Ankeny’s Kensington Arringdale grew up on the north side of town.
That’s why she wanted to beat rival Ankeny Centennial so bad.
“I went there (to the north feeder schools) from first to ninth grade,” said Arringdale, a sophomore shortstop.
After earlier hitting a pair of home runs, Arringdale drove in the go-ahead runs with another hit as the sixth-ranked Ankeny softball team rallied from a 6-3 deficit to beat No. 4 Centennial, 8-7, in 10 innings in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Centennial.
Kaylyn Miller knocked in the winning run for the Hawkettes, who salvaged a split of the twinbill after Centennial posted a 4-3 victory in the opener.
“It feels awesome,” said Arringdale, who went 4-for-9 and had four RBIs on the night. “Coming from Centennial, I really wanted to beat them. They’re all my friends, and it was a very friendly game. I’m glad we won.”
The loss dropped Centennial’s records to 10-2 in the CIML Conference and 24-6 overall. The Jaguars fell into a first-place tie with No. 2 Waukee Northwest, which is now 11-3 in the league after sweeping a doubleheader at Urbandale.
“Two of the best teams in central Iowa went at it tonight,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “We came out on top in that first game, and then we trailed for much of the second game but we clawed our way back. We just didn’t get it done.”
Ankeny improved to 8-6 in the conference and 18-13 overall, but the Hawkettes didn’t gain any ground in the conference race. The two teams directly ahead of them, No. 1 Valley (9-3) and No. 5 Johnston (10-4), both swept doubleheaders on Wednesday.
Still, Ankeny’s win in the nightcap could provide a huge jolt of momentum as the postseason approaches.
“Being in tight games every game all year has kind of built a little bit of resolve. We’re used to it,” said Ankeny coach Dave Bingham. “You win some, and you lose some. I think there were several moments where we could have quit, and we didn’t. I like this team. I like our chances.”
Centennial nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Jaguars trailed, 7-6, before Jordyn Kennedy–who had earlier hit two home runs–drew a one-out walk from Abby Rusher.
Kennedy went to second on a single by Mady Ott, then scored the tying run on a double by Addi Starr. After an intentional walk to Cora Boyle loaded the bases, Lauren Sandholm hit a fly ball that was caught by Morgan Fisher–who then threw out Ott trying to score for an inning-ending double play.
“Our eighth grader in right field made a couple of great plays,” Bingham said. “She even dropped a ball and then came right back and threw somebody out. That says a lot about our kids accepting each other too, so I’m proud of that.”
Aubrey Lensmeyer (7-7) was the winning pitcher, tossing the first six innings and the last two. She allowed three earned runs on nine hits and had five strikeouts.
Lensmeyer also went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Ava Tomlinson had a two-run homer, her third of the season.
Sandholm (11-4) took the loss in relief of Boyle. She struck out the side in the eighth inning, but later ran into trouble in the 10th.
Rusher, who went 2-for-5 with a double, reached base and went to third. Miller then doubled to drive in the winning run.
“It was a very good win for our team going into the end of our season,” Arringdale said.
Arringdale led off the first game with a homer. She later hit another blast, her fifth of the season, in the nightcap.
“I was just focusing on a hard ground ball,” Arringdale said. “I knew she had a riseball, so I was trying to stay over the top of it. I knew if I got ahold of it, it would go. It felt good.”
Kennedy, meanwhile, hit a two-run homer in the first inning of both games. She now has nine roundtrippers on the season, tying Ott for the team lead.
“They pitched well against us,” Kennedy said. “But I think we made some good adjustments.”
In the opener, Lensmeyer hit a solo homer in the third inning to tie the game at 3-3. It was her team-leading seventh blast of the year.
Sandholm then settled down and shut the Hawkettes out the rest of the way. She tossed a six-hitter and racked up nine strikeouts.
“I kind of had a goal to just attack and if I gave up a hit or something, I wanted to go to the next pitch and try to get the next batter out,” said Sandholm.
Rusher (11-6) also pitched well, but took the loss when Jessica Lathrop hit a two-out homer in the sixth inning for the winning run. It was Lathrop’s first home run of the season.
“I was just hoping to get a run across for my team. We really wanted to get ahead before the seventh inning,” said Lathrop, who later had a three-run double in the second game. “I was looking for a pitch that wasn’t going too high and I just wanted one in my sweet spot, and that’s what I found.”
Mary Brantley went 2-for-3, scored a run and drove in another. Starr also went 2-for-3 and had a double.
Sandholm was proud of her team’s resilience.
“The team has had a great mindset this year,” she said. “I think our bats have really started to heat up–you could see that with Jordyn’s awesome home runs there, and the one by Jess was a great way to end the season for her. We’ve got a couple doubleheaders left. We just have to go in with the same mindset.”
The Jaguars still control their own destiny in the race for the conference title.
“It’s just one game at a time right now,” Delaney said. “We want to take care of the conference, and once that is over we’ve got a postseason run to make.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial will compete in the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational on Friday. The Jaguars will play Indianola (14-16) at 11 a.m. and Class 4A No. 3 Norwalk (24-4) at 2:30 p.m., while the Hawkettes will face Class 4A No. 1 North Polk (28-3) at 12:45 p.m. and Ballard (8-16) at 4:15 p.m.
