By Kyle Coppola
South Sumter Softball Trio Leads Club Team to State Runner-Up Finish
Three athletes from South Sumter High School are working very hard this summer with standout performances with their travel softball team.
Hailey Hickman and Arianna Little, both from the Class of 2028, and Maddox Adams, Class of 2026, helped power their club team, CF Swat-Comis, to a second-place finish at the Florida Premier Girls Fastpitch Battle on the Diamond tournament this past weekend in Newberry, Florida.
Facing off against some of the top teams from across the state, the trio played pivotal roles in CF Swat’s run through a tough tournament bracket with all three girls having standout performances.
(CF Swat holds up their 2nd place runner-up medals.)
These young ladies helped South Sumter High softball to one of its best seasons in a very long time. Finishing 2025 with a record of 16 wins and 10 losses, the Lady Raiders made it to the FHSAA Class 3A regional semifinals eventually losing against state runner-up Eustis.
Hailey finished last year batting a .365 as a freshman. she contributed 15 hits, 19 runs scored and 14 RBIs. This incoming sophomore has a lot to play for in 2026. Meanwhile Maddox Adams had a very impressive year batting .398 with 35 hits, 12 RBIs and 25 runs scored. She is one of the top players in Sumter County and all of Central Florida. Adrianna Little will also be a sophomore with a lot of upside potential.
These three are going to be a big part of the South Sumter High softball team in 2026. The Lady Raiders are bringing a strong team back that includes Junior Raven Parker. With Cadence Sellers and Nathalie Williams now graduated, look for these girls to have to step it up big time in 2026 and hopefully get the Lady Raiders back to the FHSAA Playoffs again.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
