Falcons Work Overtime to Top Bulls, 2-1

Saturday, April 9

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

19-10, 7-4

Buffalo

14-12, 5-3

Buffalo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Larry Clapper

April 09, 2022 | Softball

Box Score BGSU-UB Stats

Gottshall strikes out a school-record 23 before BGSU walks it off in the 14th

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University softball team walked it off on Saturday (April 9), scoring a 14th-inning run to pick up a 2-1 victory over the University at Buffalo. The Mid-American Conference marathon was held at Meserve Field.

Ally Bezjak walked and came around to score the winning run for the Falcons (19-10, 7-4 MAC). BGSU had scored a first-inning run when Reagan Williamson doubled to plate Peyton Dolejs, but neither team would score again until the Bulls (14-12, 5-3 MAC) tied it up in the seventh via a walk, a double and a sacrifice fly.

Each team used just one pitcher, and those pitchers – BGSU's Payton Gottshall and UB's Alexis Lucyshyn – combined to throw 442 pitches on the day.

Gottshall picked up the win, striking out a school-record 23 batters in the process. She threw no fewer than 248 pitches, allowing just one run and five hits in 14 innings of work.

Lucyshyn pitched a gem as well, giving up just eight hits in 13-plus innings. She allowed one earned run and struck out nine.

NOTEWORTHY
• Payton Gottshall set a school record for strikeouts in a game, with 23 on Saturday. Not surprisingly, the 'old' record was held by ... Payton Gottshall. The Falcon phenom struck out 20 batters last season at Cleveland State (Feb. 12, 2021).
• Just as an FYI, the NCAA Division-I record for strikeouts in a game is 28.
• Gottshall now has 214 strikeouts this spring, placing her third on the BGSU single-season strikeout list. The school record is held by ... Payton Gottshall, who struck out 282 batters last season. BGSU Hall-of-Famer Liz Vrabel (237 K's in 2005) is the only other pitcher in school history to strike out more than 200 batters in a season.

📹WALK IT OFF‼️📹#AyZiggy | 🥎🧡🥎🧡🥎 pic.twitter.com/KCmhL70PjD
— BGSU Softball (@BGSUSoftball) April 9, 2022

