By Brian Gosset
After coming up short 2-1 against Klein on Thursday, the Burleson Centennial Spartans bounced back to win three in a row at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in College Station.
Centennial beat Tomball 8-3 on Thursday and then came back Friday to beat Henderson 2-0 and defending SPC champ Houston Episcopal 3-2. They led Tomball 4-0 through four innings before pouring on four more runs in the fifth.
Lexie Arthur (Texas Woman’s) drove in two with single to center in the first inning. Ava Ellis (Lamar) and Kalie Randall singled to left and the lead grew to 4-0 in the second.
In the fifth, Kendall Cottongame drew an RBI walk and Gabby Saavedra single to right that resulted in a two-run error on Tomball.
Pitcher Brooke Mayner allowed four hits and struck out five. Ellis tossed a four-hit shutout against Henderson to start off Friday. Mackenzie McKeon hit an RBI single in the fourth and Arthur added a solo home run to center in the sixth.
The Spartans rallied back against Episcopal after trailing 2-0 entering the fifth inning. They tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double from Ellis and RBI single from Arthur. Centennial walked it off in the sixth with a single to center from Randall that scored Saavedra.
Cottongame got the win, allowing six hits.
Centennial opened the season on Monday 5-3 over Midlothian Heritage.
