The Ankeny Centennial softball team is headed back to Fort Dodge for the third time in four years.
The top-ranked Jaguars advanced to the Class 5A state tournament with a 10-1 victory over visiting Ames in a regional final on Tuesday. The win allowed Centennial (33-5) to tie the school record for most victories in a season.
“I’m very excited for this opportunity,” said Centennial freshman Mady Ott, who went 3-for-3 with a triple, a home run and three RBIs in the game. “It’s a great group of girls and a very exciting atmosphere, and I can’t wait for the next game with them.”
Sydney Morris also homered and drove in three runs as the Jaguars erased the memory of last year’s loss to Linn-Mar (Marion) in a regional final.
“That loss was very upsetting for us, so this year we wanted to make it to state more than ever before,” said Centennial senior Mackenzie James.
Lauren Gustofson allowed just one earned run on four hits and had 10 strikeouts. She also knocked in two runs while improving her record to 10-2 on the season.
“It feels very good to go back to state,” said Gustofson.
Ames (23-17) took an early 1-0 lead on a home run by Ellie Lynch in the first inning. It was her 10th homer of the year.
“We knew Ames was going to come in being a tough squad, and Ellie Lynch is one of the best players in the state of Iowa,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “She just hit one of our pitches out, but we knew we were going to have to at least score a run to win the game. Our girls weren’t too worried after that, and Gus threw a great game.”
Gustofson needed only 74 pitches to get through the first six innings.
“(Lynch) was the batter we were most concerned about, but we continued to throw the rise ball and outside which seemed to work,” Gustofson said.
Centennial tied the game in the bottom of the first. James led off with a walk and eventually scored on a single by Ott.
“We knew enough about (Ames) because we had scrimmaged them in the preseason, but even still I was making sure I was being selective and looking for my pitch as well as trusting the work I put in this whole season,” Ott said.
In the third, Morris hit a one-out homer to put the Jaguars ahead for good. It was her sixth home run of the season.
After a walk to Jordyn Kennedy, Ott followed with an RBI triple. Ott scored on a grounder by Cora Boyle, who reached on an error. Boyle went to third on a double by Addi Starr and came home when Gustofson reached on an error to make it 5-1.
“We had seen their pitcher a little bit last year and had also scouted her a little,” Delaney said. “We had some background knowledge about what she was going to bring to the table.”
Centennial later scored five runs in the fifth to break the game open. Ott ignited the outburst with a solo homer, her sixth of the year.
“Mady is a special player,” Delaney said. “She had a good week of practice leading up to that game, and I think she finished a double away from hitting for the cycle. She just came ready to play, and it’s exciting to see her hit the ball like that. We’re very fortunate to have her in our program.”
Starr went 2-for-3 in the win, while Morris went 2-for-4. James scored two runs and drove in another.
Eighth grader Lauren Sandholm replaced Gustofson in the seventh inning and closed out the game.
“We’re kind of a mix between eighth through 12th graders in our lineup right now,” Delaney said. “We’ve got some girls who have been to Fort Dodge and some that haven’t, but they’ve just relied on each other all year in this postseason run that they’ve had. I could see that they were ready to play. There were a few nerves at the beginning, but after that we just did what we’ve done all season and that is to play routine softball.”
The Jaguars will play No. 8 Bettendorf (29-10) in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at Harlan Rogers Park at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs scored two runs in the sixth inning to beat No. 11 Dubuque Hempstead, 8-7, in a regional final.
Freshman Jazzlynn Poole went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs in the win. Senior Emily Rigdon leads the team with a .491 average, 10 homers and 50 RBIs while also posting a 14-3 record with a 2.82 ERA.
“We’re in the process of gathering some information,” Delaney said. “We’ll find out a little more about them, but we’re going to focus on what we do well.”
With a win, Centennial would face No. 4 Southeast Polk (30-9) or No. 5 Valley (34-8) in the semifinals on July 19 at 11 a.m. Two more CIML Conference rivals, No. 2 Ankeny (31-6) and No. 3 Waukee Northwest (31-11), are on the opposite side of the bracket.
The championship game is slated for July 20 at 5 p.m. The Jaguars took third place in 2020 and finished second in 2021.
“Every team at state is going to be good, and we’re going to have to fight hard to win that state title,” James said. “Being the No. 1 team, it gives our team a lot of motivation to fight even harder knowing that everyone is out to beat us. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves and are very excited to move one step closer to a state title!”
