April 16, 2025
South Lake High Freshman Pitcher Zoie Rogers Strikes Out 100th Batter in Breakout Season
By Kyle Coppola
South Lake High Freshman Pitcher Zoie Rogers Strikes Out 100th Batter in Breakout Season
GROVELAND, Fla. — South Lake High School’s softball team has found its ace of the future—and the present.
Freshman pitcher Zoie Rogers has taken the Florida high school softball scene by storm in 2025, notching 102 strikeouts through 119.2 innings pitched and cementing herself as one of the most exciting young arms in Lake County. With a 2.98 ERA and only 51 earned runs allowed, Rogers’ impact on the field has been undeniable.
(Recently struck out her 100th batter of the season. sbjr.photography.)
This is just the beginning of her career as well. Although Rogers is just a freshman, she pitches like a senior. She’s fearless out on the mound.
Rogers’ milestone moment came recently when she recorded her 100th strikeout, a number that seemed like a distant goal at the start of the season. But the right-hander has proven to be more than ready for the challenge of varsity ball—and she’s doing it all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in the classroom.
(Rogers is not just a great athlete but an even better student with a 4.0 GPA. Photo Credit – Brenda Anderson Photography.)
While Rogers has been the anchor in the circle, the Eagles’ success this season has also been fueled by a potent offense. Junior Makiah Palacio has been a consistent force at the plate, batting .418 with 28 hits, 18 RBIs, and 19 runs scored. Sophomore Chloe Stone has delivered as well, hitting .397 with a team-leading 29 hits, 19 RBIs, and 20 runs scored. Stone also leads the squad in doubles with 10.
Together, this mix of youthful talent and veteran leadership has made South Lake is rolling into the final games of the season looking like a pretty good ball team. They have a very difficult district with Horizon High School, Lake Minneola High and Forest High School to contend with when the district tournament comes around shortly. But overall the team is looking as good as it has all season long coming into the home stretch of the regular season.
If her freshman season is any indication, Zoie Rogers is just getting started.
Photo Credit – Brenda Anderson Photography and sbjr.photorgraphy
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.
