The Ankeny Centennial softball team just keeps rolling along.
The second-ranked Jaguars completed a sweep of their season series against Johnston with an 11-0 road victory in five innings on Thursday. They swept the three meetings against the Dragons by a combined margin of 29-2 with all of the games ending via the mercy rule.
“We came out and hit the ball early against a good Johnston team,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “We were also very fortunate to have a good pitching performance out of Peyten Spiegel, Lauren Sandholm and Ashley Sterling.”
The three hurlers combined on a no-hitter. Spiegel (8-0) earned the win by recording three strikeouts over the first three innings.
Centennial took a 5-0 lead in the second inning, then added three runs in the third, one in the fourth and two more in the fifth. The Jaguars pounded out 10 hits off two Johnston pitchers–five of them for extra bases.
Kori Lincicum hit a three-run homer, her eighth of the season. Emmy Ott went 2-for-2 with a homer, her third of the year, and had two RBIs.
Centennial now leads the state with 53 homers, just eight shy of the all-time record. Eleven different players have contributed to that total.
“It can be somebody different every night,” Delaney said. “The girls are coming to the field every day and working on all the little things during batting practice, and they’re taking advantage of all that work during the games.”
Mylie Hatfield went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two runs scored as the Jaguars snapped Johnston’s five-game winning streak. Bradlynn Virchow added an RBI double.
Centennial extended its winning streak to 14 games while maintaining sole possession of first place in the CIML Conference. The Jaguars are now 13-1 in the league and 21-1 overall, while Johnston’s records dropped to 4-9 and 9-11.
Centennial will compete in the Fort Dodge Invitational this weekend. The Jaguars will open up against Martensdale-St. Marys (8-6), the No. 15 team in Class 1A, on Friday at 9 a.m.
“Some of the top 5A, 4A and 3A teams will be there,” Delaney said. “It’s a loaded field.”