Stormy Kotzelnick Signs with WPF's Orlando MonarchsStormy Kotzelnick Signs with WPF's Orlando Monarchs

Stormy Kotzelnick Signs with WPF's Orlando Monarchs

by Ryan Ladika

ORLANDO – Though her tenure playing among the collegiate ranks is now complete, former Knights utility/designated player Stormy Kotzelnick is still looking ahead to more time spent on the field at the UCF Softball Complex.

As announced by the organization Tuesday, Kotzelnick has officially agreed to terms to join WPF’s (Women’s Professional Fastpitch) Orlando Monarchs beginning this summer.

The Monarchs, an expansion team that played its first season under the WPF umbrella last summer, first called Texas State’s Bobcat Softball Stadium home in San Marcos, Texas, in 2024 before recently announcing their relocation to the UCF Softball Complex in Orlando for the 2025 summer campaign.

Kotzelnick, meanwhile, becomes the fourth Knights alum in the last two seasons alone to sign with a professional team following the conclusion of her collegiate career, joining Jada Cody (Texas Smoke), Sona Halajian (Texas/Orlando Monarchs) and Sarah Willis (Athletes Unlimited).

The Carmel, Indiana, native hit for an aggregate .271 average in 110 games between her two seasons donning the Black and Gold, including 41 runs scored, 19 doubles, one triple, four home runs, 26 walks, 42 RBI and 11 stolen bases.

She had a hand in many of UCF’s biggest wins of the 2025 campaign, beginning with her 3-for-3 showing against then-No. 15 Missouri Feb. 11, recording her first two doubles of the year as the Knights completed the largest comeback win against a ranked opponent in program history (five runs).

Softball_CK_4348_021125_2001238160Stormy Kotzelnick | Photo by: Conor Kvatek

Kotzelnick later produced a key insurance RBI single in UCF’s 3-0 road shutout of then-No. 22 Florida Atlantic Feb. 26, and went a combined 3-for-7 with a two-run home run between the Knights’ first two games at then-No. 4 Arizona March 7-8, wins that would clinch the highest-ranked series win in program history.

Her first career walk-off hit also came against FGCU Feb. 21, a seventh-inning run-scoring single that completed a 2-for-2 evening that saw her record both RBI in a 2-1 Knights victory.

She enjoyed her strongest offensive stretch of the year throughout UCF’s final 19 games of the 2025 season, hitting a combined .369/.408/.492 (24-for-65) with three doubles, one triple, one home run, 15 RBI and 32 total bases.

Kotzelnick also hit safely in both elimination games during the NCAA Austin Regional May 17, helping her team punch its ticket to its first regional final since 2022 with a combined 5-for-8 line in two games against Eastern Illinois and then-No. 25 Michigan. Her four-hit game against the Panthers tied a UCF NCAA Tournament single-game record, and she hit a key game-tying solo home run in the Knights’ 10-8 win over the Wolverines in the nightcap.

Stormy WPF

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