Friday, March 25
Athens, Ohio
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Ohio
Bailey Sample & the Falcons hit the road for the next four games
Photo by: Chad Huffman, BGSU Athletics
BGSU Heads to Athens to Begin Road Portion of MAC Schedule
March 24, 2022 | Softball
Falcons face Ohio in a three-game weekend set, then meet U-M on Tuesday
THIS WEEK IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• BGSU at Ohio • March 25-26 • Athens, Ohio •
• BGSU at Michigan • March 29 • Ann Arbor, Mich. •
• The BGSU softball team begins road portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule with a trip to Athens this weekend. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons face Ohio University in a three-game series at the Ohio Softball Field.
• Due to the weather forecast, the weekend schedule has changed. The Falcons and Bobcats are slated to play a Friday doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m., and a Saturday single game at 12:00 p.m. Live stats and a live video feed will be available for each of the three games.
• Then, on Tuesday (March 29), the Orange and Brown will head to Ann Arbor to face the nationally-ranked University of Michigan in a single game, beginning at 4:00 p.m. That game will be streamed via Big Ten Network+ (fee required).
• The Falcons are 13-7 overall and 1-2 in MAC play through the first weekend of the conference season. BGSU dropped a pair of games to Northern Illinois before winning the final game of the series, 7-3. BG outscored the Huskies, 10-9, in the three games.
• BGSU was ranked 108th in the nation in the RPI as of Wednesday morning (March 23).
• Sophomores Peyton Dolejs and Reagan Williamson are hitting .375 and .368, respectively. Dolejs leads the team with eight extra-base hits and 20 RBI, and has an on-base pct. of .453.
• Dolejs is hitting .538 (14-of-26) with runners in scoring position this season to date.
• Williamson leads the Falcons in both OBP (.472) and slugging pct. (.632), and tops the Falcons with four homers as well. She is hitting .562 (9-of-16) with a .714 OBP over the last six games.
• Last season, Williamson had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 57 at-bats, Williamson has four homers and 16 RBI. Dolejs has her 20 RBI this spring after driving in 10 runs last season.
• Sophie Weber is batting .367 in limited action, while Greta L'Esperance is hitting .348 and leads the Falcons in stolen bases (15) and runs scored (22).
• In the circle, Payton Gottshall has a record of 8-4, a 1.58 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings. Gottshall has been named MAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
• Kiara Hurley is 3-2 with three saves and a 3.84 ERA, while Hannah Davies has a 2-1 record and an ERA of 4.82. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in four years. Sydney Stepp has an ERA of 0.00 in six innings this season. Stepp threw five innings of relief in the second NIU game last weekend, allowing just an unearned run and two hits.
• Gottshall leads the MAC in five statistical categories, and is ninth in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (11.9), 13th in total strikeouts and 16th in shutouts.
• Offensively, L'Esperance leads the MAC in runs per game, total stolen bases and steals per game, ranking 12th in the country in the latter category. Lexi Carver paces the league in both walks per game and sac bunts per contest, while Hurley leads the MAC in saves.
• As a team, the Falcons top the conference in batting average (.284), on-base pct. (.375), runs per game (5.00) and winning pct. (.650), while ranking second in the league in ERA (2.72), shutouts (four) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.86).
• With 15 stolen bases in 2022, L'Esperance has already moved onto that BGSU single-season list. She is tied for 15th on that chart, with (weather permitting) over 60 percent of the season remaining.
• With three more stolen bases in the NIU series, L'Esperance now has 44 in her BGSU career, and is ranked fourth on that list. She has a career batting average of .349, good for third on that BGSU chart.
• 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.
• Gottshall is now ranked third in school history with 538 career strikeouts, in just 364 innings pitched. She trails only Liz Vrabel (768 strikeouts) and Hayley Wiemer (557) on that list. Vrabel and Wiemer pitched 754 2/3 and 693 2/3 career innings, respectively.
• 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 (10.35, first), strikeouts (third), winning pct. (.650 [39-21], fourth), ERA (1.83, sixth), shutouts (15, T-eighth), wins (39, ninth), complete games (43, 10th), saves (three, T-13th) and innings pitched (17th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is tied with Gottshall for 13th on the saves list.
• 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 MAC 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 2021 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.
• BG was picked to place fourth in the MAC in 2022, according to the preseason coaches' poll.
• Ohio is 7-15 overall and 1-2 in MAC play. The Bobcats opened conference action at Buffalo, outscoring the Bulls by a 15-9 count in the three games, before dropping a 6-1 decision at home vs. Ohio State on Tuesday night. Allie Englant leads the team with a .362 batting average, while Caroline Spacek has Bobcat-best totals of four homers and 19 RBI. In the circle, Mackensie Kohl is 5-8 with a 4.87 ERA and 11 complete games.
• Michigan is 18-7 overall heading into this weekend's Big Ten Conference-opening series vs. Nebraska. Kristina Burkhardt is hitting .458 with 15 doubles in 25 games, while Alex Storako is 13-1 with a 1.06 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 79 1/3 innings. Carol Hutchins is the winningest coach in NCAA softball history.
