STORY LINES

- Binghamton (20-25) is making its third trip to the NCAA Tournament and its second consecutive appearance. The Bearcats earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by repeating as America East champions this past weekend.

- The Bearcats and host Oklahoma are joined in the Norman Regional by Michigan and Kansas. Binghamton's first game in the double-elimination tournament is against the host Sooners on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

- The Bearcats' previous two trips to the NCAA Tournament were to the James Madison Regional in 2015 and the Oregon Regional last year. Binghamton earned a three seed last year.

- Sophomore third baseman Rachel Carey was named the America East Player of the Year and was the Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament this past weekend. She currently ranks fifth in the nation in batting (.477), has homered 14 times and driven in 47 runs. Carey also ranks second in the nation with 0.42 doubles per game as well as No. 31 with an .876 slugging percentage.

- Junior catcher Elisa Allen has a team-best 16 home runs and 44 RBI so far this season. In addition, her 46 career home runs tie her for the all-team lead in America East Conference history. 

- Including Carey and Allen, the Bearcats posted four first-team America East all-conference selections in 2026. They were joined by senior utility player Emma Lawson and graduate student outfielder Darien McDonough. Carey was also joined on the America East All-Tournament Team by freshman designated Lauren Payne, senior pitcher Olivia Kennedy and junior pitcher Delaney Glover.

- At the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Lawson batted .333 with a double and four RBI. The Bearcats' games last year were against Stanford and Weber State.

- Carey has hit safely in a team-best six straight games heading into the NCAA Tournament. Junior outfielder Maddy Dodig has a five-game hitting streak while Lawson has hit safely in three games.

- The 73 hits by Carey represent the highest single-season total in Binghamton program history. So too do her 134 total bases and 33 extra-base hits. Furthermore, she has 19 doubles and is one away from tying the single-season record set by Jami Pier in 1999.

- Oklahoma is the overall No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners have won eight national championships - including four in a row from 2021-24. This marks the first-ever meeting between Binghamton and Oklahoma in the sport of softball.

- Michigan has made 12 appearances in the Women's College World Series (WCWS) and won the national championship in 2005. The Bearcats' lone meeting against the Wolverines came on Feb. 28, 2015 at the Arizona State Tournament. Michigan - who was then ranked third in the nation - won that game 15-0.

- Kansas, meanwhile, is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2015. The Jayhawks are 35-19 so far this season and won a program-best 14 Big 12 Conference games. Binghamton and Kansas have yet to face off in softball. 

- As a team, Binghamton has already broken the program record with 85 doubles this season. In addition, the Bearcats' 52 home runs rank second all time while their .319 batting average ranks third.

- Fifth-year head coach Jess Bump – a 2014 graduate of Binghamton – has a career record of 142-100 (.587). She has been named the America East Coach of the Year twice (2024 & 2025) and led the Bearcat to two America East championships (2025 & 2026) as well as a pair of regular season crowns (2024 & 2025).

- Binghamton played a challenging non-conference schedule at the start of this season. The Bearcats faced South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Florida Atlantic and Coastal Carolina during the first three in-season tournaments of the year. The Bearcats also met Power-4 Conference opponents Syracuse and Illinois

 
BEARCATS BY THE NUMBERS
 
1
Binghamton is the first team in America East history to have three straight Softball Player of the Year selections. Allison L'Amoreaux earned the award in 2024 followed by current junior catcher Elisa Allen (2025) and sophomore third baseman Rachel Carey (2026).

1
Graduate student Darien McDonough hit the Bearcats' lone grand slam this season - a two-out shot in the bottom of the sixth inning against UAlbany on April 4.

3
Binghamton landed a conference-best three players on the America East All-Academic Team (Emma Lawson, Rachel Carey and Olivia Kennedy).

3
Three different Binghamton players have hit three doubles in a game this season - which ties the program record. They include Darien McDonough (vs. Colgate on March 8), Lauren Payne (vs. Princeton on March 15) and Rachel Carey (vs. Bryant on April 12).

4
The Bearcats posted a conference-best four players on the America East first team (Rachel Carey, Elisa Allen, Emma Lawson and Darien McDonough.

6
Sophomore third baseman Rachel Carey drove in a career-high six runs at Cornell on April 21.

7
In the America East Tournament final round, the Bearcats came back from a seven-run deficit (7-0) to win 10-8. It represented the largest comeback in program history.

9
Junior catcher Elisa Allen has nine career two-home run performances, including a pair of games this season.

15
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, senior utility player Emma Lawson and junior outfielder Maddy Dodig have reached base safely in a team-best 15 straight games.
 
23
Sophomore third baseman Rachel Carey has posted a team-best 23 multiple-hit games so far this season. She has nine games with at least three hits as well as a pair of four-hit performances.