Iron softball routed Champaign Centennial 17-2 in four innings Thursday, giving Community back-to-back wins for the first time since early April and improving the Iron to 6-8 overall, 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference.

Centennial struck first with two runs in the top of the opening inning, but Community answered with four in the bottom half and never looked back.

Five more runs in the second made it 9-2, one in the third and a seven-run fourth triggered the run rule.

Sophomore Avery Head led the offense, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a double while junior Bailey Engel went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a pair of doubles.

Freshman Preslee Tongate was 1-for-1 with an RBI in a pinch-hit appearance, and Emerson Winn went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a double.

As a team, Community collected 10 hits and forced four Centennial errors while committing just one of its own.

Senior Grace Garthaus earned the win in the circle, tossing a four-inning complete game and allowing two runs on two hits. She lowered her season ERA to 3.10.

The win was Community’s second straight after Tuesday’s wild 13-12 comeback at Mt. Zion snapped a four-game losing streak.

In that game, the Iron trailed 10-2 through four innings before erupting for eight runs in the fifth and scoring twice in the seventh.

Winn went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a double in the comeback, while Head and Tongate each homered.

Through 14 games, Head leads the team with a .444 batting average, a .778 slugging percentage and 15 RBIs. Engel paces the Iron in runs (13), hits (17) and doubles (7) while batting .436 with a .540 on-base percentage.

Community looks to get above .500 over a busy weekend, hosting 1-11 Streator at 4:30 p.m. before traveling to tournament play Saturday to facing 6-5 Plainfield North and 9-5 Ottawa in traveling to tournament play.