ALSO NOTEWORTHY
• Saturday's game was the Falcons' longest, in terms of both time and innings, in nearly 11 years. BGSU beat Ball State, 5-4, in 14 innings on May 1, 2011, at Meserve Field. That win, just like Saturday's contest, saw the Orange and Brown score only in the first and last innings. On that 2011 day, BGSU scored four times in the first inning, but the game went to extras before Hannah Fulk tagged and scored from third on an Andrea Arney sac fly.
• Saturday's win vs. UB took three hours and 47 minutes to play, the Falcons' longest contest in terms of time since that same Ball State game. BG battled the Cardinals for four hours and six minutes on that afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Bulls only scored one run over 14 innings, but UB threatened on several occasions in the early going. Buffalo left 14 runners on base in the game, including six in the first two innings.
• Payton Gottshall retired the first two batters of the contest, but Rachel Steffan walked, Alexis Lucyshyn singled and Alexis Matheney was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But, Gottshall struck out Madison Fernimen to end the threat.
• BG took a quick lead in the home half of the first. Peyton Dolejs roped a ball over the leftfielder's head and to the wall for a one-out double, and one out later, Reagan Williamson singled to right as Dolejs came around to score standing up.
• A hit batter and an infield error gave UB runners at second and third with nobody out in the second. On a bunt by Sara Kelly, first baseman Ally Bezjak looked the runner back to third before throwing to first for the out. But, Anna Aguon was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one down. Gottshall, however, got Brianna Castro to lift a popup into foul ground on the first-base side, and she then struck out Steffan.
• Greta L'Esperance beat out a bunt for a one-out single in the third, and after she stole second, Bailey Sample walked with two down. The runners advanced on a failed pickoff attempt, but Williamson's liner was caught by shortstop Ally Sobaszek.
• BG threatened in the fourth, when Ally Bezjak reached on an error and Sarah Gonzalez doubled to the gap in right-center. The Falcons had two runners in scoring nosition, but a strikeout got Lucyshyn out of the inning.
• After allowing a leadoff hit in the third, Gottshall retired seven-straight UB batters before walking Steffan in the fifth. Then, she set down six consecutive Bulls, including the leadoff hitter in the seventh.
• But, with one down, Aguon drew a walk, and she took third when Castro's drive landed just inside the line in right. The next hitter, Steffan, lofted a ball toward right-center. BGSU centerfielder L'Esperance ranged to her left to make the grab, but Aguon was able to tag from third and score the tying run. No one knew at the time that the game was roughly half over at that point.
• The next hitter, Lucyshyn, lifted a ball to right, but Payton Hamm made a nice inning-ending catch with her back up against the fence.
• BGSU got a runner as far as second in the bottom of the seventh, as Bezjak singled and pinch-runner Marlie McNulty took second on a grounder. But, another ground ball got Lucyshyn and the Bulls out of the inning and sent the game to extras.
• Each team had just one baserunner over the next two frames, as Kelly walked for UB and Hamm for BG in the ninth. That ninth inning ended when Gonzalez was robbed of a hit by second baseman Castro, who went to her left to make a diving stop of a ball in shallow right, then threw to first from a seated position for the out.
• Steffan singled and stole second in the 10th, but Gottshall set down the next three hitters, including a Lucyshyn grounder to Sample that saw the BG shortstop hold the runner at second before firing to first.
• Dolej drew a four-pitch walk in the 10th, and Lexi Carver and Makailah Dees had back-to-back singles in the 11th, but BG could not bring a runner around.
• In the 12th, Dolejs made a nice catch at the fence on a Castro drive. Then, after Steffan's liner went all the way to the wall in right for a two-out triple, Dolejs came charging in to grab a fly ball off the bat of Lucyshyn in shallow left.
• L'Esperance doubled with one down in the BG 12th, but a pair of fly balls to center left her stranded at second.
• In the 13th, Gottshall hit a pair of Bulls, but also struck out three more batters. Lucyshyn set down the Falcons in order in the bottom of the 13th, but Gottshall returned the favor (with two more K's) in the top of the 14th. Then, the Falcons walked it off.
• Bezjak began the inning by drawing a walk, and Gonzalez laid down a bunt to the right side. First baseman Steffan fielded the ball, but her throw to first was low and skipped away from Castro. Bezjak went from first to third, with Gonzalez taking second on the error.
• Then, Wynnie Reid hit a tapper back toward the circle, and as Lucyshyn charged the ball in an attempt to cut down the runner at the plate, the ball caromed off of her leg and skipped away. Bezjak scored without a throw, and the Falcons had the win.

STATS, LEADERS & NOTES
• Gottshall, as mentioned, struck out a school-record 23 batters. She allowed just five hits over 14 innings, walking four batters. Gottshall threw 159 of her eye-popping 248 total pitches for strikes.
• Lucyshyn allowed just one earned run and eight hits in 13-plus innings. She threw 194 pitches, including 121 strikes, walking six and fanning nine.
• L'Esperance had two hits, including a double, and a walk for the Falcons, while Bezjak had a hit and walked twice, scoring the winning run as well.
• Dolejs doubled and scored BG's first run, and also drew a walk.
• Steffan had two of UB's five hits, including a triple, and also walked twice and stole two bases. Lucyshyn had a pair of hits for the Bulls as well.

UP NEXT
• After unexpectedly playing 14 innings on Saturday, BGSU and UB are actually scheduled to play 14 innings on Sunday (April 10). The teams are slated to play a doubleheader at Meserve Field, with the first pitch of game one scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
• Then, the Falcons step outside of MAC play to meet Detroit Mercy on Tuesday evening (April 12). That twinbill gets underway at 5:00 p.m. at Meserve.

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