May 14, 2025
Montverde Academy Tops Cornerstone Charter 10-4, Advances to Regional Final
By Kyle Coppola
Montverde Academy Tops Cornerstone Charter 10-4, Advances to Regional Final
MONTVERDE, Fla. — The Montverde Academy Eagles continued their dominant softball season Tuesday night with a 10-4 victory over Cornerstone Charter Academy, advancing to the FHSAA Class 2A Regional Final.
Despite falling behind 1-0 early, the Eagles responded swiftly with a four-run second inning that set the tone for the rest of the game. By the end of the fifth, Montverde had built a commanding 10-3 lead, showcasing their offensive firepower that they have shown alls season in what became a hitting clinic.
(Senior Danika Spinogatti has been a great leader for Montverde Academy. The Eagles are looking to win back to back state championships.)
Elena Friedman led the offensive charge with three hits, including two doubles. Luna Taboas contributed two hits and scored a pair of runs, while Nevaeh Williams delivered the biggest blow of the night—a three-RBI triple that broke the game open. Audrey Vivino and senior Danika Spinogatti each scored two runs to fuel the Eagles’ momentum.
Freshman pitcher La’Breah Sands got the start and went five innings, striking out six while walking eight. Despite the free passes, Sands allowed just two earned runs. Williams came on in relief and added four strikeouts over a couple of innings before Emerson Gunkel closed things out in the seventh.
Now 27-2 on the season, Montverde Academy is ranked No. 2 in Florida and No. 6 nationally. The Eagles will host Trinity Catholic in the regional final Thursday at 6:00 p.m., with a trip to the state semifinals on the line. Trinity Catholic is ranked as the #42 team in Florida. While the game will be challenging for the Celtics, you can never count Trinity Catholic out of anything and they will certainly bring their A game with a trip to the FHSAA Class 2A State Semifinals in Clermont on the line.
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.
