The home run binge finally came to an end, but Ankeny Centennial’s dominance on the softball field continued on Friday with a doubleheader sweep over visiting Iowa City Liberty.
The second-ranked Jaguars swept the non-conference twinbill by scores of 3-0 and 7-1. They raised their overall record to 31-2, while the Lightning dropped to 17-13.
The matchup was a potential preview of a Class 5A regional final. The two teams could meet again on July 14 at Centennial with a trip to the state tournament at stake.
“Liberty’s got a couple of good pitchers, and they’re a quality team,” said Centennial coach Brett Delaney. “This gave us an opportunity to see somebody new because we had never played them before, so it was a good learning experience for us.”
In the nightcap, Centennial was held without a home run for the first time since June 12, when the Jaguars went homerless during a 5-1 win at No. 14 Cedar Falls in the first game of a doubleheader. Since then, Delaney’s team had belted 38 home runs over the next 17 games, allowing Centennial to surpass the all-time single-season record of 61 in the process.
Jordyn Kennedy hit a solo blast in the opener for her team-leading 17th homer of the season, the 66th of her career and the Jaguars’ 73rd overall in 2026. She ranks third in the entire state in home runs and is tied for second in RBIs with 56.
Kennedy is also now just five homers shy of Kendyl Lindaman’s all-time record of 71. Lindaman is a former Ankeny and Centennial star.
Mady Ott went 1-for-1 with a double and two walks in the win. Ava Faber also doubled and drove in a run, while Cami Starr added an RBI single.
Centennial had just seven hits off Liberty pitcher Ellie Tague, but that was more than enough with Peyten Spiegel in the circle. Spiegel (14-0) allowed just two hits, walked one and recorded seven strikeouts in a 79-pitch shutout.
The sophomore lowered her ERA to 0.84, which ranks third in Class 5A and sixth in the state.
“Peyten put in a lot of work in the offseason,” Delaney said. “She had a good freshman campaign, and we expected big things out of her. I don’t know if we expected this much out of her, but she’s proven she can handle the duties. She pitched really well, and I thought Mylie (Hatfield) did, too.”
Hatfield (5-2) earned the victory in the second game. She combined with Lyla Hoeppner on a three-hitter.
The Jaguars pounded out off 12 hits off Liberty’s Emily Cronk, but only two of them went for extra bases. Kennedy and Ava Faber each went 3-for-4 with a double and combined to score three runs.
Ott also went 3-for-4 and knocked in two runs. She leads the team with a .558 average, which ranks sixth in Class 5A.
Mackenzie Lane added a two-run single for Centennial. She has a hit in both of her at-bats this season.
“We were coming off a grind of a last three weeks, and the girls were able to muster up two last games before we get a little bit of a break,” Delaney said. “I thought we played well, and we found a way to get everybody on the field in some way.”
The Jaguars will now have a few days off before hosting a CIML Conference game on Wednesday against No. 7 Dowling Catholic, which is 7-11 in the league and 15-12 overall. They swept a doubleheader at Dowling on June 8.