After two years as a varsity softball assistant coach, Amy Bukovsky (left) will take over as head coach at Montini, starting in 2024.
The Bukovsky name has been legendary at Montini and in sports at the high school level.
Amy Bukovsky, who was recently named the Montini Broncos softball coach, plans to add to that legend. Not only was she a player at Montini, but she would head to Lewis University to play collegiately. She was the Montini assistant softball coach for the past two years.
She follows in the footsteps of her father, Mike Bukovsky, who has coached multiple Montini teams to state championships, not to mention the individual wrestlers he has guided to state titles. At different times at Montini, Mike Bukovsky has been the wrestling coach, football defensive coordinator, head football coach and softball coach.
Amy’s father and uncle were college athletes in the 1980s as both competed in different sports in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Her father was a wrestler for the North Central College Cardinals. Her uncle, Mark Bukovsky, not only starred for the Bronco track team in the early to mid-1980s, but then went on to compete for Elmhurst College, now Elmhurst University, in both track and cross country.
“I think my playing experiences will allow me to identify and build a bond with the players,” said Bukovsky, who is 25 years old. “My age allows me to let my energy and enthusiasm for the game and the school shine through. When I got the opportunity to return as an assistant two years ago, I was very excited. I am even more excited about this upcoming opportunity. I look forward to guiding the Broncos.”
She will be especially helpful in training the middle infielders. Bukovsky, who played either shortstop or second base during her college and high school career, earned all-state status during her high school career. Her .525 batting average at Montini during her senior season helped her earn a spot at Lewis.
For the Lewis Lady Flyers, she helped turn them from a team that was below .500 by eight games during her freshman and sophomore seasons to one that was over .500, both overall and in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
As a senior, Bukovsky, who started 29 games, had 10 hits, all of which were singles, and drove home five runs. Defensively, the Aurora native had 107 chances. She had 52 putouts and 55 assisted putouts. In her final season, 2021, the Lady Flyers were 26-18 overall and 16-12 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
“Helping the Lady Flyers make the post-season during my junior and senior seasons was pretty memorable,” she said. “We all worked hard individually and together as a team/unit. I will never forget getting the game-winning hit in the final game before COVID canceled the rest of our season. For that reason, it will probably be in my memories for the rest of my life.”
For her career, defensively, she had 265 chances and made only 11 errors for a fielding percentage of .958. She had 134 assisted putouts and 111 putouts on her own.
The Yorkville High School teacher, who is currently teaching ninth-grade English, helped Montini post two winning records as an assistant coach. She takes over for Erin Bradarich.
During the last two years as an assistant coach, Bukovsky helped guide the Broncos to a 19-10 overall mark in 2022 and 16-12 in 2023.
“I have always been a defensive-orientated player,” said Bukovsky. “There are many athletes that relish going to the plate, but I loved being able to halt a rally or rob the opposition of a hit. I loved those games where I was all over the field, making diving plays, backhanding grounders, throwing off the wrong foot, grabbing a grounder deep in the infield and turning a double play and catching a fly ball in foul territory. Those short celebrations with my teammates after those plays are some of my favorite memories.”
For her play on the field, the Great Lakes Valley Conference gave her the James R. Spalding Award, which recognizes a student-athlete that displays exemplary sportsmanship, character and conduct.
The daughter of Jodi Bukovsky of Oak Forest and Mike Bukovsky of Darien, as well as the stepdaughter of Debora Utley of Davenport, Iowa, earned two bachelor’s degrees—one in Secondary Education and one in English Language Arts. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction: English as a Second Language. She has also taken master’s degree level classes at Lewis.
She won the David Delahanty Award at Lewis five times. The honor is given to Flyer Student-Athletes that display not only outstanding athletic performances but academic performance. She was also named to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Academic All-Conference Team five times.
“Softball has always had a special place in my heart,” she said. “I am strongly drawn to it and not sure why. It has been that way my entire life. I find something therapeutic in it. It was more fun for me than any other sport.”
