Salem University Claims 2026 Softball National Championship

DUBOIS, Pa. – In what was their fourth dominant performance in four games, fifth-seeded Salem University claimed the 2026 USCAA Softball National Championship with a 9-3 win over top-seeded Florida National Thursday afternoon.

The Tigers scored over eight runs per game on average on the week, winning two of their four matchups in run-rule fashion on the way to hoisting the trophy.

The offense for Salem wasted no time seizing control of the game. An RBI single by Kylie Zinn put the home team on the board before the Tigers loaded up the bases for Ali Shrieve, who hit a bomb over the left center field wall to take a 5-0 lead through the first inning.

The Conquistadors didn’t go quietly, taking advantage of two Salem errors to plate a pair of runs, but the momentum was halted as the Tigers got another RBI from Shrieve, who reached on an infield single that plated Layla McClung and pushed the score out to 6-2.

Salem pushed two more runs across one inning later as Jacobi Gledhill sent a pitch off the wall in right center to score Brooke Wise and Kendall Lemley, stretching the lead to six. Zinn’s RBI single in the sixth pushed the score to 9-2 before FNU’s Isabella Silva hit an inside the park home run in the seventh to get to the final score.

Lemley was named Tournament MVP and earned her fourth win of the tournament, going the complete game and fanning four Conquistadors. She also went 1-for-3 at the plate. Gledhill led all hitters at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Zinn and McClung each went 2-for-4.

Florida National was paced by Silva, who also went 3-for-4, scoring two of the three Conquistador runs.

All-Tournament Team

Madison Sunderland - Bay Path

Linda Shepard - PSU New Kensington

Jacobi Gledhill - Salem

Brooke Wise - Salem

Ali Shrieve - Salem

Alyssa Julien - FNU

Elizabeth Owens - FNU

Sophia White - FNU

Alisha Lanyon - FNU

Tournament MVP: Kendall Lemley - Salem