 5A regional semifinal on Saturday.
“I was just running hard up until second base, and then everybody started yelling,” Starr said.
Starr’s two-run homer in the fifth inning gave Centennial a 7-0 lead. Her blast to center field popped out of the glove of East’s Lohna Hernandez-Howard and then went over the fence.
“It felt great,” Starr said. “I’ll take it, especially after what happened at (Dallas Center-Grimes). I got robbed (of a homer) over there, so this was good redemption.”
The Jaguars (32-5) moved one win away from their third trip to the state tournament in the last four years. East finished the season with an 11-29 record.
Mackenzie James hit a two-run triple in the second inning to give Centennial a 3-0 advantage. The senior centerfielder later made a leaping catch in front of the fence to end the game.
“We heard they’re a lot better than what their record shows,” James said of the Scarlets. “We knew we had to come in thinking that we were the underdog, and we got really hyped before the game like we were the underdog in that situation.”
Lauren Gustofson (9-2) tossed five scoreless innings to earn the victory. She allowed just one hit and had eight strikeouts.
“I was excited (to get the start),” said Gustofson, who also had a hit and walked twice. “We knew that their second hitter (Mo Purdy) was pretty good–she’s hit a couple of bombs. I just tried keeping it off the plate and working (my pitches) outside.”
After giving up a one-out single to Cora Knoop in the second inning, Gustofson retired the last 11 batters that she faced. Lauren Sandholm and Jadeyn Stahr then pitched the final two innings.
“We have confidence in every single one of our pitchers,” James said. “Any of them can go in there and win a game for us.”
East’s Daja Smith allowed five earned runs on eight hits and also walked six batters. She hit a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh to allow the Scarlets to avoid a shutout.
Jordyn Kennedy hit an RBI double in the first inning to put Centennial ahead. The Jaguars then added three runs in the second, capped off by Payton Drefke’s single that scored James.
James and Drefke had both fanned in their first at-bats.
“We’re confident in our hitters even if we’re not getting on base in the first inning or whatever,” James said. “We come back the next inning and just try to do the best that we can.”
Drefke went 2-for-4 in the win. Mariah Belzer went 2-for-3.
Belzer doubled and scored a run in the fifth inning.
“Their adjustments from one at-bat to the next is really impressive,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “We’ve worked on that all season, and they’re making the adjustments that they need to make.”
Cora Boyle drove in a run with a grounder before Starr connected for her home run. Starr scored twice, while Mady Ott, Addie Pollock and Malin Vallejo each scored a run for Centennial.
“It was a total team effort,” Delaney said. “We knew East was going to be better than their record on paper, so we were prepared for them and it took everybody in the dugout and everybody on the field all night long.”
The Jaguars will host Ames (23-16) in the regional final on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Little Cyclones advanced with a 9-4 win over Waterloo West.
Ames’ Ellie Lynch went 2-for-4 with a triple, a home run and five RBIs. She is batting .432 with nine homers and 39 RBIs.
“Hopefully, our pitching staff is going to carry us to Fort Dodge,” Delaney said.
