NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State saw five players earn a spot on the Southland Conference All-Academic team, the conference office announced on Thursday.
 
Mattison Buster, Brynn Daniel, Aly Delafield, Makynlie Jones and Riley Schwisow each earned a spot on the team for the Demons. This is the second straight all-academic honor for Delafield and the first from the Southland for the other four honorees.
 
To be considered for academic all-conference selection, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's total games at the position listed on the nomination form.
 
Southeastern pitcher Hallie Burns was named SLC softball student-athlete of the year.
 
Both of NSU's first-team all-conference players in 2026, Buster and Daniel, earned spots on the conference-wide team.
 
Buster (biology, 3.75) was named the league's newcomer of the year and led the Southland in inning's pitched, strikeouts, complete games and wins. She tied the NSU single-season record with 21 wins in the circle and ranked in the top 10 in five other program pitching record categories.
 
Daniel (communications, 4.0) was an on-base machine for the Demons, setting the single-season record with a .508 on-base percentage this year, the first NSU player to finish a season reaching base in more than half of their plate appearances. She was one of two players in the Southland to end the year with an OBP over .500, the other being SLC Player of the Year Victoria Altamirano.
 
Daniel also led the team with a .380 batting average and .493 slugging percentage. She was the first player since Cayla Jones in 2019 to end the year with an OPS over 1.000 and became the ninth player in the past 25 years to record 30 runs, 50 hits and 30 RBI in the same season.
 
Buster and Daniel were also both members of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team.
 
Delafield (psychology, 3.49) earned her second straight academic all-conference honor after a second-team selection in 2025. 
 
She finished third on the team this year with a .324 batting average, her second straight season hitting at a .320 clip or better with 20 or more runs scored and 35 or more hits. She established career highs with 10 doubles and 24 RBI and produced a .421 on-base percentage.
 
Jones (chemistry, 3.42) led the Demons in doubles, home runs and RBI in her first season in Natchitoches, as one of the big bats in the middle of the lineup. She also was an elite defender, going the entire year without committing an error in either of the two positions where she saw action, first base and right field, in more than 180 chances, the third most on the team.
 
Schwisow (communications, 3.97) also displayed her defensive prowess throughout the season, serving as the primary third baseman through much on conference play. Schwisow made just one error during league play, the second fewest of any player on the team with more than 15 chances, only behind Jones' zero.
 
She hit nearly .300 at the play in conference play with a pair of doubles and .708 OPS and tied for the second most stolen bases against Southland competition.