LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) recently announced their 2026 NFCA Division III All-Region teams composed of 386 student athletes from 161 schools and following her record-setting season for the Keene State College softball team, Elyse Picard earned the First Team All-Region selection. The NFCA All-Region awards honor student-athletes from the Association's 10 regions with selections to one of three teams, nominated and then voted for the winners by NFCA head coaches in their respective regions.
 
Elyse Picard, a junior centerfielder and catcher from Southington, Connecticut, adds to her First Team All-LEC selection in her junior season with the NFCA Division III First Team All-Region Region II selection. Picard becomes the first Owl since Jenny Galavotti earned a Second Team All-Region selection as a designated player in 2017, and the first Owl to be named to a First Team All-Region since Mariah Crisp was named to the First Team as a pitcher in 2013.
 
Picard's season at the plate was one of the most efficient among the 38 members of the three Region II teams as she ranked in the top three for batting average, OPS, OB%, sacrifice flies and walks in her junior season. Picard's .465 batting average ranked her third among all members of the Region II teams and the fourth-highest average in a season in program history. Her 1.337 OPS also led the Little East Conference on the season, was the second-best mark in program history in a single season and ranked third among the three Region II teams. Picard's on-base percentage of .569 once again was an LEC-high, while also setting a new single season program record by .017, ranking second among members of the Region II teams and the 17th-best mark in all of NCAA Division III softball on the year prior to the NCAA tournament. Picard's discipline at the plate resulted in drawing a conference-high 26 walks (tied for the second-most in a single season in program history), the second-most among the Region II teams and in the top-40 in all of NCAA Division III softball in 2026 for walks drawn and walks per game (.70). Rounding out her top-three marks among the All-Region Region II teams, Picard led all 38 members in sacrifice flies, with six, which also ranks tied for the eighth-most in all of NCAA Division III softball in 2026.
 
Picard's .768 slugging percentage ranked eighth among the members of the All-Region Region II teams on the season, the fourth-highest mark in a single season in program history, to go with her 15 doubles, tying for the eighth-most among the Region II teams and tied for the second-most in a single season in program history. Scoring 41 runs over the season, Picard also ranked eighth among the Region II teams in 2026, the eighth-highest runs scored in program history in a single season, while her 39 runs batted in are tied for the sixth-most in a single season in program history and tied for the 11th-most in 2026 among the All-Region members in Region II. Of her 46 hits, with the previously mentioned 15 doubles, Picard also tacked on five home runs, tied for the 15th-most among the 38 Region II members, and tied for the 16th-most total bases in 2026 among the Region II members with 76.
 
One of just two members of the Owls' softball team to play in all 37 games in 2026, Picard reached base in 35 of KSC's 37 games on the year (94.6%). Picard drove in four runs in a game four separate games on the season, but her best game at the plate in 2026 was in the Owls' game two win over Eastern Connecticut State University where she went 3-for-3 with a home run, a pair of doubles (tied for the third-most doubles in a game in the LEC on the season), while driving in four runs, scoring two herself, and drawing a walk and hit by pitch in the victory. Although Picard's First Team All-Region selection came as an outfielder, she also caught behind the disk in six games on the year, gunning down 27.3% of runners attempting to steal.
 
Six other student-athletes from LEC schools were named to the All-Region Region II teams, but Picard was just one of three from the LEC to be named to the First Team All-Region team, joined by Elizabeth Mitchell of Eastern Connecticut State University as a pitcher and Lauren Miner of the University of Massachusetts-Boston at third base.
 
Picard, a dual-sport athlete for the Owls, will enter her senior year on the turf for the Owls' field hockey team looking for their third consecutive LEC championship in the fall of 2026 before returning to the diamond in the spring of 2027 for her senior softball season.