Jordyn Kennedy helped the Ankeny Centennial softball team to a pair of victories in the Jaguar Invitational on Friday.
The junior slugger also made some history.
Kennedy went 3-for-3 with a double, two home runs and four RBIs as the third-ranked Jaguars opened the tournament with a 6-3 win over Creston, the No. 15 team in Class 4A. She now has seven homers on the season and 35 in her career, which ties the school record that is held by Kendyl Lindaman.
Lindaman is Iowa’s career home run leader with 71 roundtrippers. She blasted 36 homers in two seasons at Ankeny in 2012-13 before hitting 35 more over the next three years at Centennial.
“I never watched her at Centennial, but I did follow her college career at Florida,” Kennedy said of Lindaman. “She’s always been known as a great softball player and a great hitter. To be mentioned alongside her is a great honor itself!”
Ironically, Kennedy has committed to play for Minnesota. Lindaman started her college career as a Gopher before transferring to Florida.
Kennedy then went 1-for-2 and scored two runs in the Jaguars’ 8-0 win over No. 14 Ames in five innings. It was the first loss of the season for the Little Cyclones (10-1).
Kennedy’s next chance to break the record will come on Monday, when Centennial hosts a CIML Conference doubleheader against Dowling Catholic (2-4).
“To potentially break the record is all great, but the focus right now is to get better every day to work on the little things to help us improve and hopefully (achieve) the ultimate goal of getting to the state tournament in Fort Dodge,” Kennedy said.
Ava Faber went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored in the win over Creston (9-3). Mary Brantley and Kori Lincicum each knocked in a run.
Freshman Peyten Spiegel (3-0) allowed just two earned runs on five hits over the first six innings. She racked up nine strikeouts before Aubrey Scieszinski took over and got the last three outs.
Scieszinski (4-1) then combined with Lincicum on a three-hitter against Ames. She had five strikeouts over the first four innings.
Lincicum went 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs. It was her fourth homer of the season.
Mady Ott added a two-run blast, her third of the year. Faber went 3-for-3 and scored three times, while Lauren Bartine added two RBIs.