The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Kevin Weiss

Saint Leo softballer recognized

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Saint Leo shortstop Kacie Kelly (Courtesy of Saint Leo University athletics)

Saint Leo University senior shortstop Kacie Kelly was named to the 2020 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year Watch List, recently announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

The Jacksonville native is a three-time First Team All-Sunshine State Conference selection and a 2017 NFCA Third Team All-American. Kelly returns to the list for the third straight season, having been named to the watch list in her sophomore and junior campaigns. The 2020 watch list marks the fourth straight season with a Lion on the list — former right-handed pitcher Stephanie Adkins was named to the watch list in 2017.

In 49 games played last season, Kelly registered a slash line of .377/.475/.470 with 36 runs scored, 12 extra-base hits, 21 walks, 15 RBI and seven stolen bases. She also posted a .955 with 80 putouts, 69 assists and seven errors.

The top 25 finalists for the 2020 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year awards will be announced on April 23. A student-athlete does not have to be on the watch list to be considered for the top 25. The top 10 finalists will be announced on May 12, and the winners will be recognized on May 28 following the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Saint Leo University to lease 176-unit apartment complex

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Since welcoming its largest incoming class ever last fall — and anticipating continued growth —Saint Leo University will lease the Sweetwater apartment complex in Dade City, to serve as residential housing for upperclassman and graduate level students.

In August, Saint Leo will begin leasing all 176 units on the property owned by Beachwold Residential LLC, which sits about 2 miles northeast of the main university campus along State Road 52. The planned agreement was first reported by Bay News 9.

Facing growing enrollment, Saint Leo University this fall will begin leasing the nearby 176-unit Sweetwater apartment complex in Dade City. Leases will not be renewed for Sweetwater’s non-student residents. (Kevin Weiss)

The university’s decision means that residents living at the property now — except for Saint Leo students — will need to move, and that has sparked criticism of the university by some of the current tenants.

When Saint Leo takes over, Sweetwater will become more than just run-of-the mill residence halls.

In an interview with The Laker/Lutz News, Saint Leo vice president of student affairs Dr. Jen Shaw said the property will be transformed into a “career-focused learning community,” whereby its clubhouse/community center will regularly host job fairs, workshops, alumni panels and so on. In addition to hosting employers to recruit Saint Leo students, workshops will have themes on job interviewing skills, salary negotiation, social media branding and more.

Shaw added that Saint Leo student activities staff will organize events at Sweetwater so students there “feel like they’re getting the same residential experience as students (on campus).”

Saint Leo will make a number of upgrades to the property, such as installing more security cameras, 24/7 security, card-only gate access, daily bus shuttles to campus, new, fully furnished living quarters and more.

“It’s a real neat, living, learning experience for students. We’re excited about it,” Shaw said.

The decision to lease the property comes as Saint Leo enters a student housing crunch.

The university this past fall welcomed its largest incoming group of students in the university’s 130-year history (1,001 new students). The school now has about 2,100 students on campus, plus more than 700 faculty and staff.

The record-breaking incoming class filled all of the university’s available on-campus housing this year, Shaw said. Since then, officials have scrambled to find more housing opportunities for students, looking at nearby hotels and other properties. She noted it takes about two years to build new on-campus residence halls, something she said the university plans to move forward with this summer.

After vetting several other housing options for the near-term, Shaw said leasing Sweetwater was “the best one for our students.”

“We can keep them safe and engaged, and it’s super close-by,” she said.

Sweetwater residents forced to move
As a result of Saint Leo’s action, apartment management will not renew leases for non-student residents.

Sweetwater resident Kori Warriner received a notice in her door a few weeks ago that informed her of the impending arrangement.

Warriner said she hadn’t intended to renew her lease, but she said many of her friends who have lived at Sweetwater for a long time did not plan to move, and there are others who are just starting families with newborns on the way — including one that just moved into the complex less than two months ago.

Warriner described the entire situation as “really rotten and wrong” and added that “a huge injustice (is) being done.”

“I can deal with it, but all these other people are going to be really, really put out,” she said.

That’s how Blane and Bronwyn McCullough feel. They’ve lived at the apartment complex almost six years and planned to stay a couple more years until retirement.

Instead, they have to move when their lease ends in September.

Bronwyn called that “really heinously unfair.”

“Everybody feels like the rug has been pulled out from under them,” she said. “I’m more disappointed than anything.”

Bronwyn said there’s a lack of available housing in Dade City, where her husband Blane works and where her mother is on home hospice care.

“Are we supposed to move to Wesley Chapel, New Tampa?,” Bronwyn questioned. “We’re Dade City people. There’s no other places in Dade City for us to rent from.”

