Stepping out of conference play, the Ankeny Centennial softball team faced two opponents on Friday at the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational and suffered a pair of losses.
The fourth-ranked Jaguars opened the tournament by dropping an 8-6 decision to Indianola in a seesaw battle. They later fell to Norwalk, 4-1.
“We’ll be all right,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “We just didn’t have our best day, but it was a good opportunity to learn and to grow.”
Norwalk, the No. 3 team in Class 4A, defeated the Jaguars for the second time this season. The Warriors (26-5) also posted a 1-0 win at Centennial on May 23.
It was the third consecutive loss for Centennial, which dropped to 24-8 on the season. The Jaguars were coming off an 8-7 loss to No. 6 Ankeny in 10 innings in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
Centennial took a 1-0 lead against Norwalk on Jordyn Kennedy’s solo home run with one out in the fourth inning. It was her 10th homer of the season, tying Mady Ott for the team lead.
The Warriors rallied for three runs in the fifth against Cora Boyle (13-1), who suffered her first loss of the season. Ava Garvey hit an RBI single with two outs to drive in the tying run.
Norwalk then executed a double steal to plate the go-ahead run. Another run scored on a wild pitch.
In the sixth inning, Kennedy drew a two-out walk before Ott nearly tied the game with a double off the left-field fence, advancing Kennedy to third. Norwalk starter Olivia Dougherty–who allowed just four hits while racking up 10 strikeouts–was then replaced by Carly Brewer, who tossed a two-hitter against the Jaguars earlier this season.
Brewer retired Addi Starr on a line drive to right to end the inning.
“That’s a really good 4A team,” Delaney said. “They’ve got two really good pitchers, and they can swing it well, too.”
The Warriors added an insurance run in the seventh inning. Nyah Hulbert hit an RBI single with two outs to produce the final margin.
Boyle allowed three earned runs on seven hits. She finished with four strikeouts.
Jessica Lathrop had a double for Centennial.
Earlier, the Jaguars jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning before Indianola rallied. The Indians (15-17) scored two runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the third to tie it up.
After Centennial took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth, Indianola responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame.
“We don’t love time-limit games, but we love going to that classic every year,” Delaney said. “We just ran out of time–we only played six innings. Unfortunately, we gave up a few home runs in that game, and that was kind of the difference.”
Ashley Schultz, Alexa Guyer and Kyra Robins each homered and had two RBIs for the Indians. Guyer, a freshman, went 3-for-3 and scored twice.
Boyle, Ott and McKenna Vallejo each drove in two runs for Centennial. Ott went 2-for-4 and had a home run.
“We hit the ball really well,” Delaney said. “We just hit the ball hard right at them a lot of times. I think they were some of the hardest balls we’ve hit all season.”
Lauren Sandholm (11-5) took the loss. She allowed six earned runs on seven hits and had four strikeouts.
The Jaguars will host a non-conference game against Martensdale-St. Marys (24-4) on Tuesday. The Blue Devils are the No. 1 team in Class 1A.
Centennial will play five games in a span of five days, capped off by a doubleheader at No. 2 Waukee Northwest on Saturday that could decide the CIML Conference title.
“We’ve got a tough week coming up,” Delaney said.
