BRIDGEPORT—There are Hall of Fame careers, and then there are Hall of Fame months.

For former East Haven High School and University of Bridgeport softball standout Allison Luzzi Brooks, October 2026 is shaping up to be a little bit of both.

Brooks, who went on to become one of the UB’s top softball players, was inducted into the Purple Knights’ Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 3. This Sunday, Oct. 18, she’ll receive another honor when she is inducted into the East Haven High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame.

Two Hall of Fame inductions. Two weeks apart. One softball career that began on the Little League fields of East Haven.

“It was kind of just all my hard work has paid off,” Brooks said. “I feel like that was the final step in my softball career and a great way to close that chapter.”

For Brooks, a 2016 East Haven graduate and 2020 Bridgeport graduate, the two honors represent something more than individual accomplishments.

And according to University of Bridgeport head softball coach Dawn Stearns, Brooks’ impact on the Purple Knights program went well beyond the numbers she put up on the field.

“She was basically the start of our great success that we’ve had in the last seven or eight years,” Stearns said. “I really think that she sparked the entire program with her success.”

A home run and a college career

Sometimes, the road to a college softball career begins with a recruiting email, a showcase tournament or a conversation with a coach.

For Brooks, it included a home run that landed practically at the feet of her future college coach.

During her junior season at East Haven, Brooks helped lead the Yellowjackets to a state championship, earning Most Valuable Player honors along the way.

Stearns happened to be in attendance.

“Coach Stearns was actually at the state championship game, and I ended up hitting a home run that landed right next to her,” Brooks recalled. “I know fate, right?”

The connection eventually led Brooks to Bridgeport, where she found the right fit both on and off the softball field.

“When I went on my official visit, I just was walking around the campus and I was like, ‘Oh, I could really see myself here,’” Brooks said.

Meeting members of the team only reinforced that feeling, and Brooks ultimately chose to become a Purple Knight.

It was a decision that would change her life in ways she couldn’t have imagined at the time.

From East Haven to Bridgeport

Long before she became a college softball standout, Brooks was a young girl who wasn’t particularly interested in the activity she was doing.

Dancing.

“My dad started me down in Little League in East Haven, and at the time I was dancing and I hated it,” Brooks said. “It was so boring to me. And softball was just, it was fun and all of my friends played it and eventually started to be pretty good at it, so I stuck to it. And yeah, the rest is history.”

Brooks eventually became a year-round softball player, taking lessons whenever she wasn’t competing.

At East Haven, she made an immediate impact, starting at third base as a freshman before moving to shortstop for her final three seasons.

The Yellowjackets were ranked among the state’s top 10 teams in each of her four years, with Brooks helping lead the program to a state championship during her junior season.

She finished her high school career with a school-record 155 hits and earned New Haven Register All-Area recognition. She was also an All-State volleyball player, making her a standout in two sports.

Her success continued at Bridgeport, where she became a fixture at shortstop and one of the Purple Knights’ most productive offensive players.

In 2018, Brooks batted .378 with 51 hits, 11 doubles, nine home runs and 27 RBIs in 41 games. A year later, she hit .354 with 45 hits, 13 doubles and 18 RBIs.

Those numbers were compiled despite a college career that ended prematurely when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the 2020 season to an early conclusion.

“Unfortunately, COVID cut short her senior year, otherwise her stats would even be more staggering,” Stearns said.

For Stearns, however, what made Brooks special wasn’t simply her ability to hit or play shortstop.

It was the way she approached the game.

“Super gritty, super gritty, super hyped, just wanted to be in charge, was a very vocal leader,” Stearns said. “She wanted to get the job done and she was very, very accepting to coaching and coaching her up.”

That willingness to learn, Stearns said, separated Brooks from other talented players.

“She was a good player and some people think, ‘Oh, I’m a good player and they don’t know. They can’t make me better.’ But she accepted every bit of coaching that we gave her to make her even better.”

Stearns described Brooks as a complete player who could make an impact in virtually every aspect of the game.

“Great hitter, great fielder, great communicator,” she said.

Brooks also holds a special place in Stearns’ coaching career as the first softball player she has coached to be inducted into Bridgeport’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

“She was a special kid and it’s my first kid to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for softball,” Stearns said.

More than softball

While Brooks’ accomplishments on the softball field are being celebrated this month, her years at Bridgeport helped shape another important part of her life.

She met her future husband, a member of the Purple Knights baseball program, while attending the university.

Today, the couple lives in Milford and recently welcomed a daughter.

Brooks also found her professional calling at Bridgeport.

Originally planning to become a physician assistant, she eventually pursued a different career path and now works as a pediatric cardiac sonographer at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

“Bridgeport changed my life pretty drastically,” Brooks said. “I met my husband there, this baby’s his. And before I went to Bridgeport, I wanted to be a physician’s assistant, and that just didn’t turn out the way that I wanted it to.”

“And now I am a pediatric cardiac sonographer and I get the chance to work with kids, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. So it’s changed my life in every single way, I would say.”

Her demanding work schedule has made it difficult to pursue coaching, despite receiving opportunities to do so after graduating.

But Brooks has still found ways to give back to the sport.

For several years, she provided private softball lessons, helping younger players develop their skills and prepare for the next level.

One of those former students recently committed to play college softball and reached out to thank Brooks for her role in that journey.

“One of my girls actually just committed last year to college, and she texted me thanking me for making her the player that she is today,” Brooks said. “And that was just such an amazing feeling to have a full circle moment because I felt that with my coaches and now having players text me that, it was pretty great.”

It’s the kind of moment that reminds Brooks how much softball has given her, and how much she can still give back.

A fitting conclusion

Brooks will be one of seven members of the East Haven High School Alumni Association’s 2026 Hall of Fame class, which will be honored Sunday at noon at Woodwinds in Branford.

The 39th annual induction ceremony will also recognize former East Haven athletes Megan Kikosicki, Michael Verderame, John Pellegrino and Michael Griffith, along with Jack Stacey and Eileen Parlato.

For Brooks, the ceremony will bring her softball journey back to the community where it began.

And while she considers the two Hall of Fame inductions a fitting conclusion to her playing career, the sport might not be finished with the Luzzi family just yet.

After all, Brooks’ father, the same man who introduced her to Little League softball years ago, already has ideas about the family’s newest arrival.

“Oh my gosh, yeah,” Brooks laughed when asked whether her daughter had already received a softball or baseball bat. “My dad’s like, ‘Let’s get her going. Let’s start lessons.’”

Some things, apparently, never change in a softball family.

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