Sweetwater residents question why Saint Leo had to take on such an influx of students, knowing it didn’t have sufficient available on-campus housing.

They suggest the university should have planned better — building additional student dorms before increasing enrollment.

Warriner put it like this: “They’ve got acres and acres and acres of land. They can wait two years (to enroll more students) for new dorms to be built. They do not need to kick a whole bunch of people out, with very little notice, that have lived (at Sweetwater) for years and planned to probably stay there forever.”

It’s a sentiment Saint Leo University sophomore Jalyssa Grajales sides with.

The student doesn’t live at Sweetwater, but thinks her university should have leased a portion of the Sweetwater complex to begin with, instead of the entire property.

Grajales said she feels bad for the families who live at the apartment complex, noting that’s their home and they don’t want to be “kicked out” to make room “for a bunch of students.”

Shaw said she understands Sweetwater residents’ frustration, but emphasized Saint Leo would not deny the opportunity to increase its enrollment like it has this year — which included a diverse population of different races, out-of-state and international students, first generation college students and so on.

“As an institution of higher learning and in the Benedictine tradition, we want to educate everybody that we can educate,” Shaw said.

She also observed: “I don’t know if we’d ever not grow if we had the opportunity to grow.”

The university official also said the leasing arrangement makes sense from a financial standpoint, pointing out some of Saint Leo’s values are “just to be fiscally responsible and just be smart about our students’ time and their safety.”

Shaw also said that Saint Leo’s growth has a positive impact on the area, as students commit to “hundreds of thousands of hours” of community service. There’s a lot of community people that come and benefit from our campus,” she said.

The university also has asked a Realtor it works with to assist Sweetwater residents to find new apartments or homes to rent in the area. Sweetwater’s community manager also has begun to assist with housing opportunities in Zephyrhills and along State Road 54, Shaw said.

Published February 26, 2020

Pasco Sports Fair offers opportunities for all

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In Zephyrhills, It was a sports enthusiasts dream — for children and adults alike.

There were scaled down or mini versions of tennis, basketball, football, soccer, floor hockey, golf, virtual skydiving, even a fitness obstacle course — all offered for free, all day long.

About 1,500 people passed through the first annual Pasco Sports Fair, held Feb. 16 at Skydive City in Zephyrhills.

Three-year-old Isabelle Ruiz, of Wesley Chapel, winds up, to toss a football toward the net. Former NFL defensive end Mel Williams, left, smiles, as he watches and encourages the youngster. Williams played with the New Orleans Saints, the Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins. (Christine Holtzman)

The event was the brainchild of Pascal Collard, CEO of the new Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, in partnership with Skydive City owners Joannie Murphy and Susan Stark.

The event was sponsored in part by Pasco County Commissioner Ron Oakley and Randy Blankenship of B.R.W. Contracting Inc.

Collard saw multiple benefits to the newfound event.

First, Collard, an avid skydiver himself, saw it as a way to introduce more of the Pasco County community to the extreme sport, which entails jumping from an aircraft with a parachute from an altitude of several thousand feet.

“It’s unique in the world,” Collard said, “and some people in Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel don’t even know it exists.”

Stark agreed, adding the fair helps “demystify” skydiving to locals, a sport which draws participants from all over the world to the small town.

Said Stark, “Even if they don’t come and skydive, they come and they watch, and this is just a great source a fun for people to do here on the way eastern side of Pasco.”

She added of the fair: “It’s probably going to attract more people who are interested in seeing skydiving, than necessarily doing it, but we’ll also probably have some additional people also doing the skydiving.”

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Collard wanted an event that gave local youth the chance to try different sports and meet former professional athletes at no cost — with the help of volunteers and vendors, such as Experience Florida’s Sports Coast, AdventHealth Center Ice, Silverado Golf & Country Club and many others.

Some former professional athletes who met with families and oversaw the sporting activities included former English Premier League forward Gary Blissett, who played for Wimbledon FC in the mid-1990s; former NFL defensive end Mel Williams, who played for the New Orleans Saints, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins in the mid-2000s; and, former Tampa Bay Rowdies head coach and soccer player Stuart Campbell.

Soccer instructor Gary Blissett practices dribbling the ball with first-year soccer player, 4-year-old Owen Baker, of Tampa. Blissett is a former Premier League professional soccer player from Manchester, England, who now resides in Wesley Chapel. He is a coach with the United Global Academy (UGA) in Zephyrhills.

Blissett, who was in charge of a soccer drill station, described the day’s activities as “more fun than teaching,” simply giving curious youth a chance to try new sports, and parents the information on available leagues and sports organizations around town.

