Julie LeMaire is in her second season as head coach of the Fort Hays State University softball program. She guided Fort Hays State to over 30 wins and its third straight MIAA Tournament appearance in her first season with the program.

LeMaire came to the program from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where she served as assistant coach for two years. She worked primarily with the pitching staff, outfielders and hitting. In her first year at Lynn (2007), the pitching staff posted a 5.83 ERA. LeMaire's guidance helped dramatically improve that number to 2.69 for the 2008 season.

Prior to her stint at Lynn, LeMaire served as a graduate assistant coach at the University of North Dakota for two years. With the Fighting Sioux, LeMaire worked with the development of the pitchers, outfielders, and hitters, while assisting in recruiting, budget management and fundraising. She also taught physical education courses while working towards the completion of a master's degree.

LeMaire put together a solid playing career at Quincy (Ill.) University, an affiliate of NCAA Division II. During her senior year, she was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player while setting a single-season school record in home runs. She earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II All-Region Second Team honors and All-Great Lakes Valley Conference Second Team honors. She also had much success as a pitcher winning 29 games in her career. She was the recipient of Quincy's Brother Clete Van Ackeren Award for Academic and Athletic Achievement in 2004.

A native of Basco, Ill., LeMaire earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Quincy University in 2004 and earned a master's degree in Kinesiology from the University of North Dakota in 2007.

To contact coach LeMaire, email her at jrlemaire@fhsu.edu, or call at (785) 628-5885.

Erin Brunt is in her second year as the assistant coach for the Fort Hays State University Softball program.

On the field, Brunt assists in all areas of the Lady Tigers softball program, focusing mainly on the development of catchers and infielders. Off the field, her duties include assisting in team management, recruiting, scouting, fundraising, and alumni relations.

Brunt came to Fort Hays from Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Florida, where she spent one year as a graduate assistant following a solid four-year playing career as the Lions’ catcher. Her graduate assistant duties included recruiting, scouting, tutoring student-athletes, organizing community service, and field maintenance. During her year as a graduate assistant, the Lions finished 37-15, tying for second place in the Sunshine State Conference. They finished third in the South Region rankings, and 19th in the NFCA Division II poll.

As a player, Brunt was part of two teams that qualified for the NCAA Division II South Regional, earning all-conference honors all four years and Second Team All-South Region in 2006. In addition to those honors, she was the recipient of the 2006 Women in Sports Sodexho Scholarship; 2007 Sunshine State Conference Female Sportsmanship Award; 2005-2006 SLU Female Scholar Athlete of the Year Award; 2005-2006 SLU Community Award; 2004-2005 SLU Personal Development Award; and was a four time NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete. Brunt was a career .291 hitter; finishing third all-time in Lions softball history with career home runs (12) and fourth all-time in career doubles (40).

Brunt was the Head Coach in the summer of 2007 for Team FLA 16U and moved up to Head Coach of Team FLA 18U Gold in the summer of 2008.

A native of Clearwater, Fla., Brunt earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Saint Leo University in 2007 and earned a master's degree in Health and Human Performance from Fort Hays State University in 2009.

To contact coach Brunt, email her at eebrunt@fhsu.edu, or call at (785) 628-4687.

Alex Eaton is in her first year as a graduate assistant coach with the Fort Hays State University softball program.

Eaton was one of the top four-year players in the Fort Hays State softball program history. She played for the Tigers from 2006-2009. She ranks highly in several career offensive categories at Fort Hays State. Eaton is the career leader in triples (14) and sacrifice flies (5). She is third in sacrifice hits (23), fourth in games played (202), at bats (587), and hits (173), fifth in total bases (239), seventh in runs scored (83), RBI (78), and slugging percentage (.407), eighth in career batting average (.295), and tenth in doubles (20).

Eaton was also a very accomplished student at Fort Hays State. She was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team in 2009. She was a three-time recipient of the MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll. She carried a cumulative GPA over 3.8 throughout her senior year.

Eaton is a native of Parker, Colo. She received her bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Fort Hays State in 2009 and is currently working on a master’s degree in Health and Human Performance at Fort Hays State.