FRISCO, Texas — Northwestern State's Mattison Buster and Lamar's Isabella Flores have earned this week's Jersey Mike's Southland Softball Player of the Week awards, the conference office announced Monday. Buster gets her third nod of the season while Flores is a first-time winner.
Softball Hitter of the Week: Isabella Flores, Lamar – Fr. – INF – Wylie, Texas (Wylie High School)
Flores batted .600 (6-of-10) for the series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with nine RBIs, three homers, one double and five runs scored while also breaking the single-season RBI record at Lamar with 45 as a freshman. She homered twice, including a grand slam and drove in six runs during LU's Game 1 victory. Flores then contributed two hits in LU's record-tying seven-run comeback victory in Game 2 of the series. Then, in Game 3, after a double, she ended the 9-0, five-inning contest with a walk-off three-run homer, her second walk-off homer and third walk-off hit of the season. This was also the eighth walk-off victory for Lamar this season, a new school record, and Flores also has the Cardinal record for most career walk-off RBIs, which she achieved 39 games this year.
Softball Pitcher of the Week: Mattison Buster, Northwestern State – Jr. – RHP – Sulphur Springs, Texas (Como-Pickton High School)
Buster turned in a near perfect week in the circle for the Demons picking up three wins in three complete game outings and two road shutouts at SFA. She struck out six in a complete game win against her former team Louisiana Tech in a midweek win, allowing the only run of the week in third inning. Buster did not allow a run to an SFA team that entered the series averaging 5.1 runs per game overall and 8.0 per game on their four-game winning streak. She extended her scoreless inning’s pitched streak to 19.0, a career best, with her second shutout in the finale. For the week she had a 0.33 ERA allowing just one earned run in 21.0 innings of work across three complete games and two shutouts. Buster leads the SLC in wins, complete games, innings pitched and shutouts this year and is tied for the most wins by a Demon pitcher since 2013.
Honorable mention: Hallie Burns, Southeastern | Averi Paden, Nicholls
2026 Southland Conference Softball Players of the Week
| Date |
Hitter |
Pitcher |
| Feb. 9 |
Ellie Vance, SFA |
Hallie Burns, Southeastern |
| Feb. 16 |
Rylee Cloud, McNeese |
Molly Yoo, Nicholls |
| Feb. 23 |
Reagan Heflin, Nicholls |
Brookelyn Taylor, McNeese |
| March 2 |
Nyjah Fontenot, McNeese |
Mattison Buster, Northwestern State |
| March 9 |
Alexis Dibbley, McNeese |
Brookelyn Taylor, McNeese |
| March 16 |
Maria Detillier, Southeastern |
Mattison Buster, Northwestern State |
| March 23 |
Cala Wilson, Lamar |
Kendra Winfrey, A&M-Corpus Christi |
| March 30 |
Ellie Vance, SFA |
Cera Blanchard, Southeastern |
| April 6 |
Isabella Flores, Lamar |
Mattison Buster, Northwestern State |
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school's sports information director. Voting for one's own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.