“If people enjoy what they’re doing at their stations, and it’s something they’ve never done before, they now have access to it, they know where to go to get it,” said Blissett, the coaching director of the Spirit of Zephyrhills Florida Soccer Club youth recreational league.

By bringing those types of known sports figures along, Collard believes it offers hope to area youth that have athletic dreams and aspirations.

He put it like this: “If kids see they have access to guys like Mel Williams, they say, ‘Oh, this is real,’ because otherwise they didn’t believe it’s going to happen.”

Meanwhile, Collard, an international tennis instructor who’s trained some of the world’s top-ranked pros, believes organizing and creating more affordable athletics opportunities for youth can change the fabric of a community like Zephyrhills.

Said Collard, “I believe all the kids in Zephyrhills need sports — it keeps them away from trouble. That’s the reality. But, nobody does enough.”

Families to the first-ever event appreciated the chance to bring their children to freely try out a variety of sports. Set up like a school field day, kids that tried all eight sports stations received a goody bag and were entered for a gift prize drawing.

Zephyrhills resident Sarah Steen brought along her 4-year-old daughter, Ruth, to gauge her interest on the various sports for when she gets a little older.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s fun,” Steen said of the sports fair. “I like how she’s learning about the different sports before I go and pay the fees, and buy the helmets and everything, so we get to see if she likes it before I have to pay for everything.”

Steen added, “I want to keep her active and healthy, so this kind of thing is good because it gets the kids, it shows them the different kinds of sports they can do.”

Steen acknowledged in Zephyrhills “there’s not as many options” for youth athletic activities, whether it be lack of qualified volunteer coaches or enough interested kids who can afford to play.

She asserted, “When I was a kid, it seemed like everybody played baseball or softball. And now, it seems like they have to beg people to be a coach.”

Steen’s 15-year old son, David Castro, agreed.

“There’s not enough (recreational) leagues out here,” said Castro, a member of the Zephyrhills High School tennis and soccer teams.

Because of that, Castro noted many of his friends and fellow teens “don’t have a choice” but to spend their free time on cellphones, playing video games and so on.

So, he liked how the event offered kids something to do outdoors for free, with hopes of maybe sparking or reinvigorating athletics pursuits in others.

“I think it’s good,” he said of the sports fair, “because it’s going to get kids like wanting to go (play sports). That’s kind of the main issue around here, is there’s not enough kids interested, so you don’t really have a lot of options.”

For Ontario, Canada’s Michelle Galley Salgueiro, the sports fair gave something for her to do with her 8-year-old son, Liam, as they spent the week visiting her parents, Zephyrhills snowbirds.

The event was “perfect,” for her son, she said, “because I’m trying to get him used to more sports.”

One of those included the football station, where Liam joined in on non-contact drills consisting of footwork, sprints, and catching and handling balls.

“We will never play football, we’re not a football family,” his mother said, “but it’ll give him a chance today to try it.”

When informed the sports fair plans to be an annual event, the out-of-towner said, “We would definitely come around for this.”

Published February 26, 2020

Regional champs

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(Courtesy of Annie Hayman)

The Martinez Middle School dance team took first place in the Hip-Hop category and third in the Pom category at the NDA (National Dance Alliance) regional championships earlier this month at Bartram Park, in Jacksonville. The team’s Hip-Hop title qualifies for them for the NDA national championships in March.

Local signing

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(File)

Wiregrass Ranch senior All-State linebacker Dylan Ridolph has signed to play collegiate football at Division II Catawba College, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Ridolph holds the Pasco County record for most career sacks, with 48. He also tallied 274 total tackles and 78 tackles for loss across three varsity seasons.

Hefty hauls

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(Courtesy of John Medvid)

Matt Norris, left, and Tim Grimes won the South Pasco Bassmasters (SPBM) February Trophy Catch tournament in Lake Griffin, hauling in five bass for a total weight of 23.22 pounds. The haul included a 10.24 pound bass that also won the tournament’s Big Bass award. The duo caught their fish flipping creature baits on the edge of the shoreline and throwing rattle traps in grass found in the middle of the lake. The next SPBM tourney is scheduled for March 21 at Crooked Lake. For information, visit SouthPascoBassmasters.com.

Saint Leo to get $20 million wellness center

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Saint Leo University will soon be home to a sprawling $20 million wellness center —integrating student recreation, fitness, health services, counseling services and campus ministry.

A groundbreaking ceremony earlier this month celebrated the forthcoming 59,000-square-foot wellness center, to be situated on the west end of the campus by Lake Jovita.

