All-Star play for Apopka and the surrounding area Little League chapters started last week. In a district full of elite talent, Apopka did its best to compete, but with mixed results.
Apopka teams went 4–10 overall in softball and baseball across several age groups. All four wins came from Apopka baseball: three from the senior team and one from the 10U team.
Head coach for the senior team Shawna Mitchell told The Chief she was proud of her ragtag group of kids and their efforts. She told me not all her players were even full-time ball players. Against the odds the Senior team defeated South Lake 5-1, Winter Garden 13-11 and Dr. Phillips 12-8 and fell to Windermere.
“I’m impressed and pleasantly surprised that we beat Winter Garden,” Mitchell said. “And I think if we hadn’t rained out the first night with Windermere, we might have been able to stay on task. If we didn’t have to come back four nights later, we might have done a little better with Windermere.”
Apopka’s Majors team’s head coach Ryan Lewis told me while he expected to lose it still was hard to swallow.
“While this is not the outcome we wanted, this was the outcome that was expected from the start,” Lewis said to his team after the tournament. “These boys poured their heart and soul into every practice and every game, and I, for one, am very proud of them all, as you all should be as well.”
Lewis’ Major team had three very tough outings against Dr. Phillips, Winter Garden and Windermere. Apopka fell in three straight shutout games, 18-0, 15-0, and 24-0. All three cities have large enough programs that they fielded teams for the 11U tournament and the 12U tournament, while Apopka’s team was comprised of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds.
Apopka Little League’s President Gary Odom said last week that it wouldn’t be easy to get out of Apopka’s district with the opponents they had to face.
Still, Lewis said that his team could have kept up if it had been competing against teams with that level of talent all season.
He went on to say that there is a big problem with keeping Apopka’s talent playing for Apopka—an issue that is becoming more prevalent in all sports, including football and basketball. He hopes that will change with the increasing number of Apopka youth continuing to come out to their Little League chapter.
“Our biggest downfall in Apopka is we do nothing to promote our top talent, and they inevitably leave for travel ball or leagues that have competitive programs,” Lewis said. “Hopefully, the increase in younger kids in the program can change that, but that remains to be seen.”
Apopka won the Major division national championship in 2001, but it has fallen on hard times since then. However, Central Florida continues to churn out elite talent: Last year Lake Mary became the first team from Florida to win the Little League World Series.
