The Penn State Brandywine Lions softball team has followed up its  historic 2025 title, capturing a second consecutive United East Conference championship in 2026.

Brandywine won its first-ever United East softball championship in 2025, beating Penn College 8-7 in a comeback victory.

Because Brandywine still had provisional NCAA Division III status during its first title season, the team did not advance to the NCAA tournament in 2025 even after winning the conference championship.

In 2026, the Lions entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed and defending champions after going 16–0 in conference play and compiling a 29–7 overall record before the East Conference tournament.

Strong pitching and timely hitting throughout the season advanced the team throughout the season.

Some notable activity included a  21–8 offensive explosion against Penn College with 24 hits.

Slugger Madie Culbertson had multiple home-run performances in multiple big games against Penn State Berks.

Back-to-back title wins cement Penn State Brandywine as one of the top softball teams in the United East.

In the title game May 9, Penn State Brandywine secured a 3-2 victory over Penn College.

Kaylee Mushiniski delivered a two-out, walk-off single during her final at-bat. Mushiniski lined a base hit into the left-center field gap, scoring Valentina Capra with the game-winning run.

The Penn College Wildcats put six hits on the board during the second and third innings, to take the lead; however, pitcher April Lewandowski set down 12 of the final 15 batters she faced, keeping Penn College off the scoreboard for the final four frames.

The Lions trailed until the fifth inning when Brandywine struck for a two-out run to tie the score.

Brandywine collected 10 hits off of Penn College hurler Mackenzi Tice, who threw more than 400 pitches in four complete-game efforts during the two-day tournament.

Find out more details here about the May 9 title game and read some of the player profiles.