By Kyle Coppola
Leesburg Lightning Extend Season With 4-2 Win Against Orlando
The Leesburg Lightning had their backs against the wall Thursday night, but they put together one of their best games of the season against the Orlando Snappers to extend their season at least one more game as the semifinal series heads back to Orlando tonight for a winner take all matchup! The winner heads to the FCSL Championship to take on the Sanford River Rats.
The pitching for the Lightning was terrific last night and only allowed one earned run. They have surrendered just two runs in the last 18 innings.
Starting pitcher Tanner Walker got things started early and looked on point to begin the night. After a Ryan Jenkins walked, right fielder Charlie Keller who has been absolutely terrific this season for the Lightning, smashed a ball into right field and stayed in the foul pole for a two-run home run. Leesburg took a 2-run lead and Charlie would finish his night 2-3 with a home run, a double and a walk.
(It was a big performance by the Leesburg Lightning Pitching staff. Tanner Walker and Blake Tipmore played a huge role in the win. Photo Credit – FCSL.)
The bases were loaded in the bottom of the 3rd inning when catcher Cole Bullen grounded a ball and the Orlando short stop was unable to handle it. Short-Stop Grant Jordan came around and scored which gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
Orlando responded in the 4th inning on a throwing error from Jordan that brought hime the first Orlando run and made it a 3-1 game. With two runners in scoring positions and the season on the line, Scout Updike came on for Leesburg and struck out the batter leaving two stranded for Orlando.
James Hill came in for relief in the 6th inning. Eli Thurmond led off for Leesburg in the bottom of the 6th with a base hit before third baseman Reid Snider knocked him in with an RBI double to make it 4-1 Leesburg.
Blake Tipmore came on for the save for Leesburg and faced some adversity with a few baserunners that would get on in the 9th but he took care of business as Leesburg held on for a 4-2 victory.
“It was nice to see our arms come out and throw strikes and compete,” Lightning Coach Rich Billings says. “Tanner Walker was awesome tonight. He got up to almost 80 pitches which is the most anyone has gone this season. The bullpen came in and did a great job. They gave us a chance to win.”
The win now forces a game 3, winner take all matchup against Orlando on Friday, July 25 to see who moves to the FCSL championship. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m. at The First Academy in Orlando.
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.
