There’s nothing like fulfilling a dream, and Central Lady Tigers senior softball player Ayrland Jiles took the first step of doing just that.
Jiles signed a letter of intent with the University of Arkansas at Monticello in a signing ceremony Thursday morning inside the lobby of the Central High School Gym.
“Since I have been little, that’s all I’ve dreamed of (to get to play college softball) to be honest,” Jiles said.
The Central senior said when she visited the UAM campus that it just felt like home.
“It felt like family over there,” Jiles said. “It’s smaller town than Sallisaw. It felt like home.”
“I’m absolutely proud of her,” first-year Central Lady Tigers softball coach Victor Pierce said. “I was just thinking the other day. I came up here last year as an assistant (coach), and my son would have baseball practice for travel ball. We would come up here on Sundays and we’d be driving in. I’d look over at the hitting facility on a Sunday and the door was open. I thought, ‘Who is over there?’ It was her (Jiles) — every Sunday, working on little things. She is the hardest-working kid I’ve ever seen. She works on the smallest things people don’t think about — hitting, the whole all-around game. I am extremely proud of her, and I know she is going to be just fine at the next level — and she’s going to be good.”
Jiles, who was recruited to play center field and third base for UAM, said there’s a good chance she will see a lot of playing time as a freshman for her inaugural college season in the spring of 2026 — after playing a month’s worth of scrimmages next October.
“I have a very good chance to play as a freshman,” she said. “That’s very exciting. I’m excited to play. I’m looking forward to all this.”
“I’m so excited, and I can’t wait to go see what she does,” Pierce said. “As much as we can, we’re going to try to go watch her and just see how much work she puts in from her freshman year to her senior year there (at UAM). Just like she did her, looking at her numbers from her freshman year to her senior year, just seeing how good she was, she’s going to do the same thing there.”
Jiles also believes that by fulfilling her dream to play college softball, she is proving a lot of naysayers wrong.
“I’m very excited,” the Central Lady Tiger senior softball player said. “Everyone is excited. I think there were a lot of people who didn’t think I was going to do it (sign a softball letter of intent), so I’m very excited to prove people wrong.”
Pierce said while Jiles will be gone from the program after graduating in May, her legacy within the program definitely will be present.
“She has done a great job, just the time I’ve been here, to set the tone for the program, to move in the right direction,” he said. “The job she did this year, along with her other senior teammates, has been a springboard for this program moving forward. So, I’m very excited for the groundwork she’s laid.”
Pierce said filling her shoes once Jiles graduates will be hard to do.
“It’s hard to replace somebody like that,” Pierce said. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge. We have some good kids coming up. They’ve got to fill her shoes. Obviously, big shoes to fill. We’re going to do our best.”
