FORT DODGE — Add another state title to Waukee Northwest’s tally.
The Wolves (40-4) entered the Iowa high school softball state tournament as the No. 1 seed, and they finished the week on top, defeating No. 2 Ankeny Centennial, 3-1, on Friday, July 24, for the Class 5A state title.
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“I’m just proud of the girls,” said Wolves’ coach Carrie Eby. “They’ve worked hard all offseason, and it’s just fun to see them come through at the end. I knew it was going to be a battle all the way through. Centennial is a strong-hitting team, but our girls were ready to go from the beginning.”
Ankeny Centennial (41-4) and Waukee Northwest met three times during the regular season; the Wolves came out on top twice, and the Jaguars edged out Northwest by two runs in their final matchup of the regular season.
They’d been on a collision course to the state championship game ever since, and it didn’t come as a surprise when these two teams went blow-for-blow in the title matchup.
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The Jaguars were the first team on the scoreboard. Kori Lincicum – Centennial’s leadoff hitter – was walked in her first at-bat, and a sacrifice bunt from Ava Faber moved Lincicum to second base. Jordyn Kennedy stepped up to the plate, and a well-placed single – between the center and right fielders – allowed Lincicum to score the first run of the night.
Northwest went three-up-three-down in the bottom of the first, and the Wolves didn’t score in the second either, but Wolves star pitcher Sophia Schlader wasted no time sending Centennial’s next six batters back to the dugout.
In the bottom of the third, Northwest evened the score.
Maggie Allen was walked, and a sacrifice bunt from Shay Davis advanced her teammate to second base. Shortly after, Alayna Schulte drilled a base hit that drove in the game-tying run.
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The scoring stopped in the fourth and fifth innings, and while Centennial put two runners on base in the top of the sixth, the Jaguars couldn’t get the go-ahead run across.
With both teams knotted at one run each, Northwest’s Schulte stepped up to home plate and hit a single. She stole second during the next at-bat, and then it was time for Hazel Leinen to hit. The junior third baseman – with only one home run on the season coming into Friday night – knocked the ball over the fence and into the outfield stands – sending herself and Schulte home, and giving the Wolves their first lead of the game at 3-1.
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“It just felt so good off the bat,” Leinen said. “I wasn’t even thinking about hitting it over the fence. I was just trying to do something good for the team, just try and move the runners, try and do something. I wasn’t even thinking about hitting a home run.
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“I didn’t even know I had that in me. I just went and hit the ball, and it felt so good.”
Schlader pitched all seven innings for Northwest, allowing two hits and one run while striking out nine batters. Lauren Sandholm pitched nearly six innings for Centennial, allowing five hits and three runs while striking out four. Peyten Spiegel recorded one strikeout and allowed one hit through two-thirds of an inning for the Jaguars.
By claiming the softball state title on Friday night, Waukee Northwest athletics closes a chapter in a very successful 2025-26 academic year. The girls won state titles in seven different sports: cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.
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And Friday’s win over Ankeny Centennial marked the Wolves’ second-straight title in softball – and their third since the school’s opening in 2021.
“It feels amazing,” Leinen said about bringing another girls title back to Northwest. “All girls sports have been doing amazing…Northwest, we’re just doing it right now.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waukee Northwest beats Ankeny Centennial for Iowa state softball title
