FORT WORTH – Texas Tech signee Bailey Lindemuth threw a complete game and Burleson Centennial outlasted Azle 9-2 in Game 3 of their Class 5A Region 1 area round series on Friday at Chisholm Trail HS. The Spartans won Game 1 (10-0) and lost Game 2 (1-0). They will face Colleyville Heritage in a one-game regional quarterfinal at 6:30 pm Thursday from Saginaw HS.
“After Game 2, we went back to the drawing board and I think sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and try to hit the long ball. We talked about failing forward – we’re going to have failure and face adversity, but failure is feedback so wins or losses we can take something good and find opportunity,” said Centennial coach Natalie Kirkpatrick, who’s in her first year as head coach.
Centennial got to Azle starter Adrianna Wiedeman in the top of the first inning and drew an RBI walk for a 1-0 lead, but would leave the bases loaded. Lindemuth fielded a couple of grounders back to the circle to get out of the bottom of the inning.
Ava Ellis and Madison Haynes hit back-to-back RBI singles in the second and lead was 3-0. The Hornets loaded the bases with two outs before another soft grounder back to Lindemuth ended the threat.
The lead grew to 5-0 with two runs in the third off RBI singles by Ryanne Stephens and Liv Martin. Martin was the hero in the regular season finale over Midlothian. She hit a walk off home run for the 4-3 win that helped the team to the District 8-5A championship and #1 playoff seed.
“I feel like the more we’d see Wiedeman, the more they were going to read that pitch,” Kirkpatrick said. “Really it was that change up and as soon as they read it, we were good to go. Our focus was taking pitches. We kept patient, grounded and relaxed.”
Centennial beat Richland in bi-district while Azle threw two no-hitters vs FW Arlington Heights.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Azle was able to score two that cut the deficit to 5-2. Kaylee Parrish (Hardin-Simmons) hit a soft grounder to short for an infield single. On the play, a run came cross and a second scored following a bad throw to third.
The Spartans added a run to make it 6-2 after six.
Stephens drove in a second run and both Stephens and Lindemuth scored on an Azle error to give Centennial a seven-run lead. Lindemuth got the strikeout to end the sixth and seventh innings to clinch a spot in the regional quarterfinals. Lindemuth walked four times and scored three times. From the circle, she allowed one earned run on six hits, walked three and struck out six.
“We came out with a different approach. We were more selective,” said Lindemuth about the Game 3 adjustment. “We looked back at it and realized what we needed to fix.”
She also struck out three with no hits in two innings during Game 2. Wiedeman was the star on Thursday with a four-hit shutout to help force the decisive game. Ellis, Haynes, Hannah McCurry and MK Hickey combined for 12 hits and nine runs batted in during Game 1 on Wednesday.
Lindemuth threw a two-hit shutout and struck out four in six innings.
Centennial improved to 27-7 this season.
Heritage swept Brewer to advance.
