Jordyn Kennedy and the Ankeny Centennial softball team enjoyed a prolific day on Thursday.
Kennedy blasted four home runs and set the school’s single-season record as the third-ranked Jaguars won a pair of games at the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational before returning home to post an 8-6 victory over No. 4 Valley in a make-up CIML Conference game.
“We knew Thursday was going to be a challenging day both physically and mentally,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney, whose team improved to 28-9 on the season. “What the girls did made the day pretty fun! Over the course of the day, it took all 21 players contributing in some way to come out with three quality wins.”
Centennial opened the Dallas Center-Grimes tournament with a 12-0 win over Indianola in four innings, then followed with an 8-0 triumph over No. 15 Des Moines Roosevelt in six innings. Kennedy went 2-for-4 with two homers and five RBIs in the win over the Roughriders (23-11).
Kennedy hit a two-run blast in the first inning for her 16th homer of the season. That allowed her to break the single-season record of 15 that was previously set by Kendyl Lindaman in 2016.
“This one came as a surprise,” said Kennedy, who had surpassed Lindaman’s career home run mark earlier in the season. “I had no idea.”
Mady Ott had a solo home run for the Jaguars. Ava Faber doubled and drove in two runs.
Peyten Spiegel was the winning pitcher. She combined with Kori Lincicum and Ashley Sterling on a one-hitter.
Ott also homered and knocked in three runs against Indianola (18-13). Kennedy went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.
Aubrey Scieszinski tossed a two-hitter and had two strikeouts. She raised her record to 12-3.
Later that night, Centennial completed a sweep of the season series against Valley. The Jaguars had earlier swept a doubleheader at Valley on June 12.
After the Tigers rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to take a 6-5 lead, Centennial tied it at 6-6 in the fifth inning on a home run by Kennedy–her second of the game. Ott and Makenna Foster then followed with two more blasts to provide the final margin.
“It was a fun day not only for me but others got into the mix of home runs as well,” Kennedy said. “We had a lot of games, and it was really fun overall. I was really proud of our team for battling through a long and hot day and finding a way to get it done!”
Kennedy had a solo homer in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the second. She now has 53 RBIs on the season.
Kennedy ranks second in the entire state with 19 home runs. Valley’s Mackenzie Mohler also homered twice and ranks fourth among all Iowa players with 17.
Ott homered for the fourth straight game to bring her season total to 12. Along with Lincicum, who has 10 home runs, Centennial is the only team in the state that boasts three players with double digits in homers.
“Jordyn and Mady had great days at the plate,” Delaney said. “Our pitchers and catchers were lights out all day!”
Ott also had a double, while Foster went 3-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs. The homer was her first of the season.
Spiegel (8-2) earned the win, racking up six strikeouts over the first five innings. Scieszinski then took over and closed the game with two scoreless innings.
“Going into the third game, I was worried with the heat we battled during the day what energy level we would have left,” Delaney said. “In the second inning, the energy coming out of our dugout gave me chills! That gave us what we needed to finish the day versus a top-five opponent. Jordyn, Mady and Makenna put an exclamation point on the day by hitting those three homers to get us ahead, and Aubrey came in and finished a good pitching performance started by Spiegel.
“I’m very proud of this group heading into the end of the season run,” he added.
The Jaguars are now 17-5 in the conference. Valley dropped to 12-10 in the league and 25-10 overall.
Centennial will travel to Urbandale on Monday for a doubleheader against the J-Hawks, who are 4-16 in the conference. The Jaguars posted a 14-6 win over Urbandale in five innings on June 27.