Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, February 25
Raleigh, N.C.
10:00 AM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Delaware
Greta L'Esperance & the Falcons head to Raleigh for five games in the NC State Invitational
Photo by: Larry Clapper
Falcons Head to Raleigh for NC State Invitational
February 24, 2022 | Softball
BGSU set for five games this weekend
THIS WEEK IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• NC State Invitational • Feb. 25-27 • Raleigh, N.C. •
• The BGSU softball team heads to Raleigh, N.C., for this weekend's NC State Invitational. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons are scheduled to play two games apiece vs. Central Connecticut State and Delaware, and one against the host school, North Carolina State. All games will be held at Dail Softball Stadium.
• Live stats will be available for all tourney games, and all games involving NC State will be streamed via ACC Network Extra (fee required).
• The Falcons are 4-1 on the young season. BGSU was idle last weekend after winning four of five games at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Rosemont, Ill., the previous weekend (Feb. 11-13).
• Freshman Bailey Sample and sophomore Peyton Dolejs hit .500 and .429, respectively, in the DePaul tourney. Greta L'Esperance hit .353, stole four bases and scored seven runs to lead the team. All three players had six hits, and Dolejs and Sample each drove in five runs, with Dolejs crossing the plate six times.
• Reagan Williamson had two RBI during her freshman season. In the DePaul tourney, the sophomore hit her first home run as a Falcon and drove in eight runs on the weekend.
• Payton Gottshall was named MAC Pitcher of the Week after going 3-0 with an ERA of 0.74 and an opponent batting average of .103. Gottshall opened the season with a two-hit shutout of Western Illinois, and she fired a one-hit shutout vs. Butler two days later. She allowed just seven hits in 19 innings of work, walking one batter while striking out 33.
• Gottshall struck out a school-record 282 batters last season, and obliterated the BGSU record for strikeouts per seven innings, averaging 9.79 (the old record was 8.46). Gottshall went 20-12 last spring, becoming just the fourth pitcher in school history, and the first since 1995, to win 20 games in a season.
• In just her third year with the Falcons (including a shortened 2020 season), Gottshall already has added her name to seven BGSU career lists, including strikeouts per seven innings (10.08, first), winning percentage (.667 [34-17], third), strikeouts (443, sixth), earned-run average (1.82, sixth), shutouts (13, ninth), wins (34, 10th) and complete games (36, 11th).
• With four stolen bases last weekend, L'Esperance has moved into the top-10 on that BGSU career list. She has stolen 33 career bases, good for 10th on that chart.
• Willis and assistant coaches Candace Fenton-Bockbrader and Michaela Bauer welcomed back a total of 16 letterwinners, including six positional starters, from last year's team. Additionally, four of the five pitchers who saw action last season return, and that quartet combined to pitch 98% of the team's innings a year ago. The returnees also combined for 100% of the Falcons' wins.
• BGSU ended the 2021 season with an overall record of 27-27, and the Falcons went 19-20 in Mid-American Conference action. BG, picked to finish eighth in the MAC in the preseason coaches' poll, ended the season in fifth place in the 11-team league. BGSU was one of two conference teams to finish as many as three places higher than predicted.
• The Falcons finished with the program's highest winning percentage in MAC play since 2012, and BGSU's overall total of 27 wins was the highest since the 2013 campaign.
• North Carolina State is 10-1 on the season, while Delaware is 5-4 and Central Connecticut State 0-4 this year to date.
• BGSU has gone 1-0 all-time against CCSU and 1-2 vs. NC State. The Falcons have never met Delaware on the diamond.
• Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will prepare for next weekend's (March 4-6) UE Softball Invitational. BG's opponents in that tournament will include Creighton, Green Bay, Morehead State, Oakland and the host school, Evansville.
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• NC State Invitational • Feb. 25-27 • Raleigh, N.C. •
• The BGSU softball team heads to Raleigh, N.C., for this weekend's NC State Invitational. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons are scheduled to play two games apiece vs. Central Connecticut State and Delaware, and one against the host school, North Carolina State. All games will be held at Dail Softball Stadium.
• Live stats will be available for all tourney games, and all games involving NC State will be streamed via ACC Network Extra (fee required).
• The Falcons are 4-1 on the young season. BGSU was idle last weekend after winning four of five games at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Rosemont, Ill., the previous weekend (Feb. 11-13).
• Freshman Bailey Sample and sophomore Peyton Dolejs hit .500 and .429, respectively, in the DePaul tourney. Greta L'Esperance hit .353, stole four bases and scored seven runs to lead the team. All three players had six hits, and Dolejs and Sample each drove in five runs, with Dolejs crossing the plate six times.
• Reagan Williamson had two RBI during her freshman season. In the DePaul tourney, the sophomore hit her first home run as a Falcon and drove in eight runs on the weekend.
• Payton Gottshall was named MAC Pitcher of the Week after going 3-0 with an ERA of 0.74 and an opponent batting average of .103. Gottshall opened the season with a two-hit shutout of Western Illinois, and she fired a one-hit shutout vs. Butler two days later. She allowed just seven hits in 19 innings of work, walking one batter while striking out 33.
• Gottshall struck out a school-record 282 batters last season, and obliterated the BGSU record for strikeouts per seven innings, averaging 9.79 (the old record was 8.46). Gottshall went 20-12 last spring, becoming just the fourth pitcher in school history, and the first since 1995, to win 20 games in a season.
• In just her third year with the Falcons (including a shortened 2020 season), Gottshall already has added her name to seven BGSU career lists, including strikeouts per seven innings (10.08, first), winning percentage (.667 [34-17], third), strikeouts (443, sixth), earned-run average (1.82, sixth), shutouts (13, ninth), wins (34, 10th) and complete games (36, 11th).
• With four stolen bases last weekend, L'Esperance has moved into the top-10 on that BGSU career list. She has stolen 33 career bases, good for 10th on that chart.
• Willis and assistant coaches Candace Fenton-Bockbrader and Michaela Bauer welcomed back a total of 16 letterwinners, including six positional starters, from last year's team. Additionally, four of the five pitchers who saw action last season return, and that quartet combined to pitch 98% of the team's innings a year ago. The returnees also combined for 100% of the Falcons' wins.
• BGSU ended the 2021 season with an overall record of 27-27, and the Falcons went 19-20 in Mid-American Conference action. BG, picked to finish eighth in the MAC in the preseason coaches' poll, ended the season in fifth place in the 11-team league. BGSU was one of two conference teams to finish as many as three places higher than predicted.
• The Falcons finished with the program's highest winning percentage in MAC play since 2012, and BGSU's overall total of 27 wins was the highest since the 2013 campaign.
• North Carolina State is 10-1 on the season, while Delaware is 5-4 and Central Connecticut State 0-4 this year to date.
• BGSU has gone 1-0 all-time against CCSU and 1-2 vs. NC State. The Falcons have never met Delaware on the diamond.
• Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will prepare for next weekend's (March 4-6) UE Softball Invitational. BG's opponents in that tournament will include Creighton, Green Bay, Morehead State, Oakland and the host school, Evansville.
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Players Mentioned
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