Softball Team to Open Home Schedule This Weekend

Saturday, March 14

Princeton, N.J.

1:30 PM

Princeton University

Binghamton

Photo by: Derrick Tuskan

March 10, 2026 | Softball

To open the second season at Cynthia Lynn Paul '94 Field, the Princeton softball team will host a three-game series with Binghamton this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader and a single game on Sunday.

vs. Binghamton | Live Stats | Int'l Video | Team Yearbook | Free Admission
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. DH | ESPN+ Game 1 | ESPN+ Game 2
Sunday, 11:30 a.m. | ESPN+ | Epilepsy Awareness Game

On Princeton: The Tigers have played three weekends and have a 7-7 record as they begin the home schedule. Among players who average at least two plate appearances per game and have played in 75 percent of the team's games, Julia Dumais leads the team at the plate with a .409 average and co-leads the team with three home runs alongside Mia Valenzuela and Karis Ford. The Tigers are hitting .315 as a team. In the circle, all four pitchers have between 19 2/3 and 27 innings pitched, all between seven and 10 appearances, and all with either three or four decisions. Reece Uehara leads with a 3.44 ERA while Keala Hollenkamp has a team-high three wins.

On Binghamton: The Bearcats are 4-14 on the season and went 3-2 last weekend in games against Niagara, Lehigh and Colgate. Rachel Carey leads the team at the plate, hitting .475 and co-leading the team with five homers alongside Elisa Allen. Binghamton hits .290 as a team. In the circle, all five arms have between 20 1/3 and 23 2/3 innings pitched. Brianna Roberts and Savanna McHale each have a 4.82 ERA and one of the team's four pitching wins. The Bearcats were the preseason pick to finish atop the America East, getting five of the six first-place votes. Of the 14 players on the preseason all-league team, seven were from Binghamton, including C Allen, 1B Emma Lawson, 2B Akira Kopec, OF Maddy Dodig, DP Carey, and pitchers Olivia Kennedy and Roberts, who was the America East Pitcher of the Year in 2025. The Bearcats went 36-14 overall and 16-2 in the conference in 2025, sweeping through the America East Tournament before losing in two games in the NCAA Eugene regional.

Series history: Princeton and Binghamton have met just twice, splitting a pair of games at Long Island University in 2017.

Conference play ahead: This will be the final weekend of pre-conference play for both teams. Princeton will open Ivy League play next weekend when it hosts Cornell, and Binghamton will open America East play with a visit from UMBC.

The Ivy title run: Princeton has won the last four Ivy League titles, which are decided on regular-season play, and has hosted the last four Ivy League postseasons, including the 2022 Ivy League Playoff Series (winning two of three from Harvard), the 2023 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Harvard won), the 2024 Ivy League Tournament (won), and the 2025 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Brown won). Only one other time in Ivy League history has a team won at least four Ivy League titles in a row, and that was Princeton as well, which won seven straight from 1983-89.

Who's back: Reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Brielle Wright is back for her senior season, leading five of the team's six 2025 first-team All-Ivy honorees who return, including Sonia Zhang (3B), Julia Dumais (SS), Braeden Hale (utility) and Karis Ford (DP). Second-team pitcher Cassidy Shaw is back, as is honorable mention Graciela Dominguez (2B) giving Princeton seven returning 2025 All-Ivy Leaguers. Graduated from Princeton's 2025 all-league honorees are outfielder Allison Ha, a four-time All-Ivy Leaguer, three-time All-Ivy outfielder Lauren Sablone, 2025 honorable mention All-Ivy catcher Lauren Pappert. Along with Wright and Shaw, who accounted for 235 2/3 of the team's 301 1/3 innings pitched, Princeton returns sophomore Keala Hollenkamp, who was third on the team with 43 2/3 innings pitched.

Coaching staff: Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren is in her 14th season at Princeton and is the dean of the current Ivy League coaches. All-time, Van Ackeren is the second-winningest coach in program history and sixth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 260 wins. She could become the fifth-winningest coach in league history this season, with former Brown coach Phil Pincince currently in that spot with 269 wins. The top four, all former coaches in the league, are Harvard's Jenny Allard (688), Cornell's Dick Blood (623), Princeton's Cindy Cohen (559) and Penn's Leslie King (354). Princeton has won six of the nine Ivy League Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year honors since the award was inaugurated in 2015, including 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no award in 2020 or 2021). Assistant coach Alyssa Davis is entering her seventh season, Ashley McDonald her second, and Nicole Arias her 12th.

Newcomers: Five Tigers join the team this year, all first-years including infielder/utility player Mia Valenzuela, catcher/infielder Maddie Ratcheson, outfielder Lola Coole, infielder Camryn Bradshaw, and pitcher Reece Uehara.