Kurtz KCAC Player of the Year, Campbell Freshman of the Year in Avila Softball Awards Haul

Capping off yet another excellent season for one of the top teams at Avila Athletics, a total of seven Avila softball players earned postseason recognition from the KCAC in the 2024 campaign, the conference announced this week. Avila's awards haul is headlined by three First Team All-Conference selections, including KCAC Freshman of the Year honors for catcher Hallie Campbell and KCAC Player of the Year status for standout senior centerfielder Chelsea Kurtz.

Avila softball is certainly a known commodity on campus and in the conference. Regular season champions in their first year in the league and tournament champions just last year, Avila has placed at least five players on the postseason All-Conference lists every year (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season), including at least one First Teamer every year since Avila joined the KCAC in 2018-19.

This year, Avila can boast three First Team selections (Kurtz, Campbell and Stephanie Hayes), two Second Team selections (Ka'Zem Wood and McKayla Cotton), one Third Team selection (Montana Stangel), two Gold Glove recipients (Kurtz and Julia Douglass) and two of the five winners of the league's individual awards. It's an impressive haul that rivals if not bests that of teams that finished ahead of Avila in the standings, a reflection of the skill and talent the Eagles possessed in 2024.

And once again, Chelsea Kurtz was at the forefront of it all. The senior from Wichita has been Avila's everyday starter in the leadoff spot and in centerfield for four straight seasons, and capped off a record-setting Avila career by earning First Team All-Conference status for the second time while also becoming the second player in program history to be named KCAC Player of the Year in softball, joining Mia Moreno, Kurtz's teammate in 2021, who earned that distinction two years prior.

Kurtz has been an all-conference honoree all four seasons, and finished her career with her best year yet. Kurtz was by far Avila's leader in batting average (.409), on-base percentage (.503), hits (63), and runs scored (55), all while setting the Avila softball single season record for stolen bases in a season with 80, breaking the mark that she set just last season.

Conference wide, few could keep up with Chelsea this season – literally. She finishes in the KCAC's top ten in hits, average and OBP, second in runs scored and by far tops in steals. In fact, she once again leads the nation in stolen bases, and was caught only three times. She will finish her career as one of the most decorated players in recent program history, joining an elite group of recent Eagles that have helped make this a premier program.

Kurtz has been a figurehead for this program for four years, but Hallie Campbell is a new kid on the block that, fittingly, had a ton of hits and made a massive impact in her first season of college softball. The freshman from Nampa, Idaho slugged her way to First Team All-KCAC honors in her first year in Kansas City, becoming the first player in program history to be named KCAC Freshman of the Year.

And that's largely due to a great finish to the season that saw Campbell hit .382/.435/.673 in 24 games in conference play, all among the best on the team, while steadily emerging as the team's No. 1 catcher. Under the guidance of Talley Cole, who like Campbell saw some time as Avila's starting catcher as a freshman and was a First Team selection last season, Campbell ultimately finished second on the team in average (.377) and third in slugging (.660), and was one of Avila's best hitters in her first trip to the KCAC Tournament.

One of the only Eagles who can rival Campbell's power production from over the full season is Stephanie Hayes, the third Eagle to earn First Team status this season. Highlighted by the week where she was named NAIA Hitter of the Week, the first of those in modern recorded team history, Hayes got off to a crazy hot start this season, and finished the year with 11 home runs and 40 runs driven in, both tops on the team.

Both of those totals were good for top ten in the KCAC, as well, helping Hayes earn First Team All-KCAC status as Avila's primary designated player, while also seeing some time at first base. The sophomore from Illinois was an Honorable Mention selection last year before picking up some national honors to close out her freshman campaign.

Ka'Zem Wood was a regular last season for Avila but stepped up her game considerably in her second season in Kansas City, improving her slash line across the board and vaulting up from Honorable Mention to Second Team status this year. Top five on the team in batting average (.333) and on-base percentage, (.403), Wood finished second on the team in steals (29) as Avila's everyday right fielder. She was also one of Avila's top players in league play, trailing only Kurtz in hits (26) and trailing only Hayes in RBI (20) in 26 conference games.

McKayla Cotton made huge strides from year one to year two at Avila, evolving from the team's No. 4 pitching option to the ace of the staff as a sophomore. Cotton was the team's leader in every pitching category, including innings (134), ERA (2.51), wins (16) and strikeouts (85, 4.44 K/7). Of her 22 starts, she threw 13 complete games, including four shutouts, and also earned four saves in just nine relief appearances, tops on the team, to earn Second Team All-KCAC status.

It was clear early on that Montana Stangel would be a high impact player in all of her roles. Carrying over her pedigree and skill that she honed at Central Methodist, Stangel was Avila's No. 2 pitcher for most of the year as well as a middle-of-the-order bat, and she finished fifth on the team in batting average and second in ERA, second in innings pitched and tops in slugging percentage (.702), earning her Third Team All-KCAC status this season as a utility player.

Avila was one of the best home run hitting and base stealing teams in the NAIA this season, but the Eagles were also known once again for their defense. Chelsea Kurtz was a Gold Glove selection in centerfield for the second year in a row, making 101 putouts, more than one of which was a stellar diving catch, with five outfield assists against only four errors, a .964 fielding percentage.

Meanwhile, senior Julia Douglass earned rave reviews for her work at second base this season. After taking over that position partway through last year and earning Honorable Mention All-KCAC honors, Douglass was Avila's main second baseman all year in 2024 and was charged with only four errors (.966) all season, including only one against a conference opponent, helping her earn Gold Glove status for the first time in her career.

In addition to Campbell and Kurtz, the winners of the KCAC's individual awards this season were Evangel's Maddy Meierer (Pitcher of the Year), Friends' Riley Wertz (Newcomer of the Year) and Evangel's Jay Halbrook (Coach of the Year).

The full list of the 2024 KCAC All-Conference selections can be found below, and on the KCAC website.

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FIRST TEAM
 

U = Unanimous

SECOND TEAM
 

U = Unanimous

THIRD TEAM
 

U = Unanimous

GOLD GLOVE