The seventh-ranked Ankeny softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against visiting Urbandale on Wednesday.
The J-Hawks rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the second game to complete the sweep with a 10-5 victory. They scored two runs runs in the fourth inning, then used a five-run fifth to take an 8-5 lead.
“They’re a decent team,” Ankeny coach Sarah Saladino said of the J-Hawks. “They hit some, they field it, and they stay routine.”
Urbandale’s Tatum Johnson went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs. Sarah Webster went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, while Hayley Crowdis drove in three runs.
Eighth grader Sophie Romey earned the win in relief. She allowed no earned runs on one hit over the last five innings.
It was the third straight loss for Ankeny, which dropped a 4-0 decision in the opener after falling to No. 2 Ankeny Centennial, 12-0, in five innings on Monday.
“The big thing for us is when we get runners on, we have to find ways to score them,” Saladino said. “When we first started the season, we were scoring runs the first couple of games. That’s the biggest thing. We have to be able to score timely runs, and defensively we have to be able to back up our pitchers.”
Urbandale’s Morgan Barry scattered seven hits in the first game. She walked two and had five strikeouts.
The J-Hawks scored three runs in the first inning, then added another in the fifth. Johnson and Webster each went 2-for-3 at the plate.
Urbandale improved to 2-3 in the CIML Conference and 3-3 overall. The Hawkettes’ records fell to 2-4 and 2-4.
Ankeny will play another conference doubleheader on Thursday at No. 9 Southeast Polk. The Rams are 3-1 in the league and 3-3 overall after splitting a twinbill at Centennial on Wednesday.