Ankeny pitcher Aubrey Lensmeyer didn’t have her best changeup on Monday.
Fortunately, the senior righthander didn’t need it.
Relying on her other pitches, Lensmeyer tossed a two-hitter and had six strikeouts to lead the Hawkettes to a 3-1 victory at Urbandale in a CIML Conference softball game.
“My curve and rise were really on today,” said Lensmeyer. “My changeup was kind of ehhh, so curve and rise were what we stuck with.”
Lensmeyer was five outs away from a no-hitter before Urbandale’s Hayley Crowdis hit a sharp single to right field with one out in the sixth inning.
“I was trying not to think about (the no-hitter),” Lensmeyer said. “Once you think about it, you jinx yourself. But I was just trying to get them to put the ball in play for my teammates to make plays, and we were hitting the ball well too.”
Ankeny third baseman Kaylyn Miller made a leaping catch to rob Sydney Hasson of a hit to open the fifth inning. She also made a nice play on a slow roller by Chloe Rech to begin the sixth.
“It was definitely one of Aubrey’s best games of the year, and our defense has picked it up from the weekend,” said Ankeny center fielder Avery Nelson. “When Aubrey knows that her defense has her back, she definitely pitches better and doesn’t have to have all that pressure on her.”
Urbandale’s only run came in the seventh inning, when Ella Schott reached on an error with one out and Hasson followed with a single. Schott scored when Payton Traynor reached on another error with two outs before Lensmeyer fanned Rech to end the game, leaving the potential tying runs on base.
“Last week was a tough one, but we told ourselves to just keep working,” Lensmeyer said. “This is like halfway through the season, so we just have to flip it and get ready for the postseason.”
Lensmeyer went 2-for-4 at the plate in the win. She helped her own cause with a two-run single off Morgan Barry in the first inning.
” I was just trying to get the bat on the ball,” Lensmeyer said. “Get hits and get runners on. And anytime we can get some early runs, I can take a deep breath and I’m just so much more relaxed and I can throw my pitches.”
Nelson, Miller and Mckenna Byers also had two hits apiece for the Hawkettes. After Byers hit a leadoff single in the fourth, she was thrown out at the plate when she tried to score on a one-out double into the right-field corner by Brylee Bach, who advanced to third on the throw.
Nelson then singled to score Bach with a big insurance run.
“It felt good,” Nelson said. “My second at-bat wasn’t great, but I was positive and I was like, ‘There’s a runner on third and I have to score her.’ So I just did what I could.”
From there, Lensmeyer mostly cruised to her sixth win of the season. The Hawkettes improved to 5-9 in the conference and 9-13 overall, while Urbandale’s records dropped to 4-10 and 7-16.
The J-Hawks had swept a doubleheader at Ankeny on June 4 and also beat the Hawkettes in last year’s third-place game at the Class 5A state tournament.
“(Coach Sarah) Sal(adino) kept saying, ‘Turn that page. Turn that page,'” Nelson said. “And it was a new team today.”
Ankeny will finish a conference doubleheader at third-ranked Johnston on Tuesday. The two teams started a twinbill on Wednesday before the first game was suspended due to rain.
The Dragons are 7-8 in the league and 16-8 overall after dropping a 3-2 decision at No. 5 Valley on Monday. They posted a 6-4 victory at Ankeny on May 28.