By Kyle Coppola
Eustis Softball Loses First Game of Season 2-1 Against Lake Mary
The last team remaining not to lose a game this season in either Baseball or Softball in Lake & Sumter County was Eustis. Their 15-0 start was very impressive, but a tough road matchup with Lake Mary came down to the wire last Friday night.
It was a pitchers’ duel as both Eustis and Lake Mary came in with some outstanding pitchers. Eustis’ Skylar Cloud has been incredible all year long, while Lake Mary’s combination of Gabriella Mike and Camila Leon-Blanco have also had a decent year going. Lake Mary came into the contest at 9-10 with a losing record, but the competition for the Rams had been fierce.
(Skylar Cloud only gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. She had 6 strikeouts and played an amazing game on the mound.)
Most of the game was a 0-0 affair until the 6th inning when the game would see its only runs of the game scored. Getting runs was difficult, but in the 6th inning, Ciera Maple was able to get on base. Brook Powhida was the only player with 2 hits in the game. Other Lady Panthers to score hits were Adrianna Covino, Katie Short, and Lillie Smith, who actually had a double.
(Ciera Maple would score the only run of the night for Eustis against Lake Mary.)
Ciera Maple would score in the 6th inning, making it 1-0. Unfortunately, Eustis could do no further damage. In the bottom of the 6th, Lake Mary was able to get a few runners on base. Skylar Cloud had 6 strikeouts in the game, and in the bottom of the 2nd Lake Mary came alive as they scored 2 runs to make it a 2-1 ballgame going into the top of the 7th.
(Lillie Smith was one of the few Eustis players who got hits against Lake Mary. She was the only player who recorded a double on the evening.)
Eustis couldn’t get anything going in the top of the 7th, and ultimately the game ended with a 2-1 Lake Mary victory. This was a quality win for Lake Mary against the #6 team in the state of Florida. For Eustis, Lake Mary is a tough opponent. While the loss stings and the perfect season is no more, this can be taken as a good thing for Eustis. They can use the loss as a learning moment.
Facing such tough competition like Lake Mary will only make the team better in the long run. If anything, that was the 3rd game the Lady Panthers played last week. Two out of Three games were 1-run contests: a 3-2 win against The Villages, a 10-2 win against South Sumter, and a 2-1 loss against Lake Mary.
What a run it was to open the season 15-0. Now that the Lady Panthers are 15-1, they can focus on preparing for another tough week of games against Tavares, West Orange, and Montverde Academy. The only home game this week is Tuesday vs Tavares at 7 pm.”
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.
