May 8, 2025
Tavares Stuns Vanguard with 9-2 Upset to Advance to FHSAA Softball Regional Semifinals
By Kyle Coppola
Tavares Stuns Vanguard with 9-2 Upset to Advance to FHSAA Softball Regional Semifinals
TAVARES, Fla. — The Tavares High School Lady Bulldogs delivered one of the most stunning upsets of the FHSAA postseason Tuesday night, defeating Vanguard 9-2 in a dominant all-around performance to punch their ticket to the Class 4A Regional Semifinals.
Emmy Lee and Kayla Enix combined in the circle for one of their best outings of the year, keeping Vanguard’s bats in check and setting the tone early for the Bulldogs. While Vanguard would take a 2-0 lead into the 5th inning, that is when the Tavares High bats came alive. Tavares would tie the game in the 5th, then take a 4 run lead into the bottom of the 6th before adding 3 more runs in the top of the 7th. At that point it was all over for Vanguard.
Offensively, Tavares was relentless. Jasmine Lawrence drove in two key runs, while Emma Pattee crossed the plate with a crucial score. Aliyah Cantu-Lopez, Nina Earl, and Kayla Enix each made major contributions at the plate and on the base paths. It was a total team effort last evening.
Tavares will now move on to face Eau Gallie High School in the regional semifinal round, riding a wave of confidence after knocking off a heavily favored Vanguard squad. While Eau Gallie is ranked as the #2 seed in the tournament while Tavares is ranked #6, the Lady Bulldogs have a ton of momentum on their side. Anything can happen in the playoffs. Enix and Lee will both be well rested coming into that contest next week on May 13th at 7pm. It should be an awesome game!
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.
