Leesburg, Fla. – The Lake-Sumter State College softball program is pleased to announce the addition of Jessica Castiglione to the coaching staff.
Castiglione is a local product who spent her high school career at Tavares High School before attending Warner University in the fall of 2013. The former Bulldog is familiar with the Mid-Florida Conference having transferred to Santa Fe College for one season. Castiglione finished her collegiate career at St. Thomas University in Miami. Earning academic All-Conference honors throughout college, Castiglione was also a standout in the circle being named Pitcher of the Year in 2017. The righty tossed 74 innings with a microscopic 1.42 ERA in her final season on the diamond.
From 2016-18, Castiglione coached and trained softball players from Peru and in 2017, was named the Head Coach for the V2Pro travel ball organization. Most recently, Castiglione has displayed her talents as the Head Softball Coach at Mount Dora High School since 2017.
After the departure of both Nikki Sauerbrey and Butch Miller, Castiglione joins Jay Miller as his primary assistant coach and will specifically be in charge of the pitching staff. "It's very exciting to bring in Jessica this season," said Miller. "They are certainly big shoes to fill coming in and replacing two excellent coaches, but she knows her stuff and is hungry to make our girls better."
For Castiglione, the jump from the high school level to college is the right step in her career. "I'm very grateful and excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach Miller and to be a part of the LSSC community," she said. "I look forward to the season and seeing what we have in store as a team this year."
The Lakehawks have seen a giant step forward in the program the last few years. In 2018, the team set the school wins mark and posted the first winning record since 1999. In the past two seasons, the team has collected 58 wins. That ties them with the 1998-99 teams for the most wins in a two year span.