(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
One of the scariest things about the Ankeny Centennial softball team is that the Jaguars aren’t just returning plenty of high-end talent from a year ago.
It’s that they have a loaded roster from top to bottom.
The second-ranked Jaguars got key contributions from several different players during their first CIML Conference doubleheader sweep of the season on Thursday, when they rolled to a pair of run-rule victories over No. 11 Johnston on their home field.
Centennial posted an 8-0 win in five innings in the first game. The Jaguars then completed the sweep with a 10-2 victory in six innings.
“We’ve had a lot of talented kids go through here, but 1 through 24 in that dugout right now could be on the field and competing in the CIML,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “We have no hesitation putting anybody into a pinch-hitting, defensive role or whatever we need.”
Centennial’s pitching rotation received a major boost this season with the return of Mississippi State commit Lauren Sandholm and the addition of South Dakota State recruit Mylie Hatfield.
Combined with returners in senior Kori Lincicum and sophomore Peyten Spiegel, the Jaguars feel they have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the state.
Hatfield and Spiegel both had impressive performances in their first starts of the season on the mound Thursday. In the opener, Hatfield allowed just four hits and had five strikeouts in her shutout of the Dragons, which marked the third straight game to open the year where Centennial didn’t surrender a run.
“Between those four (pitchers), it has to rival some of the best in the state,” Delaney said. “Just to be able to go to any of them, we’ve gotten three or four complete games already. That’s not to be expected, especially in a CIML doubleheader like this. I know they’re all ready to go, and the depth is unprecedented right now.”
Spiegel then got the start in the second game and picked up where she left off as a freshman, when she posted an 11-2 record with 70 strikeouts and a 3.62 ERA.
Despite the Dragons plating two runs in the third inning–one of which was unearned– the Jaguars liked what they saw from Spiegel.
She allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out 10 of the 18 batters that she retired in the six-inning contest.
“The best thing I love about (Spiegel) is her enthusiasm out there,” Delaney said. “Whether things are going perfectly fine like they were tonight or other opportunities, she just has her teammates’ backs and I love that extra little fire she adds out there.”
While the pitchers dominated, Centennial also had plenty of reliable bats to match.
The Jaguars pounded out 19 hits in the doubleheader, including 14 in the second game. They got several big hits from some of their heavy hitters while also getting some clutch hits when turning to the bench.
Jordyn Kennedy hit an RBI single to ignite a four-run first inning in the opener. Hatfield followed with an RBI double, and Lauren Bartine singled to knock in another run.
Lincicum blasted a two-run homer in the second to make it 6-0. It was her second home run in two nights after hitting a grand slam against Waukee on Wednesday.
A sacrifice fly from Sandholm and an RBI single from Delaney Wyble in the third produced the final margin.
“We have so much talent on this team and even the non-starters could be starting for any other school,” said senior outfielder Mady Ott, who walked off the second game with an RBI double. “There’s just so much depth and so much talent.”
Kennedy and Ava Faber stepped up for the Jaguars in the second game.
Kennedy blasted a home run in the first inning to give Centennial an early lead before the Dragons took a 2-1 advantage in the third. However, the Jaguars didn’t trail for long.
Faber tied the game in the bottom of the frame with her first homer of the season. Kennedy then went back-to-back with another blast, her third of the year.
Faber later extended the lead with an RBI double in the fourth.
Delaney turned to some pinch-hitters to give his team an extra spark in the fifth inning, and it ended up busting the game wide open.
Gracie Anderson hit an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-2, Lydia Lacey followed with a single to right, and Wyble then smashed a three-run homer–her first of the season. Layla Burnett later scored as a pinch-runner off an error to give the Jaguars a 9-2 lead.
A walk to Kennedy lined up Ott to hammer an RBI double to walk things off in the sixth. Ott went 4-for-4 in the win.
“I just really had to wait, make sure I was battling, finding my pitch and just trying to stay middle of the ball,” Ott said.
Centennial sits atop the conference at 3-0 and is now 4-0 overall. The Dragons fell to 0-3 in the league and overall.
Centennial will host another conference game against Ankeny (2-3) on Monday. The crosstown rivalry will be followed by huge CIML doubleheaders at No. 4 Southeast Polk on Wednesday and against No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Thursday.
“It’s a long journey ahead of us,” Delaney said. “We’ve still got a bunch of regular season games to go to work on some small things.”
