By:  J. Daniel Pearson

St. Cloud scored six times with two outs and senior Addison Felblinger pitched a three-hit shutout to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 7-0 win over Harmony in the 2026 Orange Belt Conference Championship softball game on Monday night at Mike Clark Field.

It was the Bulldogs second straight OBC crown and gave them six of the last 11 championships.

“Really proud of our team.  It’s really hard to beat rivals in back-to-back games and we accomplished that tonight,” St. Cloud head coach Ray Whobrey said as his team was coming off a 6-0 semifinal win over rival Osceola in Friday’s semifinal.  “Emotions can run pretty high in these games we kept our composure and did the little things really well.”

Those little things included using St. Cloud’s team speed to leg out five infield hits in the game.   Four of those runners would come around to score as the Lady Bulldogs also scored six times with two outs.

The first run came in the second, as Shyenne Hawkins delivered a two-out, run-scoring double to plate Jaz Santiago, who opened the inning with a walk.  St. Cloud took a 3-0 lead in the third, again scoring twice with two outs.  Freshman Zhyra De La Cruz had an RBI triple and would later score on Felblinger’s infield hit.

With two outs in the fifth, Jaidah Kelly – another freshman – reached on a single and scored on Madelis Reyes’ RBI triple.  Reyes came around to score on Grace Comiskey’s third hit of the game.

De La Cruz, who finished with a game-high three RBI, capped the scoring with a two-run single in the sixth – again with two outs.  “We have good team speed and it definitely helped us tonight,” Whobrey noted.  “We kept some innings alive with infield hits and then got some key two-out hits.”

While St. Cloud’s offense was cooking, Felblinger was in complete control on the mound.  The senior only gave up three bloop hits, struck out seven, and did not walk a batter.  She retired 13 of the last 14 batters she faced and only gave up two hard-hit balls all game – both which were corralled by centerfielder Comiskey for outs.

“My curve ball was really working for me tonight,” the senior said.  “We had some timely hits and my defense made plays behind me all night.  We came in with a great game plan and were able to execute it.”

In other action Monday night, Osceola defeated Tohopekaliga in the third place OBC game, 7-2, as Tensely Dawson and Samantha Edwards combined for five RBI.

Nine playing days remain in the regular season before district tournaments start April 27.  “We have a really young team and have had a lot of injuries this season,” Whobrey added.  “We’re starting to get healthy and this was probably the most complete game we played this season.  Hopefully it is something we can build off of as we get ready for the post-season.”