PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Mady Lyons has been named to the 2026 Academic All-America® Softball Division III Third Team, which was announced by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) on Tuesday, June 16.

An Exercise and Sports Science major with a 4.00 grade point average (GPA), Lyons led the conference with a .509 average to go with a league-leading 55 hits, 15 doubles, 15 home runs, 48 RBI, 1.065 slugging pct., .584 on-base pct., and a 1.649 OPS en route to earning CNE Player of the Year accolades. The Prior Lake, Minnesota native hit safely in 29 of 36 games this season, ripped off a 14-game hitting streak from March 5 to April 11, and tallied 19 multi-hit outings and three 2-home run games in 2026.

Over the final 14 games of the season, Lyons drew 14 walks as opponents throughout the CNE attempted to keep Lyons from beating them; during that stretch, however, the Wildcats posted a 10-4 record. Lyons smacked two home runs and drove in a season-high five against Suffolk on March 29, and drove in four runs in consecutive outings against Endicott (March 30) and Rhode Island College (March 31).

Lyons .509 average and 15 round trippers are the second-highest single season marks in program history, while her 15 doubles and 48 RBI and fifth and sixth, respectively. She graduated No. 1 in program history with 39 home runs and is also tops in doubles (56), No. 2 in RBI (171), tied for No. 3 in hits (199), No. 6 in both average (.404) and walks (51), and No. 7 in at-bats (429).

The Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2025-26 Division III Academic All-America® program. The entire Division III team retained a collective grade point average (GPA) of 3.85.

Lyons was the only student-athlete from the CNE recognized on the teams.