WICHITA, Kan. – In line with winning the 2025 KCAC regular season championship for the first time since 2016, the (RV) Friends University Falcons have justifiably earned top awards from the conference, highlighted by Suzanne Unruh being named the KCAC Coach of the Year and senior Riley Wertz tabbed as the KCAC Pitcher of the Year. The conference released the All-KCAC selections tonight (Apr. 28).
Wertz, Priscilla Mora and Elena Montoya were each unanimous All-KCAC first-team selections, while Becca Dunn earned second-team honors.
Third-team honorees for the Falcons were Kierstan Weitze, Jayden Estabrook, Alex Vick and Cadence Magana, with Montoya also receiving a gold glove award after producing a .994 fielding percentage and throwing six runners out attempting to steal.
With the KCAC regular season title in tow, Unruh and the Falcons have clinched their second consecutive NAIA National Tournament berth and the program's fourth appearance in her seven-year tenure. The Falcons have finished no worse than third in the KCAC since Unruh arrived for the 2019 season.
Wertz's softball career will go down in Friends University lore, as the Wichita native served as the ace for the Falcons' championship squad this year while topping the league and ranking second in the NAIA with a career-high 224 strikeouts that is just five away from the school single-season record in the modern-era. She has recorded a 1.81 ERA and won a career-high 19 games along with pitching the school's first perfect game since 2008 back on Mar. 22.
An elite slugger from day one, Mora is tied for fourth nationally with a career-best 15 home runs on the year, just two homers shy of tying the school's modern-era single-season mark. She is also batting a career-best .375 for the season with 45 runs driven in and a team-high .801 slugging percentage.
An on-base machine as the Falcons' primary leadoff hitter, Montoya leads the team with a .521 on-base percentage and has hit six home runs while ranking fifth in the KCAC in batting average (.441).
Dunn has provided the Falcons with another top-notch power hitter and has launched a career-best 13 homers with a conference-leading and career-high 57 RBI. She is also batting .406 with solid counting numbers in on-base (.447) and slugging (.754).
Functioning as the Falcons' primary No. 2 starter down the stretch, Weitze recorded a 3.64 ERA and limited opposing batters to just a .259 average.
Estabrook slugged a pair of homers, including one grand slam while posting career numbers in batting average (.310) and RBI (26) on the season.
Vick set career-best numbers across the board, highlighted by a robust .378 batting average, three homers, a .564 slugging percentage and a .432 on-base percentage.
As a freshman with the Falcons, Magana made an immediate impact by hitting .395 with three homers and 32 RBI while slugging .535 and getting on base at a .433 clip.
The top-seeded Falcons begin the KCAC Tournament against No. 8-seeded Kansas Wesleyan University tomorrow (Apr. 29) at 11 am at Track Field in Branson, Mo., with a win placing them against the winner of fourth-seeded Ottawa University and fifth-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University later that day.
