NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Simon Pagenaud’S worst-to-first run capped a wild opening night to IndyCar’s doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. The former series champion, who was unable to qualify because of a fuel pressure issue, managed to stretch his tires and take advantage of a unique pit strategy — and a little bit of luck — to get to the lead. Pagenaud then held off series leader Scott Dixon through the final laps Friday night to end Chip Ganassi Racing’s four-race winning streak.

Pagenaud went from 23rd to first, but Dixon was just as impressive. He started 17th before finishing second. Pagenaud won for the 15th time in the series, and first since Toronto last season. The 36-year-old Frenchman gave Team Penske its third Iowa win in four races.

Two mid-race wrecks set the stage for the conclusion — and drove home the value of IndyCar’s new aeroscreen. The first occurred when Will Power’s left front wheel came off his car, sending him into the wall and the tire bounding within feet of his head. The second occurred on the aborted restart, when Colton Herta’s car catapulted over Rinus VeeKay, missing the rookie’s head by inches but destroying the new safety device added by IndyCar this season.

Playoff baseball continues with District Finals in Class 1A and 2A on Saturday. Here are the area match-ups.

CLASS 1A

District 11: Southeast Warren @ Martensdale-St. Marys
District 12: Mount Ayr @ Central Decatur
District 13: Bedford @ CAM – ON KJAN
District 14: Sidney @ St. Albert
District 15: Logan-Magnolia @ Boyer Valley
District 16: Hinton @ Kingsley-Pierson

CLASS 2A

District 14: Panorama @ Woodward-Granger
District 15: Clarinda vs. Treynor (@ Tri-Center)
District 16: Missouri Valley vs. Kuemper Catholic (@ Underwood)

Playoff softball is on tap for Class 4A and 5A schools on Saturday with Regional Semifinals. Here is a look at the area contests. All games will start at 7:00 p.m.

CLASS 4A

Region 1

LeMars @ Spencer
Sergeant Bluff-Luton @ Carroll

Region 3

Norwalk @ ADM
Newton @ Winterset

Region 4

Knoxville @ Carlisle
Lewis Central @ Harlan

CLASS 5A

Region 2

CB Abraham Lincoln @ Johnston
Cedar Rapids Jefferson @ Bettendorf

CLASS 3A

Substate 8

Dallas Center-Grimes 15, Greene County 1
Carroll 11, Atlantic 1 (Atlantic finishes the season at 6-10)
Harlan 9, Creston 2
Denison-Schleswig 11, Glenwood 0

Substate 7

Perry @ Ballard
Bondurant-Farrar 6, Saydel 5
ADM 11, Newton 1
North Polk 11, Nevada 0

Substate 6

Knoxville @ Winterset (Knoxville unable to play, forfeit)
Centerville 10, Pella 3
Norwalk 1, Carlisle 0
Grinnell 4, Oskaloosa 3

CLASS 4A

Substate 8

Des Moines North @ CB Thomas Jefferson (CB Thomas Jefferson unable to play, forfeit)
CB Abraham Lincoln 7, Lewis Central 4

CLASS 3A

Region 2

Humboldt 10, Greene County 0
MOC-Floyd Valley 11, OABCIG 1

Region 3

Creston 4, North Polk 3
Atlantic 13, Red Oak 3 (6 innings) – ON KJAN

CLASS 2A

Region 1

West Monona 11, St. Albert 1
Underwood 4, Logan-Magnolia 2

Region 2

Mount Ayr 5, Woodward-Granger 1
Earlham 8, Van Meter 2

CLASS 1A

Region 2

Newell-Fonda 8, Audubon 1
Exira-EHK 6, West Harrison 2

Region 3

Wayne 10, Lenox 0
Twin Cedars 6, Central Decatur 2

Region 5

Collins-Maxwell 12, Southeast Warren 0
Martensdale-St. Marys 7, Grand View Christian 4

Photo Atlantic Softball Twitter

The Atlantic Trojans softball team is one step away from a trip to Fort Dodge after a 13-3 win over Red Oak in 6 innings on Friday night in Atlantic. The Trojans got down in an early 1-0 hole through the first inning but a huge 10-run effort in the 2nd put the Trojans in control the rest of the way.

Lexi Johnson ripped a triple for the Tigers in the first and Chloe Johnson brought her home with a sac grounder to give Red Oak the early lead.  Atlantic loaded the bases up in the bottom half of the inning with 1 out but couldn’t bring anyone home. The Tigers went 3 up, 3 down in the second and then the Trojans started an avalanche in the bottom of the frame. Lauren Nicholas lead off the frame with a walk, one of what would become 7 free bases in the inning. Emma Bierbaum struggled to find the strikezone and was eventually pulled for a portion of the game in favor eighth-grader Josie McCunn. Maleana Woodward highlighted the inning with a 2 RBI double and the Trojans racked up 10 runs on 4 hits with 2 errors and 2 left on base.

Atlantic would add one more run in the 3rd to put the 10-run rule possibly into play but the Tigers extended the game with a run in the 4th. Both teams scored 1 in the 5th with Atlantic squandering chances on a couple of different occasions to bring the winning run home. The Trojans were able to seal the game in the 6th on an RBI single by Caroline Pellett. Atlantic Head Coach Terry Hinzmann liked the overall effort but said there was some things to clean up.

Olivia Engler only gave up 4 hits on the night and struck out 7. She also racked up 3 hits and drew 2 walks on the night. Engler said patience at the plate has been a big focal point in practice.

Atlantic improved to 17-1 on the season and advances to the Class 3A Region 3 Final on Monday night. The Trojans will face the Creston Panthers who picked up a big road win over North Polk 4-3 on Friday. With that result the Trojans will get to host on Monday night with a trip to State on the line. Coach Hinzmann reflected on the team reaching an opportunity they had their sights set on.

Engler said Creston will be a tough opponent on Monday night.

We’ll have that Atlantic vs. Creston game on KJAN with pregame at 6:45 p.m. and first pitch at 7:00 p.m.