Friday, April 1
Bowling Green, Ohio
3:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Toledo
Sophie Weber & the Falcons host Toledo this weekend
Photo by: Evansville Athletics
Falcons Welcome Rockets for Three-Game Weekend Series
March 30, 2022 | Softball
"Battle of I-75" resumes on Friday afternoon at Meserve Field
UP NEXT IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• BGSU vs. Toledo • April 1-2 • Bowling Green, Ohio •
• The BGSU softball team renews the "Battle of I-75" this weekend, as the University of Toledo comes to Meserve Field for a three-game weekend series. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons face the Rockets in a Friday (April 1) single game and a Saturday (April 2) twinbill. All three games will air on BCSN in the Toledo area, with Mason Lowry and Steve Wronkowicz handling the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively.
• The Falcons are 14-9 overall and 2-3 in MAC play through the first two weekends of the conference season. BGSU split a pair of games at Ohio last Friday (March 25), before dropping a 3-0 decision at nationally-ranked Michigan on Tuesday (March 29).
• BGSU was ranked 121st in the nation in the RPI as of Wednesday morning (March 30).
• Sophomore Reagan Williamson leads the team in hitting, with a .369 average on the season. Junior Greta L'Esperance and sophomore Peyton Dolejs are batting .346 and .324, respectively.
• Dolejs and Williamson each have eight extra-base hits, and Dolejs has a team-leading 20 RBI while Williamson has 18.
• L'Esperance leads the Falcons in stolen bases (16) and runs scored (22). Less than halfway through the 2022 schedule, she is already tied for 14th on the BGSU single-season steals list.
• Williamson (.476), L'Esperance (.404) and Dolejs (.400) all have an on-base pct. of .400 or higher. Williamson has a team-high 15 walks, and also paces the Falcons with five homers, 42 total bases and a .646 slugging pct.
• Williamson hit .571 over an eight-game span, going 12-for-21 in that time, before going hitless in three at-bats at #22/23 Michigan on Tuesday. Dolejs is hitting .519 (14-of-27) with runners in scoring position this season to date.
• Last season, Williamson had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 65 at-bats, Williamson has four homers and 16 RBI. Dolejs has her 20 RBI this spring after driving in 10 runs last season.
• Sarah Gonzalez, in her fifth year as a full-time starter, has played in 196 of BGSU's 197 games since her arrival on campus. She has made 195 starts, tying her for 11th on the school career list.
• In the circle, Payton Gottshall has a record of 9-6, a 1.54 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 90 2/3 innings. Gottshall has been named MAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
• Kiara Hurley is 3-2 with three saves and a 3.76 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 1.50 in 9 1/3 innings this season.
• Gottshall leads the MAC in four statistical categories, and is 11th in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (11.3), 14th in total strikeouts, 21st in shutouts and 24th in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Her total of 146 strikeouts already ties her for 13th on that BG single-season list.
• Offensively, L'Esperance leads the MAC in total stolen bases and steals per game, ranking 18th in the country in the latter category, and she is second in the league in runs.
• Williamson and Lexi Carver rank first and second, respectively, in the league in walks per game, while Carver paces the MAC in sac bunts per contest.
• As a team, the Falcons top the conference in ERA (2.60) and winning pct. (.609), while ranking second in the MAC in batting average (.272), on-base pct. (.360), runs per game (4.61) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.76).
• On the career lists, L'Esperance now has 45 steals in her BGSU career, and is ranked fourth in school history. 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 556 career strikeouts, in just 379 1/3 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 (10.26, first), strikeouts (third), winning pct. (.635 [40-23], fourth), ERA (1.81, sixth), shutouts (15, T-eighth), wins (40, also tied for eighth), complete games (44, T-ninth), saves (three, T-13th), games started (53, 16th) and innings pitched (also 16th). 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 15 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.
• Toledo is 8-16 overall and 1-3 in MAC play, heading into a Wednesday evening game at Michigan State. Dayna Denner, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, leads the Rockets with a .439 batting average, and also has team-high totals of five homers and 19 RBI. In the circle, Makenna Durieux is 3-1 with a UT-best 3.35 ERA. She is one of six pitchers who have seen action this spring.
• BGSU leads Toledo, 69-44, in the all-time series, and the Falcons took two of last season's three meetings. BG downed the Rockets, 5-3 in nine innings, in the Glass City (April 20, 2021), before the teams split a pair of one-run games at Meserve Field eight days later. BGSU won the opener, 5-4, before falling by a 2-1 score in the nightcap.
