LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Oklahoma City University junior shortstop Analise Rayburn won her second straight NFCA Player of the Year honor to lead the three NAIA major award winners announced by the Association on Tuesday afternoon.

William Carey junior Jayden Sawyer was voted the 2026 Portolite/NFCA Pitcher of the Year, while Rayburn’s Oklahoma City teammate, third baseman Hadley Gibson, collected NFCA Freshman of the Year recognition this season.

Rayburn again won two-thirds of the NAIA offensive triple crown to unanimously repeat as the NFCA Player of the Year, leading the nation in home runs (26) and RBI (101) for the second consecutive season. She also ranked second in the NAIA in total bases (183) and slugging percentage (1.005), fourth in runs (74) and fifth in doubles (23). The two-time first-team NFCA All-American batted .429 with 78 hits, 27 walks, a .488 on-base average and a 1.493 OPS as the Stars went 50-9, won their first Sooner Athletic Conference tournament title since 2022 and advanced to the title game of the NAIA Opening Round.     

Sawyer, meanwhile, led the NAIA in strikeouts (251) and ranked second nationally in ERA (0.85) this season for the (41-14) Crusaders to earn her second career first-team NFCA All-America honor. The right-hander went 24-4 in 32 appearances and 27 starts, with 21 complete games, 13 shutouts and one save over 181.1 innings, as William Carey reached the final of its NAIA Opening Round bracket. She allowed just 25 runs (22 earned) all season, limiting opposing batters to a .124 average and compiling a 0.82 WHIP, and was also the team’s third-best hitter, batting .346 with four doubles, eight homers and 38 RBI. Sawyer scored her first NFCA All-America honor in 2024, her final year at NJCAA Division II Jones College.

Gibson beat out five other finalists for the Freshman of the Year nod. She led NAIA in runs scored (83) and was perennial powerhouse Oklahoma City’s second-best hitter in her first college season. Gibson batted .457 over 59 games, with 85 hits (ninth in NAIA), 21 doubles, three triples, two homers, 47 RBI and 29 steals in 30 attempts.

Williams Baptist’s Addison Foster (Region I), Bryan’s Ava Saul (Region II), Dordt’s Rylee Yager (Region IV), Central Methodist’s Emma King (Region V) and Campbellsville’s Lydia Jones (Region VI) were Gibson’s fellow finalists. All six earned all-conference and NFCA All-Region accolades this season. Only Jones did not receive the Freshman of the Year award in her respective conference.

The Player of the Year award was created to honor the outstanding athletic achievements among softball student-athletes throughout the NAIA. In 2019, the Association expanded the award to include a Player and Pitcher of the Year. To be eligible, student-athletes must be nominated by their member head coach.

The Freshman of the Year award honors the outstanding athletic achievement among freshman softball student-athletes throughout NAIA. To be eligible, student-athletes must come from an NFCA member institution.

Awards are voted on by the Association’s NAIA All-America Committee, which is composed of one elected member head coach from each of the NFCA’s six regions.

NFCA Player & Portolite/NFCA Pitcher of the Year recipients

2026 – Analise Rayburn, Oklahoma City (player)/Jayden Sawyer, William Carey (pitcher)

2025 – Analise Rayburn, Oklahoma City (player)/Ayla Davies, Southern Oregon (pitcher)
2024 – Sarah Giles, Jessup (player)/Cassandra Valdez, Our Lady of the Lake (pitcher)
2023 – Haley Loffer, College of Idaho (player)/Annaliese Wood, Georgia Gwinnett (pitcher)
2022 – Kennedy Jackson, Oklahoma City (player)/Emily Cerny, USAO (pitcher)
2021 – Maile Deutsch, McPherson (player)/Allison Golic, St. Xavier (pitcher)
2019 – JC Smith, Oklahoma City (player)/Gabby Sandoval, Southern Oregon (pitcher)
2018 – Emily Cerny, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
2017 – Kaisey Carson, Indiana Wesleyan
2016 – Nicole Nonnemacher, St. Xavier

NFCA Freshman of the Year recipients
2026 – Hadley Gibson, Oklahoma City

2025 – Ayla Davies, Southern Oregon

2024 – Tara Hoehner, Oklahoma City

2023 – Kira Baker, Baker

2022 – Riley Sanders, Southeastern

2021 – Emily Loveless, Reinhardt

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