From left: Jon Akvan, project manager, JLL; Troy Powell, project manager; Creative Contractors Inc.; Dr. Melanie Storms, Saint Leo University senior vice president; Jose Caban, Saint Leo associate vice president of facilities management; Dr. Jeffrey D. Senese, Saint Leo president; Celine-Deon Palmer, student government union president; D. Dewey Mitchell, Saint Leo Board of Trustees chair; Alan Bomstein, CEO, Creative Contractors; and Joshua Bomstein, Creative Contractors president, at the ceremonial groundbreaking of Saint Leo University’s new Wellness Center. (Courtesy of Renee Gerstein, Saint Leo University)

Construction tentatively will begin in April, and university officials hope to open the wellness center in fall 2021.

The new facility will provide space for group exercise, spinning and yoga classes, and a large community fitness center. There also will be two indoor basketball courts, an indoor walking track, a healthy café and smoothie bar, a resort-style outdoor pool with a lakeside infinity edge and outdoor barbecue, as well as a relaxation terrace and garden. There also will be several multipurpose rooms, which could be used as space for meditation, specialty classes, gaming and so on.

Many of those amenities, such as a dedicated cycling and yoga studio, aren’t presently offered on campus. Also, “There will be new machines, new equipment on the fitness floor that we don’t currently have,” said Dr. Melanie Storms, senior vice president at the university, who is  spearheading the wellness center project.

The university’s current recreation and fitness offerings are mainly housed at Marion Bowman Activities & Aquatics Center.

But, once the new wellness center opens, the Bowman Center will become an exclusive training ground for Saint Leo’s various athletic programs, Storms said.

The Bowman Center has been somewhat limited for recreation and intramural activities because the space also is shared by the university’s intercollegiate athletic programs, such as the Saint Leo men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams.

Saint Leo University is building a 59,000-square-foot wellness center that integrates student recreation, fitness, health services, counseling services and campus ministry. The $20 million project will be housed on the west end of the campus by Lake Jovita. It is expected to be open by fall 2021. (Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

Because of that, Storms said the regular student body has been pining for a “fully dedicated rec gym” the wellness center will offer.

“We definitely have had high student demand —  voices from the students saying they needed additional space, that the (recreation) hours and offerings just haven’t been sufficient to meet the needs,” Storms said.

The wellness center primarily will be for Saint Leo students, faculty and staff, but some features may be open to be public.

Storms said summer pool memberships will “definitely” be offered to the local community, while public-use options for the fitness center and health services are still being explored by university officials; the university is in talks with several health care providers that potentially could serve the community by delivering medical services on-site.

Storms said student health and counseling services currently offered at DeChantal Hall will move to the new facility once it opens, making it the “single source of health services” at Saint Leo. She added the DeChantal Hall building will stay in use for other purposes for the time being, as it also houses other university departments, such as theology faculty.

The wellness center project has been under discussion for a number of years, but officials say now was the time to proceed — as the school in the fall welcomed its largest incoming group of students in the university’s 130-year history (1,001 new students).

The school now has about 2,100 students on campus, plus more than 700 faculty and staff.

Said Storms, “With the increase that we saw in our student population this past fall, and the anticipated coming in next fall, we just realized it was time; our recreational facilities are overloaded.”

Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, presented a history of the site, during a ceremony celebrating the groundbreaking for Saint Leo University’s new Wellness Center.

Creative Contractors of Clearwater is serving as the construction firm for the project, while S3 Design Inc., of Braintree, Massachusetts, is handling the architectural design; and JLL of Tampa will provide project management services.

The university has secured financing to proceed on the multi-million project, but also is working to secure private fundraising and state funding, Storms said.

The wellness center is going on land that originally belonged to the Benedictine Sisters of Florida.

With that, Storms believes the facility “fits within the historical context of who they are and how they used the space.”

She observed, “The site is very special in the sense of being dedicated to the mind, body, spirit, and the sort of holistic well-being of the individual, and sort of carrying forward their legacy in that way. It’s beautiful because it’s lakeside, it’s very serene, and I couldn’t think of a better way to use the land than this.”

At the groundbreaking, Saint Leo president Dr. Jeffrey Senese predicted the new wellness center will have a significant impact: “We are creating an iconic building for Pasco County, Tampa Bay and Florida. It is our vision that this building will take your breath away.”

Published February 19, 2020

Renowned rabbi lectures on faith, prophets

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Rabbi Jack Bemporad is one of three rabbis who blessed Pope John II before his death.

He also had a personal audience with Pope John XXIII.

And, he is the first person to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome since its founding in 1577.

