PREVIEW: Softball Heads to Adelphi for 2026 NCAA East Regional

REGIONAL INFO PAGE | FULL NCAA BRACKET

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Time to Dance! The University of Bridgeport's softball team is off to compete in the 2026 NCAA East Regional this week at Adelphi University. The seventh-seeded Purple Knights open action on Thursday at noon against the host Panthers, who are seeded second in the region.  

ABOUT THE REGIONAL
The NCAA East Regional features a double-elimination format split into two separate pods, with the top two seeds serving as hosts. The Purple Knights are part of East Region 2 alongside second-seeded Adelphi, third-seeded STAC and sixth-seeded SNHU.

East Region 1 will be hosted by top-seeded Franklin Pierce and includes fourth-seeded Caldwell, fifth-seeded Assumption and eighth-seeded Mercy.

The winners of each pod will advance to a best-of-three Super Regional series next weekend (May 21-22), hosted by the highest remaining seed, with a berth into the 2026 NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. on the line.

THE 2026 CACC CHAMPIONS
The Purple Knights stormed through the CACC Tournament last week with a perfect 5-0 record to capture the first CACC championship in program history and their first league title since winning the ECC crown in 2022. UB punctuated its historic run with back-to-back victories over top-seeded Caldwell, who is the No. 4 seed in the NCAA East Regional.

UB played some of its best softball of the season throughout the tournament, averaging 6.6 runs per game while piling up 10 doubles and four home runs across the five victories. The Purple Knights were just as dominant in the circle, surrendering only 2.4 runs per contest behind a sensational showing from senior Vise Zarate.

Named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, Zarate was masterful throughout the week, going a perfect 5-0 with a miniscule 0.70 ERA over 30.0 innings pitched. The senior right-hander walked just three batters while striking out 14 to lead UB to the conference crown.

THE CACC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Zarate was joined on the CACC All-Tournament Team by Mya Jones, Sydnee Perreault, McKenzie Morgan, Breanna Pelaez and Sophia Philippou following UB's championship run.

Jones, the 2026 CACC Player of the Year, was outstanding throughout the tournament, posting a stellar .467/.579/.733 slash line across the five games. Perreault and Pelaez also caught fire at the plate, each batting above .400 for the week, while Perreault powered the offense with a remarkable 10 RBIs.

Morgan added five RBIs of her own while handling all 33 innings behind the plate during the tournament run. Philippou also delivered in key moments, blasting a solo home run in Friday's victory over Caldwell while hitting .333 across the week.

RED HOT PURPLE KNIGHTS
The Purple Knights head into the East Regional as one of the hottest teams in the country, carrying a nine-game winning streak while going an impressive 15-3 over their last 18 contests.

Since the calendar flipped to April, UB's offense has been firing on all cylinders, batting .319 as a team while piling up 42 doubles and 20 home runs across 21 games.

CLEAN SOFTBALL
The Purple Knights have also been playing exceptionally clean softball during their recent surge. UB committed just three errors across its five victories in the CACC Tournament, while their opponents combined for 14 miscues.

The Purple Knights have been equally sharp at the plate in clutch situations this season, batting .327 with runners in scoring position and .302 with two outs.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Adelphi enters the NCAA East Regional as the No. 2 seed after putting together a 35-21 overall campaign, including a 19-4 mark at home.

The Panthers finished second in the NE10 standings with a 27-9 conference record before going 2-2 in the NE10 Tournament, suffering narrow losses to fellow East Regional qualifiers Assumption and SNHU.

The Panthers rank sixth in the NE10 with a .266 team batting average while averaging the conference's fourth-most runs per game (4.4). In the circle, Adelphi owns a 3.13 team ERA, which ranks fourth in the league.

FAMILIAR FOES
UB and Adelphi are no strangers to one another, having already met twice earlier this season on March 18 at Seaside Park, where the Panthers swept the doubleheader.

The matchup also mirrors the exact scenario from the 2024 NCAA East Regional when seventh-seeded UB traveled to take on second-seeded Adelphi in the opening round. That game proved to be tightly contested, with the Panthers earning a 2-1 victory.

The two programs have crossed paths multiple times on the NCAA Tournament stage in recent years. During the 2021 regional, Adelphi defeated the Purple Knights twice by scores of 3-2 and 4-2 in another pair of closely played games.

FOLLOW ALONG
For all information regarding East Region 2, including live stats and video links, click HERE. A full NCAA bracket can be found HERE.