Returning Winter Garden Squeeze interns bring last year's experience into new summer roles

Although Winter Garden Squeeze interns and West Orange High School alumni Daniella DiSciullo and Zachary Moore work in two distinct roles as interns for the Winter Garden Squeeze, without each other, their jobs would be impossible. 

With an orange microphone in hand, Moore, the team communications intern, tackles postgame interviews with a player who had a standout night or one of the head coaches. DiSciullo, the social media intern, connects the microphone to her phone and carefully records the interview. 

They, then split ways. 

DiSciullo edits and posts the video to the Squeeze’s social media. Moore heads home to his computer to write a gamer, describing the action to someone who wasn’t there — perhaps a scout or a coach who wants to see how a player performed. He also is in the press box for every game doing play-by-play broadcasting for home games and color commentary broadcasting for away games. 

Together, they tell the stories of the Squeeze — through videography and commentary — and their footage fills the Squeeze’s social media page.

They also work together on brainstorming new content. DiScullo said they collaborate extremely well together, never having moments where they become frustrated with each other or disagree. They also bounce ideas off each other to stay current with online trends. 

But behind the scenes, a friendship has grown over the past two summers. 

Both were first-time interns for the Squeeze in 2025 and came in familiar with each other from being in West Orange’s Student Government Association, but they never were close — until now. 

“It’s such a cool friendship that’s been built through the Winter Garden Squeeze,” Moore said. 

Now, they even carpool to all the Squeeze’s away games together — creating lasting memories and even a running joke about the craziness on the roads driving to Sanford. Moore said every time they travel to Sanford, something on the road has happened — whether it’s people breaking for no reason and swerving out of the way or seeing a man walking in the middle of the road. He had to quickly swerve out of the way, and they looked at each other in shock. 

Moore said funny moments like those and enjoying the grind of the summer together has been special. They both know every day isn’t easy; there are rain delays and other technical issues at games that require quick, on-the-fly solutions. 

Photo by Megan Bruinsma

THEIR RETURN 

The Squeeze’s other two team operations interns and West Orange alumni, Carmen Aguilera and Micky Murphy, also help with all of the home-game operations to ensure a smooth event. 

Squeeze General Manager Adam Bates said it’s been huge having three returning interns from last summer. When he asked DiSciullo, Moore and Murphy to return again at the end of last summer they were “absolutely all in.” 

For DiSciullo it was simple: She came back to continue working on the community growth the Squeeze began building last year. 

“(DiSciullo) is just a ‘yes’ girl,” Bates said. “She rarely says no.” 

The continuity helped ensure a smooth transition for this summer. 

Murphy already understood all of the game-day setup and events, but this year, he’s grown. Now, he doesn’t feel like an outsider running the walk-up songs. Now, he’s an integral team member interacting with the fans, players and kids to make everyone feel welcome to Horizon High. He and the other returning interns also helped Aguilera step in for her first season.

Through Aguilera’s first year, she has come to love running the raffle event and getting to know her fellow interns and the greater community. 

Moore has come back in his dream position as the communications intern. He watched Ricky Potts last season, learning from him, and growing as a sports journalist in the last year at the University of Florida by covering softball for The Alligator, the student newspaper. 

“He was coming back ready to go because he just wasn’t last year,” Bates said. “He took a year to learn and bought in on the process. … That was huge.”

But they also came back for the opportunities the Squeeze gave them to pursue their dreams in the future. 

Last season, Moore worked as team operations and dipped his toes in communications, social media and more, but his dream was to work in communications — and he was set up to take it over this year. 

Moore, a rising junior at the University of Florida majoring in journalism with a specialization in sports media, has dreams of becoming a sports broadcaster. He said working in the Florida Collegiate Summer League has allowed him to connect with many in the sporting world such as Rich Hollenberg, a play-by-play commentator for the Tampa Bay Rays. 

“I fell in love with (sports journalism), and I just want to keep rolling with it and this league has given me such an open door to be able to really put myself out there in the journalism world,” he said. 

He emphasized the importance of reps with broadcasting. Repetition is what provides growth and confidence, and he will collect 18 reps throughout the Squeeze’s 18-game schedule. 

DiSciullo also dreams of continuing her involvement with sports down the line. She’s a rising sophomore at the University of Tampa and majoring in accounting with a sports management background. Her plan is to collect experience now and use it to fuel her future job in the operations position in the sports industry.