Renowned religious scholar Rabbi Jack Bemporad was a guest speaker at Saint Leo University earlier this month. His talk centered on faith, the message of the prophets, and the Bible. (Courtesy of Jo-Ann Johnston)

Earlier this month, the renowned religious scholar led a discussion at Saint Leo University on the topic of faith and message of the prophets — through the college’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies.

His talk centered mainly around the Book of Amos, the first prophetic book of the Bible to be written. In the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament, Amos was one of the Twelve Minor Prophets. An older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Amos was active during the rule of kings Jeroboam II and Uzziah. He was from the southern Kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern Kingdom of Israel.

Bemporad outlined Amos’ series of teachings that began around 750 B.C., in the northern Kingdom of Israel, where he claimed to have been selected by God to spread his word and confront sinners — specifically judges and leadership who accepted bribes and exploited others.

Bemporad pointed out Amos is credited as “the first person ever in history” to condemn a society that is unjust and takes advantage of the vulnerable, the poor and needy, and so on.

The prophet also foretold the northern Kingdom of Israel would one day be destroyed, because of their behavior of “trusting in weapons,” Bemporad said. The kingdom was destroyed about 30 years later, in 722 B.C.  Said Bemporad, “If you trust in weapons, guess what? There’s no end to that.”

The scholar explained people in that era believed “the day of the Lord” was a day when your country wins all its battles and conquers all its enemies. Amos, however, preached the “day of the Lord,” in its ultimate sense, is a time “when all human beings live a life of peace and tranquility,” Bemporad said.

The rabbi circled it back to present times: “Imagine you could live a life where you don’t have to worry that we’re building trillions of dollars’ worth of nuclear weapons, that we’re not making all kinds of wars and guns so that we can destroy each other, (but) we can really sit and no one be afraid.”

Bemporad mentioned Amos, too, spoke out against animal sacrifices to God — which was a groundbreaking position at that time.

In those days, the priests’ main function was to offer as many animal sacrifices as possible, mainly to absolve sins of the wealthy, Bemporad said.

The religious scholar observed, “They felt by offering animal sacrifices to God, they were fine, ‘Why do I have to worry about the poor and needy, if I’m offering up sacrifice?’”

But, Amos felt and expressed it differently.

God is interested in justice
Bemporad explained: “He’s the first person in history to say, ‘God’s not interested in sacrifices. God’s interested in justice and righteousness.’ That’s a revelation. That’s an absolute revelation. All the other prophets, in one form or another, say something similar to that.”

Bemporad went on to explain the prophet deals with “a fundamental, more profound problem” throughout his teachings: “If you continue living a detestable lifestyle, you will no longer have access to that which is spiritually nourishing.”

Otherwise known as “the great despair,” the rabbi put Amos’ sentiments in different terms.

“Because you pursue exploitation, and wealth and bribery, and lying and cheating, and all that,” Bemporad said, “you won’t have access to God, because it’s not that God isn’t available, it’s that you’re not allowing God to be available.”

It’s a dilemma that proves to be a major theme throughout the Bible, Bemporad said.

“You have so many instances in the Bible where people find, because of the way they live their life, that their habits become such that they sort of have an overlay that prevents them from really experiencing real life in anything that is truly meaningful and truly life — which is that we’re standing up for something that is just and true, and we’re connecting to what is true and what is real,” he said.

Put another way, Bemporad said biblical history is simply about, “how do we relate to God, and how do we relate to our fellow human beings?”

Beyond that, Bemporad stated everything else in this world should be treated as secondary.

He put it like this: “Who cares about the politicians? Who cares about all the businesses? Who cares about all the voyeurism that we see in the press and on TV? Is that really real? Is that really truth? Seek the truth, and it’ll make you free. And, the Bible is the path to find it.”

Bemporad then challenged the audience to spend the rest of their lives studying the Bible.

Of the Bible, he said: “It’s something that you will never fully understand, because it’s too profound, it’s too deep. It’s not only a word of wisdom, but in our respective (Jewish) religion, we believe that it contains in some form or another the word of God, and so anything that has that wisdom to it… is the sort of thing we have to approach it, with first, humility; second, respect; and thirdly, a real sense that if we understand it, if we spend time with it, we will benefit greatly from it.”

Bemporad currently is director of the nonprofit Center for Inter-religious Understanding (CIU) in New Jersey, which he founded in 1992. He also is director of the John Paul II Center and professor of inter-religious studies, both at the Vatican and St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome.

Published February 19, 2020

Over 50 local athletes sign with colleges

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More than 50 local high school athletes signed their letters of intent (LOI) earlier this month to various colleges and universities as part of National Signing Day, held annually on the first Wednesday in February.

