Yearling Middle School’s Lady Bulls softball team pulled off a comeback against the Oslo Lady Wildcats on April 4, winning 4-2 thanks to some clutch batting in the last inning.

The win improves YMS to a perfect 4-0 in what is their inaugural season.
The Lady Wildcats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Morgan Hancock tied things up for the Lady Bulls when she stole home on a wild pitch by Oslo in the bottom of the first.

The exact same script played out again in the next inning with Oslo scoring another run and going up 2-1. It didn’t take long for Yearling to knot things back up. Arianna Grancedos led the bottom of the second inning off for the Lady Bulls by hitting a blast out into center field that was able to get down for a single. Grancedos then used some aggressive base running to steal second, then third. After another pitch got by the Oslo catcher, Grancedos strolled into home to make the game even at 2-2.

That’s how things remained until the umpire announced that only 15 minutes remained in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Lady Bulls at the plate.

Laci Prescott earned a walk during her at bat followed by Cherylynn Bohannan hitting a high fly ball to left field to put YMS runners on first and second. That set things up for Grancedos to attempt to win the game for the Lady Bulls.

Arianna, or ‘Ari’ as her teammates call her, proceeded to hit a grounder that got past the Oslo defense and was able to bring the two YMS runners home to secure the victory.

YMS coach Kelci Breaux gave Grancedos credit for performing well under pressure.

“Arianna came up big,” said Breaux. “She hasn’t had a lot of playing time for the first few games. She’s been working her tail off in practice so we gave her the opportunity and she capitalized on it. She did an excellent job and really came out and showed us that she wants to be here.”

Arianna was responsible for three of the four YMS runs against Oslo.

Breaux also gave recognition to Laci Prescott who took over pitching duties in the third inning for the Lady Bulls after two innings behind the plate as the catcher.

With this being the first year that Yearling is playing softball, Breaux said she was impressed with how quickly the team came together.

“Everything happened quickly,” Breaux explained. “We waited to hold try-outs until after basketball was over to make things easier. That led to us having practice then immediately jumping into a game. So everything moved fast but it’s been great.”

The Lady Bulls will be on the field again on April 9, facing crosstown rival Osceola Middle School. There’s always just a little but more excitement on the field when these two schools face other, so it promises to be a fun game.
YMS will play OMS for softball bragging rights at 4:30 p.m. on April 9 at Okeechobee High School.