By Kyle Coppola
Mount Dora Softball Wins 18-16 Thriller Against Tavares High
Addison Ganus drives in four runs on two hits to lead Mount Dora past Tavares 18-16 in a thriller on Tuesday night. In the fourth inning, Ganus hit a grand slam to center field.
Both offenses were strong at the plate as Mount Dora collected 15 hits and Tavares 11 in the high-scoring affair. Thirty-four total runs were scored between both teams, which is one of the highest-scoring games in Lake County this year.
(Mount Dora Pitcher #78 Carly Durden is a freshman. She has 21 strikeouts this year. Photo Credit – Joe Ott Photography “Fan Zone”)
A groundout by Jasmine Lawrence put Tavares on the board in the bottom of the first. Mount Dora would get on the board with a single by Jazmin Flores, which gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game 2-1. By the top of the third, both teams were settled in, but that’s where things exploded offensively.
Mount Dora would go on to score six runs on four hits in the top of the fourth inning. Payton Kolva doubled, scoring one run, Flores was struck by a pitch but was okay. Flores would drive in a run. Meanwhile, Ganus hit a grand slam home run to center field, extending the Hurricanes’ lead.
(Senior Jazmin Flores is one of the best batters on the team. She has a .529 average this season which is the highest on the team. She has 6 RBIs, 9 Hits, 5 runs scored and 5 steals. Flores has taken a team high 6 walks this season. Photo Credit – Joe Ott Photography “Fan Zone”)
By the time Tavares took to the plate again, they were hungry for runs. The Bulldogs scored seven runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth inning. Aliyah Cantu-Lopez singled for Tavares, scoring one run, an error also scored a run. Emma Pattee singled, scoring two runs, and Jasmine Lawrence also singled, scoring two runs, and another error by the Hurricanes saw Tavares score another run.
The rally in the 7th inning fell just short, though, with Mount Dora clinging to a two-run advantage; they would go on to win 18-16 in an absolute thriller. Twenty-six total hits were scored, and the game was sloppy from a defensive standpoint with 7 errors made by Mount Dora and 5 by Tavares for a total of 12 errors.
(Addison Ganus would belt a grand slam for Mount Dora that would be a huge difference maker in the 18-16 victory. Photo Credit – Joe Ott Photography “Fan Zone”)
The win moves Mount Dora to 4-4 on the season. Meanwhile, Tavares is now 1-5. The Bulldogs really could have used a win, but Tavares has been plagued by a thin pitching crew all season. They are young but a team that is improving.
Both teams can certainly be happy with their offensive performance. Addison Ganus was the highlight of the night with a grand slam. The sophomore is averaging .333 with 5 RBIs, 5 hits, and 3 runs scored.
Mount Dora will have a tough test Wednesday night against The Villages Charter before taking on South Lake on Thursday. A date with Eustis and Lake Minneola are on the schedule next week as well, so this will be a very difficult stretch for the Lady Hurricanes. They will have to bring their A-game over the next few weeks.
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.