From The Laker/Lutz News coverage area, Steinbrenner High and Wiregrass Ranch High each had the most signings with 10 apiece, followed by Sunlake High (seven) and Wesley Chapel High (six). Bishop McLaughlin, Carrollwood Day School, Cypress Creek, Freedom, Land O’ Lakes, and Zephyrhills Christian Academy also were well-represented as part of the signing day festivities.

Locals signed to play at the next level for the following sports — acrobatics & tumbling, baseball, cheerleading, cross-country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball and track.

Wesley Chapel High School softball standout Jordan Almasy is headed to the University of Central Florida. She holds several school pitching records. (Courtesy of Wesley Chapel High School softball)

Here is a closer look at some of the notable signees and their high schools:

Jordan Almasy, Wesley Chapel, softball (University of Central Florida) – The 5-foot-7 right-hander has etched her name in Wesley Chapel softball history — eclipsing school records for strikeouts in a game, strikeouts in a season, pitching wins, and innings pitched her junior year. Through three varsity seasons, she has compiled 31 wins, a 1.99 earned run average, 365 strikeouts and a .203 opponent batting average in 306.1 innings pitched. Also, Almasy was a freshman ace in the Wildcats softball program’s first ever winning season, in 2017.

Gaither High School quarterback Tony Bartalo, pictured with head coach Kirk Karsen, smiles upon signing to play college football at Bethune-Cookman University. (Courtesy of Gaither High School Athletics)

Tony Bartalo, Gaither, football (Bethune-Cookman University) — The 6-foot-2, 210-pound signal-caller put together a senior campaign to remember, ranking second in the state in passing yards (3,194 yards) and guiding the Cowboys to a 12-2 mark and the Class 6A state semifinals. Bartalo’s other passing figures were likewise impressive — 62.6% completion rate and 50 total touchdowns with just 14 interceptions. Bartalo’s teammate, linebacker Chance Coleman, also signed to play Division I football, at Florida International University.

Ethan Jones, Wesley Chapel, baseball — The 6-foot-5 lefthander posted a 1.64 earned run average and 73 strikeouts in 47 innings pitched last season, guiding the Wildcats to an appearance in the Class 6A regional tournament. Jones, ranked one of the state’s top 200 baseball prospects by Perfect Game, also broke out on the travel ball circuit — part of the 2019 Perfect Game Super 25 national championship team and named to the WWBA (World Wood Bat Association) World Championship All-Tournament Team.

Malik Jones, Zephyrhills Christian, football (Florida Atlantic University) — The 6-foot-2, 328-pound Jones starred defensively as a nose tackle at Zephyrhills Christian, but is expected to start his Division I college football career as an offensive lineman — likely at guard or center. He ranked third in Florida in sacks (26) in 2019, despite being double-teamed on almost every play. A consensus three-star recruit, Jones held offers from University of Southern Mississippi and Troy University, among others. Aside from his gridiron play, Jones also is a state champion wrestler, winning the Class 1A heavyweight division title in 2019.

Malcolm Lewis, Wiregrass Ranch, soccer (University of North Florida) —The 6-foot team captain midfielder helped the Bulls to four straight conference championships and is a two-time All-Conference first team selection with more than 60 career goals, 45 assists and counting. In addition to prep soccer, Lewis has been training with the Tampa Bay Rowdies professional USL (United Soccer League) team as a potential future prospect.

Cooper Smith, Freedom, golf (University of North Florida) — The four-year letterman capped off his senior campaign with a 16th place individual finish at the Class 2A FHSAA boys golf state championships, firing a 77 in both 18-hole rounds. Smith, a three-time All-District and with 15 junior wins to his name, was a freshman on Freedom’s second state finals appearance in program history, in 2016. He joins a North Florida signing class that also includes Mitchell High’s Nick Gabrelcik, a Trinity native.

Liina Winborn, Sunlake, cross-country (University of Florida) — In inking with the University of Florida, Winborn became Sunlake cross-country’s first Division I signee in program history. The decorated distance runner set several school records, claimed multiple conference and district individual titles, and earned fourth-place and sixth-place individual finishes the past two years at the 3A state cross-country championships. (At the state meets, she clocked an 18:11.16 in 2019 and 18:06.57 in 2018). Winborn also is a two-time Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) East girls’ cross-country runner of the year and defending girls track runner of the year.

