In 2025, Lisa Fernandez, one of the most well-known figures in softball, will start her 27th season as a Bruin coach. On August 10, 2022, Fernandez was elevated to the position of Associate Head Softball Coach at UCLA under Mark Kalmansohn. Fernandez oversees the Bruins’ recruiting initiatives in addition to collaborating closely with the team’s batters and infielders.This is Fernandez’s second stint as a full-time assistant coach for UCLA (1997-99, 2007-present), also serving as a volunteer assistant from 2000-04. In 26 previous seasons with Fernandez on staff, the Bruins have posted a 1,212-259-2 (.822) record and have claimed five NCAA Championships in 1999, 2003, 2004, 2010 and 2019. UCLA has also won seven regular-season Pac-10/12 Conference titles with Fernandez as an assistant: 1999, 2002, 2009, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024. With Fernandez on staff, the program has been honored as the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year three times in 2004, 2010 and 2019 and NFCA Regional CSOY eight times in 2000, ’10, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’19, ’21 and ’24. Arguably the greatest pitcher in softball history, Fernandez has coached nine Bruin hurlers to 21 NFCA All-American awards.
Fernandez’s primary coaching responsibility from 2019-23 was in the Bruins’ bullpen. UCLA finished top 10 nationally and top two in the Pac-12 in earned run average in all five seasons after Fernandez took over the role. Under her tutelage, Rachel Garcia won two Honda Broderick Cups, three Honda Sport Awards, one NFCA National Player of the Year, one NFCA Pitcher of the Year, two Pac-12 Player of the Years, one Pac-12 Pitcher of the year and two of her three NFCA First Team All-American honors. Megan Faraimo won three NFCA All-American awards (two First Team) and was honored as the program’s first back-to-back Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year in 2022 and 2023 with the help of Fernandez.Faraimo and left-handed transfer pitcher Brooke Yanez led UCLA’s pitching staff in 2023, helping the Bruins to a 52-7 record and a team earned run average of 1.69, which ranked them second in the Pac-12 and seventh nationally. Faraimo finished with a 29-3 record and 1.42 ERA, assembling her second 20-win season in as many seasons. With 232 strikeouts in 172.0 innings pitched, she was the Pac-12 leader. At the end of her Westwood career, Faraimo was third in the program’s history in both strikeouts (1,000) and victories (101). To extend her career record to seven no-hitters, Faraimo pitched two no-hitters in her last season, her first against a ranked opponent, then-No. 3 Florida. Faraimo and Yanez were both chosen NFCA West All-Region
In June 2019, Garcia put on a performance for the ages in the circle to bring home the Bruins’ 12th NCAA title. Garcia started and was the winning pitcher in all five games at the Women’s College World Series. Garcia tossed a complete game in four of those contests, including a 10-inning shutout with 16 strikeouts versus Washington which she walked off with a three-run homer to give herself the win. In total, Garcia threw 36 of the Bruins’ 38 innings in Oklahoma City.
In November 2013, Fernandez was inducted into the ASA/USA Softball National Hall of Fame, joining Sharron Backus, Gina Vecchione, Sheila Cornell, Dot Richardson and Sue Enquist. A decade prior, she was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.
Fernandez is a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, having helped Team USA to victories in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. In 1996, Fernandez shined in the United States’ 3-1 gold-medal victory over China, recording the final three outs to earn a save. She went 1-1 with a 0.33 ERA in softball’s inaugural appearance in the Olympics in Atlanta.
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