By Kyle Coppola
Leesburg High School Softball Breaks Lake County Scoring Record
Congratulations to the Leesburg High School Lady Yellow Jackets, who have become the fastest team in Lake County history to reach 100 runs scored in a season. It took just 6 games, surpassing the old MDCA record of 100 runs scored in 7 games to begin the season back in 2009. Leesburg now holds the unofficial record of 110 runs scored in 6 games played.
This is a terrific start to the year and a huge accomplishment for the Leesburg Lady Yellow Jackets program, which is in the process of revitalizing the softball program. After years of averaging 4 wins per season, a new coaching staff has come in this year to try and right the ship.
Led by head coach Amber Prescott and her husband Thomas Prescott, the two have been able to get Leesburg out to a 7-0 start. While that is impressive, the competition has been refined this season to allow the group for wins and positivity within the program.
“When we set out to turn the softball program around, Coach Amber and Thomas Prescott were just the people to do it. They came in with a vision that fit our template of success here at Leesburg High School, and that is what you’re seeing here. We wanted to help our girls’ basketball team, which we did this season. We also wanted to help the softball team, and we are in that process right now,” says athletic director Spencer Hey.
Refining schedules is nothing new. Umatilla High School is doing it with their football program and has made a change in the athletic conference, which should help in the long run. In many ways, Leesburg decided to do the same thing this year. And who can blame them, really? After years and years of losing, these girls wanted to win and are experiencing how to win. That is changing the culture of the team, you have to start somewhere right?
(At 7-0 this is the best start to a Leesburg High School softball season in school history.)
In a very similar way, Patrick Todd who is the Athletic Director for Umatilla High School changed the athletic culture at that school. Both boys and girls basketball teams, after experiencing years of losing seasons, are now winning teams. Leesburg High School is experiencing how to win games with the softball program and that is a positive step in the right direction for a team that needed a spark. The Leesburg High Yellow Jackets are now the first team in Lake County history to score over 130 runs in their first 7 games.
The question will be how far can Leesburg High School go in 2024? Will this team face serious enough competition to be a threat in the district tournament against teams like Belleview, Lecanto, Springstead and Pasco? That will be important, but I do think that this is the right step for Leesburg High. To get the team winning games and to experience a winning season was important. In time this program will most likely build back to facing bigger opponents, but for now this is a great strategy for Leesburg High to at least get the softball program into a stable position for the long run.
Once again congratulations to the Lady Yellow Jackets. This is a big accomplishment and a record that may not be broken for a very long time.
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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.
Wow ! And to also note that there are only two seniors on the team.