The Ankeny Centennial softball team entered Thursday’s showdown against visiting Waukee Northwest as one of the hottest squads in the state.
Unfortunately, the Jaguars’ opponent came into the morning contest even hotter.
Top-ranked Northwest extended its winning streak to 18 games with a convincing 8-0 victory over No. 4 Centennial, which lost for the first time in its last seven outings.
“That’s a good squad,” Centennial coach Brett Delaney said of the Wolves. “But we’ve got a really good squad too, and I hope we get the opportunity to play them again in the postseason.”
The win allowed Northwest to build a game and a half lead in the CIML Conference. The Wolves improved to 15-2 in the league and 25-3 overall, while Centennial’s records fell to 14-4 and 22-8.
The two teams had split a doubleheader at Northwest on June 5. Sophia Schlader tossed a two-hitter and had nine strikeouts in the Wolves’ 4-0 win three weeks ago, and the freshman threw another shutout on Thursday.
Schlader retired the first 10 batters she faced before Ava Faber fouled off several pitches and then hit a one-out single to left field in the fourth inning to break up the perfect game. Schlader went on to finish with a three-hitter and seven strikeouts.
“You’ve got to tip your cap to them,” Delaney said. “They turned around and played this early game, and we had to come off a tough mental game (against Ankeny) the night before. I was proud of how our girls responded today.”
Northwest took the lead in the third inning when Laurel Richards hit a two-run single to right field with two outs. Hazel Leinen then hit an RBI single in the fourth off Peyten Spiegel (6-2).
Delaney brought in reliever Aubrey Scieszinski in the fifth inning, but the Wolves continued to add to their lead. Aunya Van Zetten hit an RBI single in the fifth and then came home on a hit by Richards to make it 5-0.
The Wolves tacked on three more runs in the seventh. Alayna Schulte went 3-for-3, scored a run and drove in another, while Leinen added a pair of hits and two RBIs.
Centennial also committed five errors.
“It was not the cleanest game that we’ve had,” Delaney said. “That’s something that we’ve got to clean up mentally, but I don’t know that we’ve practiced in the last two weeks. Hopefully, we can find some time to work on a few routine things. It was uncharacteristic of us to have that many errors today.”
The Jaguars will complete a suspended conference game against Urbandale on Friday before making up another game at No. 6 Southeast Polk on Saturday.