• Following the UT series, BGSU will head to Kalamazoo for three games vs. Western Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 5-6), before hosting Buffalo next weekend (April 9-10).
• BGSU vs. Toledo • April 1-2 • Bowling Green, Ohio •
• The BGSU softball team renews the "Battle of I-75" this weekend, as the University of Toledo comes to Meserve Field for a three-game weekend series. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons face the Rockets in a Friday (April 1) single game and a Saturday (April 2) twinbill. All three games will air on BCSN in the Toledo area, with Mason Lowry and Steve Wronkowicz handling the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively.
• The Falcons are 14-9 overall and 2-3 in MAC play through the first two weekends of the conference season. BGSU split a pair of games at Ohio last Friday (March 25), before dropping a 3-0 decision at nationally-ranked Michigan on Tuesday (March 29).
• BGSU was ranked 121st in the nation in the RPI as of Wednesday morning (March 30).
• Sophomore Reagan Williamson leads the team in hitting, with a .369 average on the season. Junior Greta L'Esperance and sophomore Peyton Dolejs are batting .346 and .324, respectively.
• Dolejs and Williamson each have eight extra-base hits, and Dolejs has a team-leading 20 RBI while Williamson has 18.
• L'Esperance leads the Falcons in stolen bases (16) and runs scored (22). Less than halfway through the 2022 schedule, she is already tied for 14th on the BGSU single-season steals list.
• Williamson (.476), L'Esperance (.404) and Dolejs (.400) all have an on-base pct. of .400 or higher. Williamson has a team-high 15 walks, and also paces the Falcons with five homers, 42 total bases and a .646 slugging pct.
• Williamson hit .571 over an eight-game span, going 12-for-21 in that time, before going hitless in three at-bats at #22/23 Michigan on Tuesday. Dolejs is hitting .519 (14-of-27) with runners in scoring position this season to date.
• Last season, Williamson had two hits (both singles) and two RBI in 26 at-bats. This year, in 65 at-bats, Williamson has four homers and 16 RBI. Dolejs has her 20 RBI this spring after driving in 10 runs last season.
• Sarah Gonzalez, in her fifth year as a full-time starter, has played in 196 of BGSU's 197 games since her arrival on campus. She has made 195 starts, tying her for 11th on the school career list.
• In the circle, Payton Gottshall has a record of 9-6, a 1.54 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 90 2/3 innings. Gottshall has been named MAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
• Kiara Hurley is 3-2 with three saves and a 3.76 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 1.50 in 9 1/3 innings this season.
• Gottshall leads the MAC in four statistical categories, and is 11th in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (11.3), 14th in total strikeouts, 21st in shutouts and 24th in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Her total of 146 strikeouts already ties her for 13th on that BG single-season list.
• Offensively, L'Esperance leads the MAC in total stolen bases and steals per game, ranking 18th in the country in the latter category, and she is second in the league in runs.
• Williamson and Lexi Carver rank first and second, respectively, in the league in walks per game, while Carver paces the MAC in sac bunts per contest.
• As a team, the Falcons top the conference in ERA (2.60) and winning pct. (.609), while ranking second in the MAC in batting average (.272), on-base pct. (.360), runs per game (4.61) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.76).
• On the career lists, L'Esperance now has 45 steals in her BGSU career, and is ranked fourth in school history. 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 556 career strikeouts, in just 379 1/3 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 (10.26, first), strikeouts (third), winning pct. (.635 [40-23], fourth), ERA (1.81, sixth), shutouts (15, T-eighth), wins (40, also tied for eighth), complete games (44, T-ninth), saves (three, T-13th), games started (53, 16th) and innings pitched (also 16th). 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 15 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.
• Toledo is 8-16 overall and 1-3 in MAC play, heading into a Wednesday evening game at Michigan State. Dayna Denner, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, leads the Rockets with a .439 batting average, and also has team-high totals of five homers and 19 RBI. In the circle, Makenna Durieux is 3-1 with a UT-best 3.35 ERA. She is one of six pitchers who have seen action this spring.
• BGSU leads Toledo, 69-44, in the all-time series, and the Falcons took two of last season's three meetings. BG downed the Rockets, 5-3 in nine innings, in the Glass City (April 20, 2021), before the teams split a pair of one-run games at Meserve Field eight days later. BGSU won the opener, 5-4, before falling by a 2-1 score in the nightcap.
• Following the UT series, BGSU will head to Kalamazoo for three games vs. Western Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 5-6), before hosting Buffalo next weekend (April 9-10).
# BGSU FALCON SOFTBALL #
Players Mentioned
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