BRISTOL—There are certain players who seem to know what’s going to happen before it happens.
The shallow fly ball starts falling into no-man’s land, and somehow they’re already there.
A pitcher drops a changeup in the dirt, and they’re already halfway to second base.
The pressure mounts, the crowd grows louder, the moment gets bigger, and somehow they get calmer.
Those players usually have one thing in common.
They’re coach’s kids.
Long before St. Paul Catholic senior Julia Kozlak became one of Connecticut’s most complete softball players, she was spending weekends with the CT Titans travel organization in Bristol and Terryville, where her father, Jon, was one of the coaches.
While other players arrived at tournaments shortly before game time, coach’s kids were often the first ones there and the last ones to leave.
The game wasn’t just something they played.
It was something they lived.
“I definitely say that it was a big advantage for me growing up,” Kozlak said. “I kind of got to see both sides of him on the field and off the field. He always helped me with strategy and mindset. He still does.”
Those lessons helped shape the player Kozlak has become.
Entering Saturday night’s Class S championship game against North Branford, the St. Paul center fielder is hitting .634 with 31 stolen bases. She hasn’t been caught stealing all season and hasn’t committed an error in 26 games.
The numbers jump off the page.
The way she produces them is even more impressive.
“Composure and confidence,” St. Paul coach Gary Hovhanessian said. “She just doesn’t get rattled.”
It’s difficult to argue.
Kozlak has struck out only four times all season.
Four.
In a sport built around failure, she simply refuses to give away at-bats.
She bunts. She slaps. She drives balls into gaps. Most importantly, she finds ways to get on base.
“I don’t give a crap how she does it,” Hovhanessian said with a laugh. “She gets on base.”
One of the biggest moments of St. Paul’s season came during the NVL Tournament championship game against Holy Cross.
The Falcons had beaten Holy Cross 12-0 earlier in the season, but the rematch was anything but easy.
With the game on the line in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kozlak battled through pitch after pitch before lining a game-winning hit over the third baseman’s head.
“There was no fear,” Hovhanessian said. “Of all the players I’d want up in that situation, she’d probably be number one.”
The confidence isn’t limited to the batter’s box.
Despite stealing 31 bases, Kozlak isn’t the fastest runner on the field.
She’s simply one of the smartest.
“I think she hasn’t been caught stealing a base yet,” Hovhanessian said. “It’s not that she’s fast. She’s not the fastest kid in the world. She’s just a smart softball player.”
That softball IQ traces directly back to those years spent around the game.
To the practices.
To the tournaments.
To the countless conversations with her father, who remains her hitting coach to this day.
“He pretty much taught me everything I know,” Kozlak said. “Especially hitting. He’s been my hitting coach my entire life.”
She laughs when talking about it, but the trust is obvious.
“I definitely trust what he says because I know he knows what he’s doing. I see the time he puts into watching videos and learning different drills. It’s proven to work for me,” she said.
It certainly has.
At one point this season, Kozlak was among the nation’s leaders in batting average, hitting over .700, while helping guide St. Paul back to another state championship game.
This year’s appearance carries a different feeling than last year’s.
The Falcons reached the Class S final in 2025 before falling to North Branford, the very team they’ll face again Friday night.
Back then, many of St. Paul’s key players were experiencing the stage for the first time.
This year is different.
“We’ve definitely gotten used to the pressure,” Kozlak said. “I think this year we know what to do with the pressure and we know how to handle it.”
Even the Falcons’ loss in the NVL Tournament may have served a purpose.
“I think it focused us on not taking any team for granted,” Kozlak said. “And going out there strong every game.”
Soon, Kozlak’s softball journey will take her to Iona University, where she’ll continue both her academic and athletic career.
The fit felt right almost immediately.
She loved the size of the school.
She loved the location.
Most of all, she loved the team atmosphere.
“I’ve gotten so lucky with great teammates and a great atmosphere on all the teams I’ve been on,” she said. “That was really important to me.”
It’s also why softball ultimately won out over another sport she once played at a high level.
Golf.
At one point, Kozlak was competing seriously in both sports before eventually choosing softball.
The deciding factor wasn’t trophies or statistics.
It was people.
“Softball brings me more joy,” she said. “The difference was the teammates and the fun that I have out there on the softball field.”
Now, after years spent learning the game from dugouts, practices and tournament fields across Connecticut, the coach’s kid has one final high school game remaining.
One final chance to bring home a state championship.
And if history is any indication, she’ll already know exactly what the moment requires.
After all, she’s a coach’s kid.
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