The nerves eventually went away for Lauren Gustofson and the Ankeny Centennial softball team.
Perhaps the pink hair might have helped.
Gustofson, a senior pitcher, got out of some early jams and the top-ranked Jaguars went on to beat No. 8 Bettendorf, 7-1, in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge.
“I was pretty nervous going into it,” said Gustofson. “We knew they had some good hitters in the fat part of the lineup, but other than that we kind of just came in trying to get the job done. And I guess we did that.”
Gustofson combined with Lauren Sandholm on a four-hitter as Centennial advanced to the semifinals for the third time in four years. The Jaguars (34-5) also set a new school record for most victories in a season.
Centennial will play No. 4 Southeast Polk (31-9) on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
“That’s the goal–to get the first one so you’re guaranteed to play Wednesday and Thursday,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney, whose team placed third in 2020 and second in 2021. “The girls came ready to play, and it was just an exciting game.”
Bettendorf (29-11) left 10 runners on base, including three in the first inning and two more in the third. The Bulldogs will play No. 5 Valley (34-9) in a consolation game on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
“We knew enough about them,” said Centennial outfielder Mady Ott, who went 2-for-2, scored two runs and drove in another. “I mean, it wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before.”
Gustofson, sporting pink hair, allowed four walks and four hits over the first five innings while racking up seven strikeouts. She raised her record to 11-2.
“We all dyed our hair pink,” she said. “I seem to have done a lot more than everyone else, but it’s a really fun thing that we did.”
The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Ott led off with a single, moved to third on an error and scored on a grounder by Addi Starr.
The Bulldogs tied the game in the top of the third on a two-out single by Jazzlynn Poole, who had left the bases loaded in the first. Centennial then regained the lead on an RBI single by Ott in the bottom of the frame.
“I was a little nervous, but otherwise I felt pretty good,” said Ott, a freshman who was making her first state tournament appearance. “I was trusting my work that I put in.”
In the fourth, the Jaguars added another run off Bettendorf starter Emily Rigdon (14-4). Starr singled with one out and then raced home on a two-out double by Mackenzie James to make it 3-1.
James had crushed a long foul ball to left field before she connected for the hit. She had also flied out to deep center in the first inning.
“I was a little bit frustrated, but my third and fourth at-bats I made some adjustments,” James said.
In the fifth, Bettendorf’s Ellie Erpelding led off with a walk. But Gustofson then fanned Rigdon, the Bulldogs’ best hitter, before snaring a line drive from Brooklyn Teerlinck that she turned into an inning-ending double play.
“We always seem to make the plays when we need to, which is good,” Gustofson said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so that was really cool (to start the double play).”
Centennial broke the game open with three runs off Bettendorf reliever Navy Clark in the bottom of the fifth. Cora Boyle drove in the first two runs when she dropped down a perfect bunt to the right side on a 1-2 pitch.
“Coach actually called the bunt and I was like, ‘Are you sure?'” Boyle said. “But I did it, and it worked. So good job coach Delaney. We work on bunting a lot in practice because it can always help in any situation, and I think it did.”
Delaney said he was just hoping to score another run.
“We’ve kind of talked among the coaches all season about how it’s ok to bunt with two strikes, and Cora’s one of our best bunters on the team,” he said. “So I thought, ‘Why not here?’. She kind of questioned me with her eyes, but we found a way to get it done. That was a big bunt by her.”
A throwing error allowed another run to score, giving Sandholm a 6-1 cushion when she entered the game in the top of the sixth. She immediately got some help from her defense when James made a sliding catch in center field on a drive by Poole.
“We have the defense behind (our pitchers), and when we needed an out, we either got a strikeout or the defense got one,” Delaney said. “It was a big team effort.”
James provided the Jaguars’ final run with some nifty base running in the bottom of the sixth. After leading off with her second double of the game, she advanced to third on a grounder and then alertly raced home on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Morris that was caught just beyond first base.
“I hesitated a little bit,” James said. “But I kind of felt like we had nothing to lose at that point.”
Centennial will now play a familiar foe. CIML Conference rival Southeast Polk advanced to the semifinals with a 5-2 win over Valley, defeating the Tigers for the third time.
The Jaguars split a doubleheader at Southeast Polk on June 29.
“We’re ready to come and take two more (games) later in the week, but it’s good to get the first one out of the way and have our confidence built,” Boyle said.
