FAIRFIELD–A year ago, with a very young team on the field, the Fairfield Stags were all about gaining experience.
Coming into this season, head coach Julie Brzezinski hopes to use the first 25 games of this season to grow even more and then attack the MAAC season with a passion and an aggressiveness that would showcase a more mature team.
“We had a young team, and now that young team has got a year under their belt, so we’re just looking to get a lot more experience in our southern trips,” Brzezinski said. “We open up at Stetson and then Georgia Southern, and then Penn State and Charleston Southern. We have about 20, 25 games there. So we really hope to gain a lot of experience and come back and start playing the Northeast schedule and start competing in the MAAC right away.”
In the preseason coaches poll, the Stags were picked to finish seventh, but Brzezinski is hoping her team can do one better.
“The first goal is to be in the top six,” she said. “And then our overall goal is just to win the MAAC, as it is every year.”
To do that, though, the Stags will have had to grow up in a hurry, including in the circle where three pitchers return.
Alyssa Weinberg (4-10, 5.47 ERA), Chela Kovar (3-8, 4.78 ERA) and Peyton Shields (0-2, 4.54 ERA in just six appearances before getting hurts. (Weinberg is pictured above).
The Stags coaching staff is expecting a big year out of Weinberg, a junior who has 56 appearances over the past two seasons.
“We’re excited about Alyssa Weinberg on the mound and this is her junior year, so she got a lot of experience the last two years and now she’s the elder I guess, out of the crew. So we’re excited to have her and see what she can do on the mound.”
Behind the plate, junior Delaney Whieldon has been pretty much the team’s full-time starter and should be again this season. Freshman Ava Armuth will see time as well as she “gets her voice behind the plate,” Brzezinski said.
Faith Camilleri, a transfer from Adelphi, is expected to see a lot of time at first base for the Stags while across the diamond at third, two-year starter Anna Paravati will handle things.
Up the middle, Morgan Silvestre, a four-year starter, will man second base while Martina Gutierrez (is returning as the starter at shortstop. Silvestre was a preseason All-MAAC selection while freshman Christina Meyer gives the Stags depth at short.
Cara Kochakian (18 RBIs) will provide depth at first. She was third on the Stags in RBI last season, so expect her to find her way into the lineup again.
In the outfield, center fielder Charlie Warren, a two-time All-Region player, is one of the Stags who has shined the brightest in her career.
“She’s had a great career thus far, so we just want her to stay in her zone and do what she does,” Brzezinski said. “She just drives the ball, bunts the ball. She’s a triple threat for sure. She is our leader in the outfield.
Warren (.325, 35 runs scored, 13 RBI) and Silvestre (.375, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 17 runs) are the top two hitters in the line-up, too, and two of the top table setters in the MAAC.
“Those two seniors are going to be good and they just got to play their game and relax and know that they’ve proved themselves already,” Brzezinski said. “They just got to go out and enjoy what you’re doing and just keep competing like they do. There are little spark plugs up top there.”
In the corners of the outfield, some of the Stags younger players will be fighting for jobs, including junior Quinn McGonigle, Dani Silvestri, Darby Weller and freshmen Caroline Walls and Gillian Deans (also a catcher) can see time out there.
“I think they all do a strong job defensively,” Brzezinski said. “It’s going to be more about who’s going to be stepping up with the bats in those two corner positions in the outfield.”
Natalia LoCurto, a transfer from Lafayette, and Alivia Macaluso both have bats that could land them some DP time, as well.
Six freshmen are joining the Stags and Brzezinski has liked what she has seen so far through the fall season and this spring.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “Every freshman class is different. This class never really got the—I call it the ‘Deer in the headlight look.’ They just kind of got it. They work hard, they do a great job in the classroom. They didn’t skip a beat. They’re organized kids, they just jelled right in and their confidence level is pretty strong. So we’re looking forward to them getting their feet wet, getting some experience and then thrive going forward.”
An added bonus to this season is the addition of cross-town rival Sacred Heart University to the MAAC.
While the Stags and the Pioneers have never dodged each other and have played each other in non-conference games, now the rivalry gets kicked up a level.
“I’m excited that they joined. I think it just gives us another rival, which adds to the intensity level,” Brzezinski said. “It’s nice to start that tradition going forward.”
The Stags and Pioneers will play a doubleheader on April 15 at 2 p.m., at Fairfield U’s Alumni Field.
First, however, the Stags have plenty of games to get ready. They open the season on Friday at the Hatter Classic, opening against Bethune-Cookman (12 p.m.) and host Stetson (5:30 p.m.)
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