By Kyle Coppola
Eustis Softball Head Coach Tyra Bowers Secures First Career Win
EUSTIS, Fla. — The defending FHSAA Class 4A state champion Eustis High School softball team began its 2025 campaign in dominant fashion, securing a commanding 15-0 victory over Taylor High School on Monday night. The win marked the first career victory for new head coach Tyra Bowers, who took over the program following the departure of Brittany Beall.
(The 2025 Eustis Lady Panthers Softball team started 2025 off right where they left off. Eustis has not lost a softball game since April 19th, 2024 against Montverde Academy. Photo Credit – Eustis Lady Panthers.)
Bowers, a former Eustis standout who continued her playing career at Northwest Florida State Collegea and FAMU, steps into the role after Beall’s tenure produced two state championships and a tradition of excellence. Under Bowers’ leadership, the Lady Panthers showed no signs of slowing down as they overpowered Taylor from the opening pitch.
Eustis’ offensive firepower was on full display, led by standout performances from Brooklynn Mason and Ella Fleming, who recorded three hits each. Fleming also drove in three runs and hit a home run, while Emmy Luke and Brooklyn Powhida also contributed three RBIs apiece. Mason led the team in scoring with three runs.
(Carson Roden is primed for a massive year on the mound for Eustis High School. Photo Credit – Joe Ott)
On the mound, Carson Roden delivered a stellar performance, building on an impressive 2024 season in which she posted a 1.71 ERA with 47 strikeouts over 41 innings. Against Taylor, Roden struck out seven batters while allowing just one hit in the shutout victory. She follows in the footsteps of former Eustis ace Skylar Cloud, who dominated in her senior year with a 1.59 ERA and 143 strikeouts over 127.2 innings.
With the season off to a strong start, Eustis looks poised for another great season as they look to go back-to-back as state champions. The Lady Panthers will face some stiff competition in the coming weeks. The Panthers will travel to The Villages Charter on March 4 before heading south for a two-game series against Key West High School on March 11 and 12.
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.