• BGSU and Ohio are tied, 59-59, in the all-time series, and the teams split a four-game series in Athens last spring. Michigan leads the Falcons, 31-4, in that series, and Tuesday will mark the teams' first meeting since 2017.
• BGSU at Ohio • March 25-26 • Athens, Ohio •
• BGSU at Michigan • March 29 • Ann Arbor, Mich. •
• The BGSU softball team begins road portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule with a trip to Athens this weekend. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons face Ohio University in a three-game series at the Ohio Softball Field.
• Due to the weather forecast, the weekend schedule has changed. The Falcons and Bobcats are slated to play a Friday doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m., and a Saturday single game at 12:00 p.m. Live stats and a live video feed will be available for each of the three games.
• Then, on Tuesday (March 29), the Orange and Brown will head to Ann Arbor to face the nationally-ranked University of Michigan in a single game, beginning at 4:00 p.m. That game will be streamed via Big Ten Network+ (fee required).
• The Falcons are 13-7 overall and 1-2 in MAC play through the first weekend of the conference season. BGSU dropped a pair of games to Northern Illinois before winning the final game of the series, 7-3. BG outscored the Huskies, 10-9, in the three games.
• BGSU was ranked 108th in the nation in the RPI as of Wednesday morning (March 23).
• Sophomores Peyton Dolejs and Reagan Williamson are hitting .375 and .368, respectively. Dolejs leads the team with eight extra-base hits and 20 RBI, and has an on-base pct. of .453.
• Dolejs is hitting .538 (14-of-26) with runners in scoring position this season to date.
• Williamson leads the Falcons in both OBP (.472) and slugging pct. (.632), and tops the Falcons with four homers as well. She is hitting .562 (9-of-16) with a .714 OBP over the last six games.
• Last season, Williamson had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 57 at-bats, Williamson has four homers and 16 RBI. Dolejs has her 20 RBI this spring after driving in 10 runs last season.
• Sophie Weber is batting .367 in limited action, while Greta L'Esperance is hitting .348 and leads the Falcons in stolen bases (15) and runs scored (22).
• In the circle, Payton Gottshall has a record of 8-4, a 1.58 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings. Gottshall has been named MAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
• Kiara Hurley is 3-2 with three saves and a 3.84 ERA, while Hannah Davies has a 2-1 record and an ERA of 4.82. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in four years. Sydney Stepp has an ERA of 0.00 in six innings this season. Stepp threw five innings of relief in the second NIU game last weekend, allowing just an unearned run and two hits.
• Gottshall leads the MAC in five statistical categories, and is ninth in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (11.9), 13th in total strikeouts and 16th in shutouts.
• Offensively, L'Esperance leads the MAC in runs per game, total stolen bases and steals per game, ranking 12th in the country in the latter category. Lexi Carver paces the league in both walks per game and sac bunts per contest, while Hurley leads the MAC in saves.
• As a team, the Falcons top the conference in batting average (.284), on-base pct. (.375), runs per game (5.00) and winning pct. (.650), while ranking second in the league in ERA (2.72), shutouts (four) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.86).
• With 15 stolen bases in 2022, L'Esperance has already moved onto that BGSU single-season list. She is tied for 15th on that chart, with (weather permitting) over 60 percent of the season remaining.
• With three more stolen bases in the NIU series, L'Esperance now has 44 in her BGSU career, and is ranked fourth on that list. She has a career batting average of .349, good for third on that BGSU chart.
• 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.
• Gottshall is now ranked third in school history with 538 career strikeouts, in just 364 innings pitched. She trails only Liz Vrabel (768 strikeouts) and Hayley Wiemer (557) on that list. Vrabel and Wiemer pitched 754 2/3 and 693 2/3 career innings, respectively.
• 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 (10.35, first), strikeouts (third), winning pct. (.650 [39-21], fourth), ERA (1.83, sixth), shutouts (15, T-eighth), wins (39, ninth), complete games (43, 10th), saves (three, T-13th) and innings pitched (17th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is tied with Gottshall for 13th on the saves list.
• 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 MAC 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 2021 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.
• BG was picked to place fourth in the MAC in 2022, according to the preseason coaches' poll.
• Ohio is 7-15 overall and 1-2 in MAC play. The Bobcats opened conference action at Buffalo, outscoring the Bulls by a 15-9 count in the three games, before dropping a 6-1 decision at home vs. Ohio State on Tuesday night. Allie Englant leads the team with a .362 batting average, while Caroline Spacek has Bobcat-best totals of four homers and 19 RBI. In the circle, Mackensie Kohl is 5-8 with a 4.87 ERA and 11 complete games.
• Michigan is 18-7 overall heading into this weekend's Big Ten Conference-opening series vs. Nebraska. Kristina Burkhardt is hitting .458 with 15 doubles in 25 games, while Alex Storako is 13-1 with a 1.06 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 79 1/3 innings. Carol Hutchins is the winningest coach in NCAA softball history.
• BGSU and Ohio are tied, 59-59, in the all-time series, and the teams split a four-game series in Athens last spring. Michigan leads the Falcons, 31-4, in that series, and Tuesday will mark the teams' first meeting since 2017.
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