SANFORD, Fla. - The Lightning won the play-in game against the Seminole County Scorpions on Monday night and were rewarded with a spot in the semifinals versus Winter Park. The semifinals is a best-of-three series, with games one and three (if necessary) being hosted by Winter Park, and game two taking place in Leesburg. Winter Park will play all of their home playoff games at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

The Lightning, riding a ten-game winning streak, ran into the buzzsaw that is the Diamond Dawgs. The Dawgs scored in half the innings in which they went to bat, totalling eight runs in the contest.

Winter Park got off to a fast start, with three runs in the second inning. Colson Hebble doubled home Cam Meehan to put the Dawgs on the board, which was followed by a couple of RBI singles. After two innings, the Lightning trailed 3-0.

Jason Fointno added a run on an RBI groundout to the shortstop that made it a 4-0 game. Daniel Carinci followed it up with a run-scoring single...

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LEESBURG, Fla. -- What’s better than playoff baseball? There is truly nothing like a postseason game at Pat Thomas Stadium. The Seminole County Scorpions had the daunting task of walking into the Pat to face the Leesburg Lightning in a win-or-go-home situation. The matchup was the play-in game of the FCSL playoffs, with the winner moving on to face the top seed, Winter Park, and the loser going home.

The matchup was a pitcher’s duel from start to finish. Quinton Martinez took the ball for the Scorpions and delivered a masterpiece. The lefty tossed seven innings of nearly flawless baseball, allowing no runs and just three hits. He also racked up five strikeouts.

Dylan Kelley (South Florida State) was on the mound for the Bolts. He allowed his one and only run in the fourth inning, when Michael Christopoulos drove in a run on a 4-3 groundout. The Scorpions took a 1-0 lead, which lasted for seven innings.

Kelley exited in the sixth, finishing with a line of 5.2 innings of...

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LEESBURG, Fla. -- The Leesburg Lightning (21-17) and the Seminole County Scorpions (8-30) returned to Pat Thomas Stadium for a double header on the final day of the regular season.

GAME ONE

The Lightning entered the game 1.5 games back of the Sanford River Rats, as the Rats resided in the third place spot in the standings. Sanford defeated Winter Park to prevent the Bolts from overtaking them in the standings. 

The Lightning were the away team in game one, so they went to the plate first. The leadoff man, Parker Pillsbury (Chipola), was not going to waste any time making his mark on game one. He cranked his fifth homer on the first pitch of the game to give the Lightning and early 1-0 lead. 

Pillsbury added to his RBI total in the second with a single to center that scored Pablo Cedeno (UCF). After Pillsbury swiped second Tate Mathis (North Alabama) drove in Tucker Horsley (North Florida) and Pillsbury with a two-RBI single. After two, the Lightning led 4-0.

That...

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LEESBURG, Fla. -- The Leesburg Lightning (19-17) and the Seminole County Scorpions (8-28) faced off on Thursday night in a battle of the fourth and fifth place teams in the Florida League standings.

The Scorpions got a first inning home run from Parker Smith (Rollins) that gave them an early 1-0 advantage. It was the fourth bomb of the season for Smith. 

The Lightning did not trail for long, as the Bolts evened the score in the bottom of the first when Nick Lewis (Valdosta State) drove in Parker Pillsbury (Chipola) on an infield single and tied the game at 1-1.

In the second, Robbie Scott (North Florida) reached base on a single with two outs in the inning. Pillsbury followed Scott and crushed a two-run home run, his fourth of the season, that pushed the Bolts out to a 3-1 lead. 

Leesburg got their second home run of the game in the third inning, this time from Clark. The North Florida backstop’s second homer of the year was a two-run shot that extended the...

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DELAND, Fla. -- The Leesburg Lightning (18-17) and the DeLand Suns (25-12) got together for a makeup game on Wednesday evening at Melching Field in DeLand.

This game was all about the Lightning offense. The Bolts scored early and scored often at Melching Field. A Jarrett Backus (King College) double got the scoring started for Leesburg in the first, as the hit pushed across Tate Mathis (North Alabama) and Nick Lewis (Valdosta State) and gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead. The Lightning would go on to score four more runs in the first on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, a bases-loaded walk and an error by the Suns. After just one inning of play, the Lightning held an astounding 6-0 lead. 

The Lightning went right back to work in the second, with Max Law (Embry-Riddle) driving in Lewis with an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-0. Later in the inning, Tanner Clark (North Florida) delivered a two-run single and the Bolts found themselves with a 9-0 lead after an inning and a...

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