-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Mackenzie James of Ankeny Centennial connects for a single against Bettendorf during 5A quarterfinals on Monday at Rogers Park in Fort Dodge

Earlier this year, the Southeast Polk softball team felt the brunt of the offensive explosion that Ankeny Centennial can put on you.

After holding the top-ranked Jaguars at relative bay through the first five innings here Wednesday in a Class 5A semifinal at Rogers Park, the Rams felt it again.

Ankeny Centennial exploded for an eight-run fifth, all with two outs, to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2021 when they placed second to Fort Dodge. The Jaguars (35-5 overall) will meet No. 6 Pleasant Valley (32-9) on Kruger Seeds Field Thursday at 5 p.m.

Freshman Mady Ott credited simple instruction by her coach, Brett Delaney, for the outburst of runs that eventually ended the game.

“The adrenaline and environment of this place just pushed us,” Ott said. “Coach told us to just put the ball on the ground and not try to do too much with it. Once we started doing that, it just got rolling.”

Ott got the Jaguars going, taking advantage of a walk to Jordyn Kennedy to blast a three-run homer in the second. Kennedy would show why she was walked by hitting a solo homer that started the rally in the sixth.

Addi Starr was 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Makenzie James and Kennedy each had two hits, and each of the other six batters had a hit. Sydney Morris drove in two and Payton Drefke, Kennedy and Ott each scored twice.

“Just trust in each other and confidence that we would come through with something big,” Ott said. “We just had to make those adjustments and knew the runs would come.”

Lauren Gustofson allowed just six hits with the one run scoring being unearned, striking out five with two walks.

Winners of the stacked CIML Conference, the Jaguars have not lost since splitting a doubleheader with Southeast Polk. Centennial dropped the first game of that twinbill, 9-8, but rebounded with a 20-4 win in the nightcap, starting an eight-game run.

The Jaguars went 14-2 in league play, as the conference qualified five teams total. All five of their losses this year came to state qualifying teams in Southeast Polk, West Des Moines Valley, Waukee Northwest, Ankeny and 4A’s Carlisle.

Southeast Polk (31-10) will face Muscatine (33-7) in the third place game on Iowa Central Field Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Jesslyn Stairs had two hits for the Rams.

ANKENY CENTENNIAL 11,

SOUTHEAST POLK 1 (5 inn.)

Southeast Polk 010 00 — 1 6 2

Centennial 300 08 — 11 13 1

WP–Lauren Gustofson (5 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). LP–Jayda Long (5 IP, 13 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K).

HR–AC: Mady Ott, Jordyn Kennedy. 2B–AC: Lauren Gustofson, Addi Starr, Jordyn Kennedy, Mariah Belzer, Payton Drefke. RBI–SEP: Aubrey Bacon; AC: Makenzie James, Sydney Morris (2), Jordyn Kennedy, Mady Ott (3), Mariah Belzer, Cora Boyle, Addi Starr, Lauren Gustofson.