NATCHITOCHES – Three key pieces of the second-largest single-season win increase in the country this year earned postseason recognition, the Southland Conference announced on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Northwestern State junior transfer Mattison Buster was named 2026 SLC Newcomer of the Year along with earning a first-team pitcher selection. Sophomore corner infielder Brynn Daniel earned a first-team utility spot and super senior transfer JT Smith was named to the all-defensive team in center field.
 
Buster and Daniel represent the first all-conference selections for the Demons since Makenzie Chaffin earned a second-team honor in 2022. The two first-team awards mark just the second time in the past 10 years NSU has produced two first-team players.
 
Buster is the first Demon to be named Newcomer of the Year since Annie Johnston in 2001.
 
Smith's all-defensive selection in center marks the second straight season that honor has gone to NSU after Sophia Livers took the award in 2025.
 
NSU's stalwart in the circle during the 2026 season, Buster is the only pitcher to throw more than 100.0 innings in conference play. She led the league with 59 strikeouts and tied for the most wins in SLC play with 11. 
 
She established herself as one of the league's top pitchers when she became the first hurler since 2021 to earn two wins in the same series against McNeese. Three weeks later, she twirled back-to-back shutouts on the road at SFA as part of a stretch of 19.2 straight scoreless innings pitched.
 
She also became the first three-time recipient of an SLC weekly award, earning Pitcher of the Week on March 2, March 16 and April 6. Against the top two seeds in the conference tournament, she held Southeastern (3) and McNeese (1) to the fewest hits in an SLC game this year and was the only SLC pitcher this year to throw a complete game shutout against McNeese.
 
Overall, Buster led the conference in complete games (21), games started (32), innings pitched (198.0), pitching appearances (38), shutouts (6), strikeouts (111) and wins (21). She is one of 12 pitchers in the country with 20 or more wins this year, just the fifth Southland pitcher in the past five years to record 20 wins in a season, and tied the NSU school record with 21 wins.
 
Daniel led the team in conference play with a .390 batting average, 21 RBI and a 1.042 OPS. She ranked on the top 10 in conference play in RBI (21), doubles (7), HBP (5) and OBP (.484). Daniel had nine multi-hit games during SLC action and four multi-RBI games, with hits in 16 of the final 18 SLC games of the season. 
 
 
The Bixby, Okla., native also led the Demons in batting overall this year as well with a .384 average and 1.000 OPS. Her 12 extra-base hits are the second most on the team. With a .500 on-base percentage entering the tournament, Daniel is one of two players in the Southland with an OBP of .500 or higher this year. She has the opportunity to break the NSU single-season record in that category at season's end.
 
This year, she has put together three different reached base streaks of 10 games or more, including a career-long 15-game stretch from March 27 through April 17.
 
Her 53 hits are the third most by a Demon since 2018 and she is just the third player in the past 10 years to score 30 runs while posting 50 hits and 30 RBI in a season, joining fellow first-team selections Laney Roos (2022) and Cayla Jones (2018, 2019).
 
NSU's dynamic five-tool leadoff hitter, Smith showcased her abilities all season at the plate and roaming center field.
 
Her 53 putouts in conference play are the most by an SLC center fielder this year. She had two outfield assists in league play, four overall, and turned one double play. The lone error she made in SLC action was a throwing miscue against Southeastern that did not cost the Demons a run.
 
Smith had 93 putouts in center this year, the most by an outfielder in the SLC.
 
Northwestern State is the only school to have a center fielder named to the all-defensive team.
 
Adding to her defensive prowess, at the plate Smith ranked in the top 10 in conference play in runs scored, walks, triples, sacrifice flies and hit by pitches. Her .495 on-base percentage was the fourth best in league play and she finished with a .930 OPS.
 
Her knowledge of the strike zone allowed her to have the fewest strikeouts in conference play this year, with just one in 109 total plate appearances, and none through the first 107 trips to bat and 26 games. 
 
NSU opens play in the Southland Conference Tournament at 7 p.m. on Thursday against Nicholls.