Softball season in Iowa is difficult, the 40-game regular season through the hot summer months drains teams, but the Ankeny Hawkettes are putting in the extra work. Lead by first year head coach Sarah Saladino, the Hawkettes are currently 8-11 on the season. Saladino is in her first season in charge of the Hawkettes program after serving as an assistant since 2019.

“It’s hard to stay mentally focused and physically focused in the summer” shared Saladino “everybody wants that opportunity to kind of just relax but I’m just really proud of them showing up and putting in the work and the time and I told them in the offseason it’s the hard work but it’s the right work.”

Senior pitcher Aubrey Lensmeyer understands that this commitment isn’t for everyone, but it can really pay off in the long run.

“Your whole summer revolves around softball which is great, but also a very big commitment and you’re going to miss out on a lot of things so that can make it really hard for some people,” said Lensmeyer.

The hours of labor can seem fruitless at times, but for Lensmeyer that is not the case. Lensmeyer will continue her softball career in the dreamscape of Division 1 softball when she takes the field for the University of South Dakota Coyotes.

This commitment is also far from foreign for senior pitcher and infielder Kaylyn Miller who will also continue her softball career past Ankeny High School next year when she takes the field for the Coe College Kohawks in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

“You are spending a lot of time and a lot of your summer playing softball and being with the team so that in itself is already just a huge commitment,” said Miller

Balancing the commitment with the team atmosphere is important during a long season like softball, and a team motto is a way the Hawkettes keep the composure. The responsibility of finding that motto fell to the graduating class of 2025.

“All effort no excuses” shared Lensmeyer

“To us, it just kind of means you want to leave everything on the field, you know you don’t want to have any regrets, even if you miss a ball, or you make an error, at least you’re putting all your effort in there,” Lensmeyer said.

Coach Saladino also wants the team to embrace the pressure as they continue their season.

“Pressure is a privilege, we embrace the opportunity to have pressure, we’re comfortable with pressure. We also have been talking a lot about just trusting the process, going into the new role and having to do things that we’re doing with the program” explained Saladino.

Saladino has been able to bring a new coaching style and perspective to the Hawkette program after previous head coach David Bingham left after 12 seasons.

“We’ve been super fundamental heavy just working on the basement of all of our skills, infield, outfield, at the plate,” said Saladino.

By focusing on the fundamentals, Saladino is willing to coach her team in a variety of ways to ensure they can continue to grow.

“I think she just has a lot more ways to try and get us to understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how to do it and then that’s allowing more of us to actually be able to grasp the concept and apply it,” said Miller.

Saladino has also helped the team focus on their physical and mental health, ensuring that her team is at their best on and off the field.

“I just think the flexibility and the positiveness, and just she genuinely cares about us being good humans and it’s not all just about being a better softball player, which obviously that’s a big goal, but she also wants us to be kind, respectful, and just overall good human beings,” said Lensmeyer.

Saladino hopes she is coaching the team to be fearless and inimitable in whatever they do, from rounding the bases on a run batted in (RBI) double, to walking into a board meeting, Saladino wants to create strong women who know how to tackle tough situations.

The Hawkettes have already been able to collect a few big wins this season, most notably with a sweep over Waukee in just the second and third games of the season as well as a 3-1 record at the Creston tournament with wins over 4A #5 Dallas-Center Grimes (DCG) and the host, 4A #11 Creston.

“We were down 5-0 in the first inning of DCG and we could’ve easily just rolled over but we didn’t and I think we were down with Creston too, but I just think it goes to show no matter what we’re going through we have that opportunity to be able to show that grittiness and kind of to bounce back,” said Saladino.

Winning big games against ranked teams early in the season has provided a confidence boost for the Hawkettes, while also allowing them to start to develop a groove quickly.

“I think a big accomplishment was being able to sweep Waukee, that was very early on in the season and that was like our second or third game and at the beginning of the season it can be hard to get a good flow going and there’s no set lineup, you’re still changing some things, trying to work through a grove so I think being able to get that sweep was huge and I think it set us off on the right foot and showed us what we can accomplish as a team,” said Lensmeyer.

These games are able to provide a baseline for Ankeny to know what it takes to win games in a conference as tough as the Central Iowa Metropolitan League (CIML).

“When we swept Waukee that was pretty good, we had a very clean defensive game, which is important, and then that was coming off of the loss to Johnston so just forgetting the tough game from the day before and sweeping Waukee, they are a good team, I think that was a really good game for us,” said Miller

Even in the losses, the Hawkettes have been able to keep it close in many of their matchups.

“I think there was one game all season where we really haven’t been in but I think that’s pretty amazing,” said coach Saladino.

The Hawkettes currently sit at a record of 8-11, and there are still a lot of games to be played.

“We still have another half of the season to go we’re going to just keep improving and getting better and then hopefully be ready for the postseason,” said Miller.

Ankeny continues to try and work out the best possible lineup to allow the Hawkettes to peak at the right time to make a postseason run.

“We’re still trying to work out a lot of different things in our lineup, you can really start to see that things are starting to turn in certain aspects of the game, which is as a coach that’s what you want to see, you don’t want to be early you don’t want to be too late, you want to be right on time when you get to that postseason,” said Saladino.

The team culture has helped hold the Hawkettes together, whether it be fun team meals or buddy gifts before big games.

“We try to do a lot of team bonding, we go to team dinners we have our buddy system which has been super fun and you just get close with one person on the team and you get a bunch of fun little trinkets and gifts and stuff so I think that’s contributed greatly to the team atmosphere and just the culture we’re trying to build,” Lensmeyer explained.

The Hawkettes have also played a very young roster, but senior leaders like Lensmeyer and Miller have been able to help guide the team in the right direction.

“I think the older girls are doing a great job of just what they want out of their team, the expectation and that leadership whether it’s a loud leader vocally or if it’s just a leader by doing, you can really tell that they are trying to help those younger kids and give them the tools that they need so when they fall into that role they’re ready to go,” said Saladino.

The future for the Hawkettes is bright, with a pair of eighth graders and 5 freshman starting games for Ankeny this season.

“I think it’s been a good balance and it also makes me really happy for the future of the Hawkettes because we are so young, so hopefully we keep growing,” said Lensmeyer.