Lady Spartans ride huge second inning to Regional Quarterfinal victory
Centennial scores six in second, beats Colleyville-Heritage 9-1 behind another Lindemuth complete game
SAGINAW – The Centennial Lady Spartans scored six runs in the second inning and never looked back as they beat the Colleyville-Heritage Lady Panthers 9-1 in the Regional Quarterfinal Thursday at Saginaw High School.
Watch the Lady Spartans get their final out and celebrate their victory:
Senior starting-pitcher Lindemuth pitched a complete game (her fourth of the playoffs) — surrendering one earned run off three hits and two walks and striking out six batters — and went 1-for-2 with two walks at the plate in the win.
After taking a 3-1 lead in the top of the first, the Lady Spartans ran away with it in the second inning, scoring six runs — three on junior catcher Madelyn Hickey’s bases-clearing triple — to increase their lead to 9-1.
Hickey went 2-for-3 with a walk and the three-run triple.
Lindemuth scored Centennial’s first run on junior shortstop Madison Haynes’s double to deep left, tying the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning after Colleyville-Heritage scored the game’s first run in the top of the inning.
Haynes went 3-for-4 with the RBI double and two runs scored.
The Lady Spartans took a 3-1 lead on sophomore second-baseman Lexie Arthur’s two-run double in the bottom of the first.
Arthur went 2-for-4 with the two RBIs.
Freshman designated-player Ava Ellis (1-for-3) hit a two-run double to increase the Lady Spartans’ lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the second after junior first-baseman Ryanne Stephens was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Lindemuth advanced her to second on a single up the middle.
Following singles from Haynes and senior third-baseman Hannah McCurry, Hickey hit a bases-clearing triple to right to increase the lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the second.
McCurry went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Courtesy running for Hickey, Carly Reed scored on junior right-fielder Rylee Brown’s sacrifice bunt to increase the lead to 9-1 in the second.
Lady Spartans head coach Natalie Mullin said the team is taking it one game at a time after winning the Regional Quarterfinal. She said the team’s love for each other and for the game has led to their success.
“This is a team that — they don’t care about prom, they don’t care about graduation,” Mullin said. “They want to come out here and play, and they want to win, and they’re going to do whatever they can take.”
Mullin called the team “gritty” and said she had “no doubt” they’d win even after giving up the first run in the first inning.
The Lady Spartans move on to face the winner of the Wylie Lady Pirates and the Abilene Lady Eagles in the Regional Semifinal next week.