Kurtz, Stangel Named to NFCA NAIA All-Region Teams

Chelsea Kurtz and Montana Stangel, two staples of yet another successful season for Avila softball, were both named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association [NFCA] NAIA All-Region Teams, the organization announced this month. Kurtz was named an NAIA Region IV First Team honoree, while Stangel was selected to the Second Team.

A fixture on an always strong Central Methodist squad for the last few seasons, Montana Stangel quickly proved that she would become a key member of this Eagle team in her first season playing in Kansas City. In her first home pitching appearance, Stangel tossed 6.2 innings allowing just two unearned runs while hitting a pair of home runs to drive in three runs, all the offense the Eagles needed to earn the win for herself – and from that point on, she excelled in every role she was placed in.

Stangel was Avila's No. 2 pitcher for most of the year while also seeing some time in left field and at designated player. A representation of her value as both a pitcher and a hitter, she finished fifth on the team in batting average and second in ERA, and second in innings pitched and tops in slugging percentage. She was named Third Team All-KCAC as a utility player; the NFCA separates utility players into pitcher and non-pitcher subcategories, and Stangel earned Second Team All-Region honors in the pitcher/utility category.

At this point, Chelsea Kurtz needs no introduction. She's the two-time reigning Avila Athletics Female Athlete of the Year, a four-time KCAC All-Conference selection, the KCAC Player of the Year, a two-time KCAC Gold Glover, the reigning winner of the NFCA's Gold Glove and Golden Shoe awards, and now, a two-time NFCA First Team All-Region honoree.

Put another way, she's one of the most decorated players in modern program history. Kurtz has been Avila's everyday leadoff hitter and centerfielder in nearly every game of her four-year career in Kansas City, and finishes as the program's all-time leader in stolen bases – and one of the NAIA's all-time leaders in that department, as well. She set the team's single-season steals record as a sophomore in 2022, broke that record herself in 2023, and then broke her own record again in 2024 with a flat 80 steals in 83 attempts, two wildly impressive totals for a team that played 53 games.

This season, Kurtz was far and away Avila's leader in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, steals, and runs scored, and she ranked in the top ten in the KCAC in all of those categories, including second in runs and first in steals, helping her become the second player in program history to be named KCAC Player of the Year.

Avila softball has now been represented on the NFCA's All-Region rosters in three of the last four seasons. Madison McKinney was the first Eagle to earn the distinction in 2021; Stephanie Hayes joined Kurtz on the list a season ago. Kurtz was the first First Team All-Region honoree in recorded history, and she has now earned that honor two years in a row.

NFCA member head coaches nominate and vote for the winners in their respective regions, according to the organization, and all honorees will automatically be considered for the two NFCA NAIA All-America teams, which will be announced on June 6.

The full list of the NFCA's 2024 All-Region Teams can be found on the organization's website.