Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, March 4
Evansville, Ind.
10:00 AM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Oakland
Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics
Falcons Ready for This Weekend's UE Softball Invitational
March 02, 2022 | Softball
BGSU set for five games in Evansville
THIS WEEK IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• UE Softball Invitational • March 4-6 • Evansville, Ind. •
• The BGSU softball team travels to Evansville, Ind., to play five games in this weekend's UE Softball Invitational. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons are scheduled to face Oakland, Creighton, Green Bay, Morehead State and the host school, with all games held at Cooper Stadium.
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the season. After winning four of five games at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Rosemont, Ill., the Orange and Brown went 2-2 at last weekend's NC State Invitational.
• Sophomore Peyton Dolejs and freshman Bailey Sample are hitting .429 and .375 on the young season, while soph Reagan Williamson and junior Greta L'Esperance are batting .345 and .344, respectively.
• Sample began her BGSU career with an eight-game hitting streak. She has three walks and has been hit by a pitch on four occasions already, giving her a team-high .516 on-base percentage. Dolejs is right behind, with a .515 OBP. Dolejs has had two or more hits in five of this season's nine games to date, and has 10 RBI on the year, matching her total for all of 2021.
• Williamson homered in three of the four games in Raleigh. Last season, she had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 29 at-bats, Williamson has team-leading totals of four homers and 13 RBI.
• L'Esperance has had at least one hit in eight of the Falcons' nine games to date.
• Lexi Carver went 3-for-4 with a homer, a walk and two sac bunts in the Falcons' final two games in Raleigh. Carver is third on the Falcons with an OBP of .444.
• Payton Hamm has had at least one hit in four of the last five games, and has six RBI in that time. She has matched her RBI total for all of last season.
• Payton Gottshall leads the BGSU pitching corps with a 3-2 record, an ERA of 2.16 and 52 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. Kiara Hurley is 2-0 with two saves and a 3.91 ERA, while Hannah Davies is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.90. Davies had an ERA of just 1.40 last weekend at NC State.
• 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 numerous BGSU career lists, including strikeouts per seven innings (10.07, first), winning percentage (.643 [34-19], fourth), strikeouts (462, fifth), earned-run average (1.92, eighth), shutouts (13, ninth), wins (34, 10th) and complete games (37, 11th).
• With two more stolen bases last weekend, L'Esperance now has 35 in her BGSU career, and has moved into a tie for ninth place on that list. She has a career batting average of .349, good for third on the BGSU 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 returned, 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.
• This season, BGSU was picked to place fourth in the MAC, according to the preseason coaches' poll.
• Oakland is 2-3 on the young season, heading into a Wednesday game at Florida State. Creighton has a record of 7-5, while Green Bay is 6-7, Morehead State 0-9 and Evansville 9-5 this year to date.
• BGSU has gone 2-0 all-time vs. both Creighton and Green Bay, and the Falcons are 13-2-1 vs. Oakland, 6-1-1 against Morehead State and 1-1 vs. Evansville.
• Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will prepare for next weekend's (March 11-13) Lady Bison Classic in Nashville, Tenn. BGSU is scheduled to open that tourney against Houston Baptist, then play two games each vs. Pittsburgh and the host school, Lipscomb.
• UE Softball Invitational • March 4-6 • Evansville, Ind. •
• The BGSU softball team travels to Evansville, Ind., to play five games in this weekend's UE Softball Invitational. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons are scheduled to face Oakland, Creighton, Green Bay, Morehead State and the host school, with all games held at Cooper Stadium.
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the season. After winning four of five games at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Rosemont, Ill., the Orange and Brown went 2-2 at last weekend's NC State Invitational.
• Sophomore Peyton Dolejs and freshman Bailey Sample are hitting .429 and .375 on the young season, while soph Reagan Williamson and junior Greta L'Esperance are batting .345 and .344, respectively.
• Sample began her BGSU career with an eight-game hitting streak. She has three walks and has been hit by a pitch on four occasions already, giving her a team-high .516 on-base percentage. Dolejs is right behind, with a .515 OBP. Dolejs has had two or more hits in five of this season's nine games to date, and has 10 RBI on the year, matching her total for all of 2021.
• Williamson homered in three of the four games in Raleigh. Last season, she had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 29 at-bats, Williamson has team-leading totals of four homers and 13 RBI.
• L'Esperance has had at least one hit in eight of the Falcons' nine games to date.
• Lexi Carver went 3-for-4 with a homer, a walk and two sac bunts in the Falcons' final two games in Raleigh. Carver is third on the Falcons with an OBP of .444.
• Payton Hamm has had at least one hit in four of the last five games, and has six RBI in that time. She has matched her RBI total for all of last season.
• Payton Gottshall leads the BGSU pitching corps with a 3-2 record, an ERA of 2.16 and 52 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. Kiara Hurley is 2-0 with two saves and a 3.91 ERA, while Hannah Davies is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.90. Davies had an ERA of just 1.40 last weekend at NC State.
• 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 numerous BGSU career lists, including strikeouts per seven innings (10.07, first), winning percentage (.643 [34-19], fourth), strikeouts (462, fifth), earned-run average (1.92, eighth), shutouts (13, ninth), wins (34, 10th) and complete games (37, 11th).
• With two more stolen bases last weekend, L'Esperance now has 35 in her BGSU career, and has moved into a tie for ninth place on that list. She has a career batting average of .349, good for third on the BGSU 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 returned, 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.
• This season, BGSU was picked to place fourth in the MAC, according to the preseason coaches' poll.
• Oakland is 2-3 on the young season, heading into a Wednesday game at Florida State. Creighton has a record of 7-5, while Green Bay is 6-7, Morehead State 0-9 and Evansville 9-5 this year to date.
• BGSU has gone 2-0 all-time vs. both Creighton and Green Bay, and the Falcons are 13-2-1 vs. Oakland, 6-1-1 against Morehead State and 1-1 vs. Evansville.
• Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will prepare for next weekend's (March 11-13) Lady Bison Classic in Nashville, Tenn. BGSU is scheduled to open that tourney against Houston Baptist, then play two games each vs. Pittsburgh and the host school, Lipscomb.
Players Mentioned
C/IF
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OF
/ Softball
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OF
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IF
/ Softball
C
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