Falcons Head to Illinois for Final Pre-MAC Matchups

Saturday, March 14

Urbana, IL

10:30 AM

Bowling Green State University

Green Bay

Taylor Blevins on Chattanooga trip - Feb 15 2020

Photo by: Daryl Banther

March 11, 2020 | Softball

BGSU Notes & Stats

BGSU to play four games at Fighting Illini Tournament before facing Redbirds

By: by Mike Cihon, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Softball games this week - March 11 2020

THIS WEEKEND...
• The Bowling Green State University softball team heads to Urbana, Ill., for four games in this weekend's Fighting Illini Tournament. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons will play two games apiece vs. Green Bay and the host school, Illinois, on Friday and Saturday (March 14-15).
• Then, the Orange and Brown will meet Illinois State on Tuesday (March 17) in Normal, Ill., in the Falcons' final tuneup before Mid-American Conference play begins.
• All five games are scheduled to have live stats. (UPDATE: All five games are scheduled to be streamed as well. BGSU's two games vs. Illinois are slated to be streamed via BTN+, while the two games vs. Green Bay will be available via FightingIllini.com. Tuesday's ISU contest will be on ESPN+.
• As always, all audio/video/stats links will be available right here at BGSUFalcons.com on game day.

THE TEAMS / THE SERIES
• The Falcons are 11-6 on the season, and BGSU is coming off of a perfect 5-0 trip to Florida. BG's victims at the Clearwater Spring Break Invitational included Providence, Penn State, Army West Point, Chattanooga and Seton Hall.
• Green Bay enters Friday's first BGSU game with a 4-15 record. First-year head coach Sara Kubuske has 12 freshmen or sophomores, and just one senior, on her 18-woman roster. Last year, the Phoenix went 12-29 overall and 7-17 in the Horizon League.
• Illinois is 10-11 heading into a Wednesday evening game vs. Missouri. The Illini went 2-2 at the Red & Black Challenge in Louisville last weekend. Head coach Tyra Perry's club went 33-25 overall and 9-14 in Big Ten Conference action last year. A total of 12 players returned from the 2019 team.
• Illinois State is 12-11 heading into a three-game weekend series at Southern Illinois. Six of the Redbirds' 12 losses have come to nationally-ranked teams. ISU was picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference this spring, after head coach Melinda Fischer and the Redbirds went 18-33 overall and 11-10 in the MVC last year.
• BGSU is 2-0 all-time vs. Green Bay. The Falcons downed the Phoenix by scores of 15-4 and 4-1 in a tournament in Louisville three years ago.
• BGSU has a 1-0 record vs. Illinois. The teams' only prior meeting was a 9-0 win by the Falcons in 2001.
• The Falcons and Illinois State are tied, 3-3, and the most recent meeting was a 2-0, eight-inning win for the Falcons in 2003.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 11-6 on the season. BGSU played three tournaments in the state of Tennessee in as many weekends, going 2-3 at the Chattanooga Challenge (Feb. 14-16), before posting a perfect 4-0 mark the following weekend (Feb. 21-23) at the Tiger Classic in Nashville. BGSU then dropped three games at the weather-shortened Buccaneer Classic in Johnson City (March 1-2), but bounced back with a perfect 5-0 mark at last weekend's Clearwater Spring Break Invitational (March 6-8).
• Willis and her staff – associate head coach Teresa Wilson, assistant coach Carly Thomas and volunteer assistant Michaela Bauer – welcomed back a total of 10 letterwinners, including seven players who started at least 20 games, from a year ago.
• Willis picked up the 100th victory of her head-coaching career in Saturday's (March 7) win over Chattanooga.
• Freshman pitcher Payton Gottshall has seen action in 16 of BGSU's first 17 games of the season, starting 11. She has an 11-5 record, a 1.93 ERA and an opponent batting average of just .182.
• Gottshall has thrown nine complete games in her 11 starts, including three complete-game one-hitters. She has struck out 128 batters in 87 innings, an average of 10.85 strikeouts per seven innings.
• A native of Massillon, Ohio, Gottshall was named MAC Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday (March 10), earning that honor for the second time this season.
• Redshirt sophomore Sammy Dees was named the MAC Player of the Week on Tuesday after hitting .667 (12-for-18) in the five games in Florida, with an on-base percentage of .700 and a slugging pct. of .944.
• On the weekend, Dees came to the plate a total of 20 times, and she reached base 17 times in those 20 trips. Dees had at least one hit in every game, with three three-hit games and a two-hit contest.
• Dees also made the NFCA's list of "Selected Top Performances" for the week.
• She reached base in every plate appearance in three of the five games.
• On the year, Dees is hitting .474, with an on-base pct. of .565. She is ranked 16th in the country in OBP and 27th in batting average.
• Gottshall is in the top-20 nationally in three categories, including wins (fourth), strikeouts (seven) and strikeouts per seven innings (19th).
• Junior Madison French has pitched in six games on the year, including three last weekend. She has made four starts, and has a 2.62 ERA and an OBA of .257.
• Senior Madi McCoy is hitting .302, and she leads the Falcons with 16 runs scored. Four Falcons are hitting between .270 and .280 on the year, including junior Sarah Gonzalez (.279) and senior Logan Everett (.277). Everett has a BG-best 16 RBI, and has doubled her total for all of last season (eight).
• Junior Nikki Sorgi and senior Taylor Blevins are batting .273 and .271, respectively. Sorgi has four extra-base hits to rank second on the team behind Dees (six), while Blevins has a team-high six stolen bases.

PRESEASON POLL / LAST SEASON
• BGSU was picked to finish ninth in the Mid-American Conference, according to the preseason poll. The poll is the result of voting by the league's 11 head coaches.
• Last year, the Falcons finished with records of 22-29 overall and 7-14 in MAC play.
• BG went 8-6 at home, 10-14 on the road and 4-9 in neutral-site games last spring. The Falcons ended the season by winning five of the final seven games.
• The Falcons hit .270 as a team last spring. BG has batted .270 or higher in each of the last two years after doing so just five times in the previous 39 seasons.
• BGSU scored 225 runs in 2019, just five runs shy of the school record (set in 2012). BG's 4.41 runs per game last season was the third-highest average in program history and the highest since 2007.
• And, the team's total of 201 RBI in 2019 fell just one shy of that school record.

A LOOK AHEAD
• Following the Illinois State game, the Falcons begin both the home and the MAC portions of the schedule, facing Buffalo at Meserve Field on Saturday, March 21. Game one of that doubleheader is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
For more information on all things BGSU softball, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUSoftball) and Instagram (@bgsu_softball) as well as on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.

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