Three Land O’ Lakes High School athletes signed to play collegiate sports. From left: Brooke Stanley (St. Petersburg College, softball), Chris Fergueson (Lake Sumter State College, baseball) and Ethan Stephens (Polk State College, baseball). (Courtesy of Land O’ Lakes High School Athletics)
Ten Wiregrass Ranch High School student-athletes signed with various colleges and universities in the following sports — acrobatics & tumbling, baseball, cheerleading, football, and soccer. (Courtesy of Wiregrass Ranch High School Athletics)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bishop McLaughlin’s Marcus Bezerra, left, will play football at Southern Virginia University, and Adam Berry will play baseball at Pasco-Hernando State College. (Courtesy of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Athletics)
Cypress Creek High School saw four student-athletes sign their National Letters of Intent. From left: Anna Margetis (Daytona State College, softball), Carter Corrao (Lee University, soccer), Matt Snyder (Saint Leo University, baseball) and Abigail Murphy (Saint Leo University, soccer). (Courtesy of Cypress Creek High School Athletics)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven Sunlake High athletes signed to play collegiate sports, for cross-country/track and lacrosse. (Kevin Weiss)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a roundup of all known high school athlete signings in The Laker/Lutz News coverage area:

Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School
Baseball
Adam Berry — Pasco-Hernando State College

Football
Marcus Bezerra — Southern Virginia University (Buena Vista, Virginia)

Carrollwood Day School
Fencing
EJ James — Drew University (Madison, New Jersey)

Soccer
Emma Architetto — Rollins College

Cypress Creek
Baseball
Matt Snyder — Saint Leo University

Soccer
Carter Corrao — Lee University (Cleveland, Tennessee)
Abigail Murphy — Saint Leo University

Softball
Anna Margetis — Daytona State College

Freedom
Golf
Cooper Smith — University of North Florida

Softball
Kylie Coffin — University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Ellis Erickson — Northern Illinois University (Dekalb, Illinois)
Niyah Pope – Eastern Florida State College
Chloe Potts — Florida Southern College

Gaither
Cheerleading
Emily Kochan — Saint Leo University

Cross Country
Gabby Marshall — Pasco-Hernando State College

Football
Tony Bartalo — Bethune-Cookman University
Chance Coleman — Florida International University
Deveon Knighton — Iowa Central Community College

Land O’ Lakes
Baseball
Chris Fergueson — Lake Sumter State College
Ethan Stephens — Polk State College

Softball
Brooke Stanley — St. Petersburg College

Sunlake
Lacrosse
Jacon Schwarz — Barton College (Wilson, North Carolina)
Roberto Valentin — Webber International University

Cross Country/Track
Luke Scheid — Flagler College
Gavin Kennedy — Saint Leo University
Drew Knobl — Southeastern University
Albert La Red — Saint Leo University
Liina Winborn — University of Florida

Steinbrenner
Baseball
Michael Blackwood — Central Connecticut State University (New Britain, Connecticut)
Donovan Garcia — Flagler College
Griffin Garcia — Flagler College
Brayden Heidel — Saint Leo University

Football
Matthew Adcock — University of West Florida
Dean Patterson — University of Findlay (Findlay, Ohio)

Lacrosse
Grady Frey — Huntingdon College

Softball
Sierra Carter — College of Central Florida
Mikayla Johnson — Nova Southeastern University
Frankie Raeckers — Florida Southern College

Wesley Chapel
Baseball
Ethan Jones — University of West Virginia (Morgantown, West Virginia)

Soccer
Noah Leonard — Saint Leo University

Softball
Jordan Almasy — University of Central Florida
Allison Fraley — Pasco-Hernando State College
Morgan Herndon — Lake Sumter State College
Aubrey McLeod — University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Princess Anne, Maryland)

Wiregrass Ranch
Acrobatics & Tumbling
Kenley Karlon — King University (Bristol, Tennessee)

Baseball
Derek Baker — Florida Southern College
Cody Costa — Limestone College (Gaffney, South Carolina)
Chase Wills — Miami-Dade College

Cheerleading
Layla Gilyard — Saint Leo University
Macie Pickard — Saint Leo University

Football
Connor Lenczden — Stetson University

Soccer
Avery Damjanovic — Governors State University (University Park, Illinois)
Kylee Ehman — Indiana Wesleyan University (Marion, Indiana)
Malcolm Lewis —University of North Florida

Zephyrhills Christian Academy
Football
Malik Jones — Florida Atlantic University

Published February 19, 2020

Olympic softball legend inspires at Pasco Chamber

By

To kick off its 27th annual Business Development Week luncheon, The Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce brought in a keynote speaker to serve up a different kind of pitch — literally.

It was two-time Olympic softball gold medalist and ESPN lead softball analyst Michele Smith, a Treasure Island resident who has family ties to Pasco County.

Speaking at Spartan Manor in New Port Richey, the softball legend preached a message of perseverance and handling adversity — tying in athletics, broadcasting and the business world.

