The Florida Gulf Coast League’s inaugural season is nearing its end, and the league has announced plans for All-Star festivities to cap the regular season and serve as a lead-in to the league playoffs.
On Saturday, July 18th, the league will host a Home Run Derby; All-Star Game; and present the “Coasty Awards” for performance during the summer league’s season. When all is said and done, the season will have spanned five weeks of regular season play and a week that includes playoff games.
Eight power-hitting standouts will take part in the home run derby; the event is headlined by Riley Ludlam, who leads the league in longballs, as well as her fellow former JWOS Players of the Week Lizzie Shubert and Mack Leonard. Also in the field are Maddi Banks; Haley Lee; Sarah Longley; Nikki Cuchran; and Taylor Johnson.
Thirty-eight players were selected for the league’s All-Star Game, where two teams of nineteen players each will take part in “The Battle for the Beach,” the creative moniker given to the All-Star matchup. The game will pit one team called The Sun against a second team playing as The Surf; many of the team nicknames in the FGCL are related back to some element of a Florida summer.
All eight of the Home Run Derby participants were selected to the All-Star Game. Ludlam, Banks, Cuchran, and Johnson will suit up for the Sun team, and will notably be joined by standout pitchers Shannon Saile and Jenna Greene, among others. On the Surf side, their own quartet of Derby sluggers headline the All-Star roster and are joined by such standouts as Jenny Jansen of the Myakka City River Mocs and Devyn Flaherty of the Bradenton Lynx.
The Home Run Derby kicks off the festivities at 5:00 pm on Saturday, with the Coasty Awards following at 6 pm and the All-Star Game at 6:30.
Full All-Star Game rosters:
