Both Ankeny Teams Open Playoffs Friday

Two Ankeny baseball teams start their playoff runs Friday night — and the Hawks may be doing it just after their last-ever game on home dirt. Both open Class 4A substate play Friday, the Jaguars at home and the Hawks on the road, with three straight wins standing between them and a state-tournament ticket. Let's roll. 🚲

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Postseason baseball arrives this weekend, and both of Ankeny's big schools are in it. The Class 4A substate quarterfinals land Friday, and the Jaguars and Hawks are headed in opposite directions.

Ankeny Centennial hosts Dallas Center-Grimes at home — a rematch of a May 21 meeting the Jaguars won 5-4 at DC-G. Win Friday and Centennial keeps playing.

Ankeny draws Des Moines Roosevelt in its quarterfinal, with the game set for Dowling Catholic. The Hawks limp in on paper, but they closed the regular season Tuesday with a 10-9 walk-off over Southeast Polk — in what's likely the final game ever on their home dirt infield, which is being torn out for artificial turf this summer. Playoff baseball has a way of erasing records.

The math is simple from here: win, and the season rolls on into next week's substate rounds; lose, and it's over. Three straight wins punches a ticket to the state tournament.

📍 Source: Ankeny Fanatic — Jaguars' baseball schedule | Hawks' baseball schedule | Hawks' final game on the dirt infield

The big schools aren't the only ones playing into July. Ankeny Christian Academy is on a tear in Class 1A. The Eagles' softball team opened the postseason Wednesday with a 7-0 shutout of North Tama in a regional quarterfinal at North Polk Middle School — extending a winning streak that now stretches past 10 games. On the baseball side, ACA survived Madrid 8-7 in a district semifinal Tuesday, holding on through a three-run seventh to punch a ticket to the district final. Two Eagles programs, both alive and climbing.

📍 Source: Ankeny Fanatic — Eagles blank North Tama | Eagles survive Madrid

Ankeny High is heading into fall with two coaching openings. Boys' soccer coach Trevor Fuccio has resigned after three seasons and a 28-27-3 record that included two state-tournament berths, saying he's stepping back to focus on other responsibilities. Days earlier, boys' tennis coach Ron Miller announced his retirement after six seasons leading the Hawks. Two respected programs will be breaking in new leadership when their seasons come back around.

📍 Source: Ankeny Fanatic — Fuccio resigns as soccer coach | Miller retires after 6 seasons

A damp Thursday gives way to a genuinely great festival weekend — the timing couldn't be better for SummerFest.

Reminder: outdoor watering stays on the Stage 2 even/odd schedule — water only on the days matching your address, never between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and not at all on Mondays.

📍 Source: NWS Des Moines forecast for Ankeny

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Tonight (Thursday, July 9):

SummerFest — "Jingle in July," Friday–Sunday at The District (1500 SW Main St.):

📍 Source: Ankeny Area Chamber — SummerFest Grand Parade

The pitch is right there in the name: you don't go to the shop — the shop comes to you. Matt's Mobile Oil Service is a mobile mechanic run by Matt Coffman, who drives to your home, your workplace, or wherever your car happens to be and does the work on-site.

And it's not just oil changes. Coffman handles brakes, wheel bearings and, as he puts it, "just about anything" — the routine and mid-level repairs that normally mean dropping the car off and scrambling for a ride. Skip all of it: no waiting room, no loaner-car shuffle, no half-day off work while your car sits at a garage. Based just north of Ankeny in Huxley, he brings the shop to your driveway.

The basics:

📍 Source: Matt's Mobile Oil Service on Facebook

Ankeny's summer sports calendar peaks this weekend: four local baseball and softball teams across three schools are still playing into the postseason, with the Hawks and Jaguars both opening 4A play Friday. Sunny skies for SummerFest are the bonus.

Friday: weekend events + the restaurant we've been saving.

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