Two-time Olympic softball gold medalist and ESPN lead softball analyst Michele Smith was the featured guest speaker at a Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce business luncheon last month. (Kevin Weiss)

Smith is familiar with overcoming setbacks. She suffered a career-threatening injury as a teen, but went on to become one of the most accomplished and recognizable figures in women’s softball.

Smith’s first major hurdle came in July 21, 1986, at 19 years old.

Her father was driving her home from an oral surgeon appointment when a sleeping Smith was thrown from the truck when her car door opened on a turn. She was thrown into a roadside post, chopping off part of her elbow bone and tearing her tricep on her left arm, which severed the muscle and nerve endings in her pitching arm.

At the time, she was coming off a superb freshman year at Oklahoma State and was told by doctors she likely would never pitch.

Smith didn’t accept that diagnosis. She was dead-set on making a comeback.

She put it like this: “I think at 19 I didn’t really realize it and I was a little stubborn. I thought, if I’m never going to pitch again, I’m going to make that decision. I’m certainly going to try to come back from this horrific accident, and so I did.”

Indeed, she made a miraculous recovery.

She was back in the circle in time for her sophomore season, after nine long months of rehab, training and physical therapy. She even returned with greater velocity — adding about 3 mph on her fastball.

“I worked very, very hard to get back,” Smith said. “And, I just kept thinking about this one word —perseverance.”

After the car accident, she had a record-setting career at Oklahoma State. She played professional softball in Japan for 16 years. She was starting pitcher for the gold-medalist U.S. Olympic softball team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia; and, she was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame.

She put those achievements into perspective.

“When people look at me and think, ‘Wow, as an Olympic athlete, you just must be special and this or that.’ No, I worked really hard, and I overcame a lot, and I loved adversity because it brought out the best in me. It really taught me what I’m able to do and what I’m able to accomplish,” she said.

It turns out her first-ever Olympic softball game was 10 years to the day of the car accident.

During her talk, Smith discussed the importance of perseverance and overcoming adversity, tying in her athletic career to her broadcasting and business ventures. (Courtesy of Michele Smith)

Walking onto that field for the first time, she said, “was just one of the most special things in my life, knowing that you can overcome anything if you put your mind to it, and surround yourself with the right people.”

Smith has leveraged her noteworthy playing career into a very successful and trailblazing  broadcasting career, beginning in 1998 at ESPN. Over the years she has also called games for NBC, CBS Sports Network and TBS, where in 2012 she became the first female broadcaster in history to serve as a commentator for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game.

While the gig is “a lot of fun,” there can be some nerve-wracking moments in live television, Smith said.

“Anything that can go wrong in live television does go wrong,” Smith said, with a chuckle. “A lot of times at home you have no idea that the wheels are falling off the bus.

“I’ve had a lot of very interesting moments as an ESPN analyst, but I do love it,” Smith said.

Learning and memorizing facts and statistics about many teams and new players every year is a challenging aspect of the job.

“It’s a lot of homework, and a lot of studying,” she said.

She also mentioned the increasing popularity of televised women’s softball over the years.

The network has begun broadcasting more college softball in February, in place of some college basketball games, she said.

She also noted that some Women’s College Softball World Series games have been moved to ESPN from alternative ESPN2 because the ratings were exceeding Yankees-Red Sox network game broadcasts.

“Those are big, big monumental moves for our sport, for women’s sports, for girls and women,” she said.

Aside from broadcasting, Smith also has dabbled in commercial real estate. She has purchased and rehabbed old buildings in and around the Treasure Island community.

Smith and her project team have transformed the oldest motel in Treasure Island into a vacation rental property called Sunset Inn & Cottages, rated as the community’s No. 1 hotel by Trip Advisor.

Other projects include turning a former laundromat into an upscale event space in Madeira Beach, and renovating a former St. Petersburg gas station into a craft brewery and BBQ restaurant.

Smith said she takes pride in “taking an old building and making it something where people will come and enjoy themselves, and be able to share very special moments in their lives.”

She encouraged those gathered to take a leap of faith and step outside of their comfort zones, like she did when she took on commercial real estate.

She cited one of her favorite quotes — from LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman — regarding entrepreneurs and new business owners. He said: “You jump off a cliff and you assemble an airplane on the way down.”

Smith added: “A lot of times you have to disrupt the status quo if you want growth.”

Of course, learning the real estate game has had its share of growing pains and can be humbling, too, she said.

“There will be times I’m calling a game on ESPN and then the next morning I’ll be running around plumbing a toilet or something,” she said, laughing.

Published February 12, 2020