Fairfield University Women's Softball

Julie Brzezinski completed her 28th season as the head coach of Fairfield University softball following the 2025 campaign. Under her guidance, the Stags have won two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament titles (2015, 2017) and earned the school's only two trips to the NCAA tournament. Under her guidance, the Stags have earned a spot in the MAAC Softball Tournament in 24 of her 28 seasons at the helm, winning the conference championship in 2015 and 2017. She has posted 16 winning seasons during her tenure at Fairfield including six campaigns with 30 or more wins. She is a three-time MAAC Coach of the Year, winning the award outright in 2012 and 2004 while sharing the honor in 2002.  In 2017, the Stags won four straight games in the MAAC tournament to earn the crown and went on to earn a berth to the Baton Rogue Regional where they nearly upset nationally-ranked LSU in a 2-1 game before playing McNeese State later in the tournament. In 2015, Fairfield garnered selection to the Tuscaloosa Regional where the team took on host University of Alabama and USC-Upstate. Brzezinski has posted an 960-887-6 overall record during her 35 seasons as a head coach, including a 245-195 mark in eight seasons at Campbell University. Her record at Fairfield stands at 715-692-5 through her 28 seasons at the helm. Brzezinski came to Fairfield with eight years experience, coaching at Campbell University in North Carolina. Brzezinski led the Fighting Camels to two Big South Conference championships (1993 and 1994), one Trans Atlantic Conference title (1995), and one TAAC runner-up finish (1996). Campbell advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament during her tenure. She registered a 245-195 record in her eight years. . Brzezinski graduated from Furman University in 1989, earning a bachelor of arts degree in business administration. She received her master’s of education from Campbell in 1992. She played softball for four seasons while at Furman.

               Ava Fitzmaurice joined the Fairfield University softball program in August, 2024 as an assistant coach after holding down the same position at Southern Connecticut State University during the 2023-24 campaign. In addition to her coaching experience, the Greenville, N.Y. native excelled on the diamond as a student-athlete at the University of New Haven and Siena College.                In her inaugural season as an assistant coach, Southern Connecticut reached the Northeast 10 Conference championship semifinals after posted 18 wins during the 2024 season. She also assisted with the Capital District Fusion U-16 team beginning in the summer of 2019.                Fitzmaurice enjoyed success on the diamond as a student-athlete as well, beginning with three years at the University of New Haven. With the Chargers, she finished with 39 victories in the circle which ranked 9th all-time in school history. She also garnered Third-Team All-America and All-Region honors from the NFCA after posting a 21-5 record and a 1.06 ERA in 2019. She was also a two-time All-Northeast-10 Conference as a  pitcher and utility in addition to earning the Northeast-10 Southwest Division Player of the Year award. In the classroom, she collected multiple berths to the Northeast-10 Academic Honor Roll.                She continued her collegiate career with two seasons at Siena College where she was a NFCA All-Region student-athlete at pitcher/utility. She posted a 13-8 record with three saves in 2023 with the Saints in addition to batting .333 with 10 doubles, three triples, four home runs, and 44 RBI . During the 2022 season, she owned a 9-7 record as a pitcher and .313 batting average in the batter’s box, adding 12 doubles with three homers and 32 RBI to her season totals. Fitzmaurice gathered All-MAAC honors and was  a member of the MAAC Academic Honor Roll while at Siena.                Fitzmaurice was graduated from the University of New Haven with a bachelor of science in business and added a master’s degree in business administration from Siena College.