June 5, 2023

Leesburg Lightning Off To Hot Start!

1.4 min read| Published On: June 5th, 2023|

By Kyle Coppola

Leesburg Lightning Off To Hot Start!

1.4 min read| Published On: June 5th, 2023|
The Leesburg Lightning are off to a hot start. The Lightning had their opening day this past week at Pat Thomas Stadium in Leesburg Florida. The opening night championship rematch of last seasons Florida Collegiate Summer League Championship saw the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs defeate the Lightning 14-6. While it was a dissipointing opening for the Lightning they have bounced back with 2 consecutive wins.
The Lightning won against Winter Park with a 10-1 victory and then picked up another win on Sunday with a 10-1 win against Winter Garden again. The Lightning are now 2-1 on the season and as the team is not even at full stength. As the collegiate season winds down, more players will likely be incoming to the Lightning in the coming days and weeks.
The Lightning have a very experienced coaching staff at the helm. Coach Rich Billings is entering his ninth season as the head coach for Leesburg. Billings is the son to assistant coach Rich Billings Sr. The Father son duo are no stranger to championship seasons having won the championship as recently as 2021 and reached the championship in 2022.

Rich Billings Jr center stands with Rich Billings Sr. to the right. The duo have had an impressive run the past few years with the Leesburg Lightning.

The first game of the Leesburg Lightning season was packed! Pat Thomas Stadium has never looked better! The recently renovated stadium that once hosted the Philidelphia Phillies Minor League ball club has a trumendous history. Among hosting Leesburg High School and First Academy Baseball games the stadium is one of the oldest in the state of Florida.
Pat Thomas Stadium also known as Buddy Lowe Field has been a home field advantage for the Lightning. Often drawing an average of well over 500 fans per game the attendance for Leesburg is one of the best in the league. We look forward to watching the Leesburg Lightning Season and hopefully this group can put together another banner year!

Photos Provided By:

Ivey Young

Leesburg Lighting Facebook Page

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About the Author: Kyle Coppola

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.

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