Softball Puts Five on 2025 CACC All-Conference Teams; Burawski and Stearns Earn Major Awards

FULL CACC RELEASE W/ TEAMS

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – After winning the CACC's regular-season title for the first time since joining the league in 2023, the University of Bridgeport's softball team was rewarded with five All-Conference slots and a pair of major award winners for the 2025 season. The league announced its end-of-the-year awards on Monday.

Graduate student Kaite Burawski was selected as the CACC's Pitcher of the Year while junior Mya Jones joined her on the All-Conference First Team. Additionally, Angela Oros, Madison D'Amato and Sydnee Perreault were all tabbed as second-team selections.

In addition to the student-athletes recognized, UB's leader in the dugout, Dawn Stearns, was named the 2025 CACC Coach of the Year after guiding the Purple Knights to a 19-3 conference record and an overall mark of 32-12.

Stearns, now in her 16th season at Bridgeport, has put together a masterful campaign this spring. The Purple Knights have reached 30 wins for the third time over their last five full seasons while their 19 conference triumphs are the most in the Stearns Era.   

Additionally, Stearns eclipsed the 300-win mark at Bridgeport earlier this year and currently stands as UB's all-time winningest coach with 330 total triumphs. She has led UB to the NCAA tournament four times over the last five completed campaigns.

Kaite Burawski, who was also voted as the ECC's Pitcher of the Year in both 2021 and 2022, has been a major reason for the Purple Knights' recent success. She has strung together the greatest pitching career in UB softball history.

Burawski's illustrious time in the circle features a career ERA of just 1.90 across 715.2 innings pitched. She has piled up a remarkable 974 strikeouts, which is nearly an average of 10 per 7-innings pitched, while sitting with 77 career victories.

This season, Burawski leads the CACC in almost every pitching category. She holds a record of 17-4 with 160 strikeouts in 137.2 innings pitched. Burawski ranks No. 1 in the conference in all those categories while also being second in the league in ERA (1.73).

Mya Jones, meanwhile, makes it three-for-three in her career with All-Conference distinctions. This time, after two years of being on the second team, she has been upgraded to CACC All-Conference first-team accolades.

Jones has been at the top or near the top of every offensive category in the league this season. She currently ranks second in the league in RBIs (48), fourth in batting (.438) and third in on-base percentage (.497). Jones has at least one hit in 32 games while tallying multiple knocks in 20 different contests. She has racked up 10 doubles, a triple and two home runs.

Jones has been rewarded for her terrific play this season. The Delaware native was named the CACC's Player of the Week on March 24 in addition to being selected to the NFCA's National Player of the Year Watchlist a few days later.

Angela Oros, who was a first-team selection a year ago, has been equally superb in her final season at UB. The Arizona native is another player who is all over the CACC's leaders page, including the second highest slugging percentage (.724) in the conference, third highest RBI total (47) and second-most home runs (9).

In conference games, Oros was even better. She finished No. 1 in all three of the categories listed above in addition to ranking second in runs scored (28). Oros was also recognized for her play during the year, being anointed as the CACC's Player of the Week on March 17.

Madison D'Amato, meanwhile, has been nothing short of spectacular during her senior campaign. The shortstop has started all 44 of UB's games and is either first or second in the CACC in six different statistical categories. D'Amato's top skill this season has been remarkable consistency. In fact, the Rhode Island native strung together a marvelous 32-game hitting streak, which spanned over six weeks, and is locked in as the sixth-longest hitting streak in the history of DII softball.

All in all, D'Amato is currently ranked eighth in the country in batting average (.473) which features league bests in both total hits (69) and doubles (19). The team captain is also slotted second in the CACC in runs scored (53), walks (22) and on-base percentage (.549).

D'Amato joined Jones on the NFCA's National Player of the Year Watchlist which was announced in late March.

Sydnee Perreault rounds out Bridgeport honorees with her first All-Conference nod in her second season with the Purple and White. The Rhode Island native leads the entire country in sacrifice bunts per game (.55) while also boasting a .316 batting average and a .415 on-base percentage. Perreault has started 42 of UB's 44 games in the outfield and ranks third on the squad in both walks (16) and runs scored (34). She is also tied with Oros for the team lead with three triples. 

The entire UB softball squad will return to action on Monday as they host eighth-seeded Dominican in the CACC Tournament First Round.

For all information regarding Bridgeport Athletics, log on to www.UBKnights.com and follow UB Athletics on Facebook (UBPurpleKnights), Twitter (@UBPurpleKnights) and Instagram (@UBPurpleKnights).