By Kyle Coppola
Giselle McCormick: Balancing Brilliance in Softball and Academics
Giselle McCormick was one of Lake County’s top freshman softball players. She proved that during the District Championship game against South Lake High School when she hit a towering home run to deep center field. That three-run home run tied the game after being down 5-2. Despite her efforts, Lake Minneola would fall short.
Despite losing the district championship game 9-11 against South Lake High, Giselle went 2 for 4, collecting 3 RBIs with a double and a home run. She and her father, Jorge McCormick, are very close. “I tell her to give it her all and play as if it were her last game ever. Play with passion, play with intensity. Just go out there and play how you know how,” says Jorge.
As a freshman, Giselle did not disappoint. We knew that she was going to be one of the top freshmen in Lake County. But now we know just how great. Giselle led the Lake Minneola High varsity team in hitting, winning the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year Award as she finished the season strong with an impressive .411 Batting Average along with 2 Home Runs, 6 doubles, and 17 RBIs.
Giselle is also putting in the work off the field. Giselle continues to excel in her academics, in which she earned the Summa Cum Laude Award for her Outstanding Academic Achievement at LMHS. In the future, Giselle wishes to pursue a career in Sports Medicine.
Now that the High School season is over at Lake Minneola, Giselle will begin her travel ball summer season. She will be playing for the Florida Bombers Gold 16U team with showcase tournaments in Florida, Alabama, Colorado, and Tennessee. In between her busy travel ball schedule, Giselle also intends to take 2 online classes to get ahead on her academics.
Giselle proudly represented Puerto Rico in the 2023 U-15 Pan-American Championship in Lima, Peru, along with the 2023 U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, where she earned a bronze and silver medal respectively.
Giselle will now continue to work hard as there are no scheduled international events for the U-15 Puerto Rico Women’s National Team this year. Giselle will wait for an opportunity to become available for the U-18 Puerto Rico Women’s National Team as she will be turning 15 this month.
Giselle is one of the most exciting young players in Lake County, and we look forward to seeing how her career continues to progress. We wish her the best of luck this summer!
Photo Credit – Jorge D McCormick
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.
