VESTAL, N.Y. – For the second time in program history - and the first time since 2015 - the Binghamton softball program has won the America East championship. 

The Bearcats (36-12) defeated Bryant (22-32) 10-3 in the final round of the conference tournament on Sunday morning at the Bearcats Sports Complex Softball Facility to lock down the title and earn the accompanying automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division I Tournament. Binghamton will learn of its next destination when the NCAA Tournament selection show is aired tonight at 7 pm on ESPN2.

"This is such a surreal moment," head coach Jess Bump said. "We talked all year about our goal being to win a championship and I am just super proud of everyone in our program. The girls have earned it and they deserved it."

Junior pitcher Brianna Roberts was named the America East Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Against the Bulldogs on Sunday, she scattered three runs on four hits and struck out 10 batters to raise her record to 21-2. For the tournament, Roberts went 3-0 with a 1.22 ERA and struck out 27 batters in 23.0 innings of work.

Joining Roberts on the America East All-Tournament Team were junior first baseman Emma Lawson, graduate student outfielder Brianna Roberts and redshirt sophomore shortstop Akira Kopec.

Lawson went a perfect 4-for-4 on Sunday with a home run, two doubles and four RBI. She finished the tournament 4-for-9 (.444) with a team-high five RBI. Santos made five putouts in deep right field against the Bulldogs on Sunday while Kopec went 3-for-8 (.375) during the tournament, homered and drove in three runs.

Unlike their previous two tournament games, the Bearcats gave Roberts plenty of run support early, going up 6-0 through five innings. Lawson and senior third baseman Sarah Rende belted solo home runs during that stretch. In addition, Lawson also roped an RBI double, Kopec had a sacrifice fly and freshman designated player Rachel Carey singled home a run.

Bryant pulled to within 6-3 in the top of the sixth inning on a three-run home run by Hannah Cochran. Binghamton, however, got four insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to go up 10-3. Lawson had a two-run single and sophomore second baseman Maddy Dodig clubbed a two run double during that frame.

From there, Roberts retired Bryant in order in the top of the seventh inning to lock up the title. 

Graduate student outfielder Lindsey Walter, who made the catch on the final out of the game, went 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs. She concluded the tournament with a team-best .500 batting average (5-for-10). Walter also became the first Binghamton softball player ever to receive the America East's Elite 18 Award. 

Dodig finished the weekend with a .375 batting average (3-for-8) and drove in three runs. In the process, she extended her hitting streak to a career-best 12 games.

The 36th victory of the season moves Binghamton to within one win of the program record set by the 1995 team that finished 37-8. The 2025 Bearcats have now won a season-high 10 games in a row and have gone 19-1 since April 4. 

The Bearcats' America East championship is the first since Bump became the head coach at her alma mater in August 2021. A 2014 graduate of Binghamton University, she has run up a record of 122-73 and has been named the America East Coach of the Year in each of the last two seasons. Michelle Johnston - Bump's college coach - won the 2015 crown during her 12-year tenure with the Bearcats (2010-21).

The softball program has now won four conference championships all time. In addition to the two America East titles, Binghamton won the 1995 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) crown in 1995 as well as the New England College Conference championship in 1999.

Binghamton's upcoming appearance in the NCAA Tournament will mark its sixth all time in program history. In addition to its 2015 trip to the James Madison Regional, Binghamton advanced to the 1995-98 NCAA Division III Tournaments. The Division of Athletics elevated to the NCAA Division I level prior to the 2001-02 academic year.

The softball team is now the eighth Binghamton program to have won multiple America East titles. It joins men's tennis (10), baseball (five), men's swimming & diving (four), volleyball (three), golf (two), men's soccer (two) and men's cross country (two). Both the men's tennis and golf programs currently compete in the Northeast Conference (NEC) and the men's tennis team has won the past two championships.

This also marks the first time that any Binghamton program has won the America East Tournament at home since the baseball team in 2009. 

NOTES: The 10 runs scored against Bryant on Sunday represents the second most scored by Binghamton in an America East Tournament game. The Bearcats plated 11 runs against Stony Brook in 2017. In addition, the 14 hits by Binghamton ties its highest total in an America East Tournament game ... Lawson's four hits ties the Bearcats Sports Complex Softball Facility record, which was set by Jessica Rutherford back in 2018.