Bowling Green State University Athletics
Thursday, May 12
Oxford, OH
3:30 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Miami (OH)
Photo by: Gracey Jarecke, KSU Athletics
Falcons Head to Oxford as Tourney Time Approaches
May 10, 2022 | Softball
Fourth-seeded BGSU to meet number-one RedHawks Thursday
UP NEXT IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• BGSU at MAC Tournament • May 12-14 • Oxford, Ohio •
• The BGSU softball team returns to the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013. Head coach Sarah Willis and the fourth-seeded Falcons will open the tourney with a Thursday (May 12) matchup against top-seeded Miami. That game, the second of the day, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at Miami Softball Stadium.
• The three-day, double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday (May 14). Live stats and a live video stream will be available for every game.
• BGSU, as mentioned, is returning to conference postseason play for the first time in nine years. The Falcons have a 24-33 record in MAC Tournament action through the years. BG participated in the tournament three times during the 1980s, going 1-2 in each of those trips.
• Beginning in 1998, BGSU advanced to the MAC Tournament 14 times in a 16-year span. The Falcons made the tourney in eight-straight seasons from 2003-10, winning the championship in 2004. But, after qualifying in both 2012 and '13, BG did not return to postseason play until this season. The complete list of the Falcons' MAC Tournament results can be found on page 16 of the PDF version of these notes.
• The 2022 Falcons are 30-17 overall, and BGSU ended MAC play with a 16-11 record, good for fourth place in the 11-team league. Just one game separated the second- through fourth-place teams in the final standings, as Ohio went 17-10 and Central Michigan 17-11 in conference action.
• By several standards, this has been the Falcons' most successful season in a decade. BGSU's total of 30 wins this season is the program's highest since 2012. And, the 2022 team's MAC winning percentage (.593) is the highest since that '12 club went 15-7 (.681) in league action.
• Payton Gottshall had another stellar week in the circle for the Falcons, with an ERA of 0.91 and an opponent batting average of just .105 in the final week of the regular season. BGSU swept CMU in a midweek doubleheader before taking one of three games at Kent State over the weekend.
• The seven-time MAC Pitcher of the Week is 23-10 with a 1.32 ERA and a school-record 325 strikeouts in 212 1/3 innings. She has an opponent batting average of just .154 on the year.
• Gottshall has recorded the second-highest individual win total in school history and the highest in 30 years. Jody Record holds the BGSU mark with 27 wins in 1992.
• Gottshall, as improbable as it might sound, has been even better in MAC play. She went 15-6 with an ERA of just 1.15 and 196 strikeouts in 140 innings in MAC games this season.
• Last week, Gottshall became the first Falcon ever to record 300 strikeouts in a season. Only eight BGSU pitchers (including Gottshall, obviously) have struck out 300 batters in a CAREER.
• Gottshall currently leads the MAC in eight statistical categories, and is ranked 15th or higher in the nation on seven of those lists. She is second in the country in total strikeouts, fourth in innings pitched, seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 10th in wins, 11 in hits allowed per seven innings and 15th in both strikeouts per seven innings and in ERA. She is the first player in school history to fire two perfect games in the same season.
• Kiara Hurley is 4-2 with four saves and a 3.39 ERA this spring. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in eight years.
• At the plate, Greta L'Esperance is batting a BGSU-best .390, and also leads the Falcons in stolen bases (30) and runs scored (39). Her stolen-base total ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list, and she is tied for fifth in runs and ranks seventh in hits (62) on those school seasonal charts.
• L'Esperance leads the MAC and is ranked 16th in the country in stolen bases. She has 59 steals in her BGSU career, and has moved into third place in school history on that list. L'Esperance currently has a career batting average of .366, which puts her second on that BG career chart.
• Reagan Williamson is hitting .316 on the year, with Peyton Dolejs and Sophie Weber batting .297 and .261, respectively.
• Williamson tops the team in homers (seven), runs batted in (33), extra-base hits (14), total bases (71; tied for first), walks (24) and slugging percentage (.522). Dolejs, one of three Falcons (along with L'Esperance and Williamson) to start all 47 games this spring, is second on the club in walks (22; tied for second), runs (29), extra-base hits (12) and RBI (27).
• Sarah Gonzalez, in her fifth year as a full-time starter, has played in 220 of BG's 221 games since her arrival on campus, making 219 starts. She is fourth on the BGSU career lists for both games played and games started, and she is also ranked among the top all-time Falcons in homers (15, 12th), walks (63, T-seventh), sacrifice flies (eight, T-third) and sac bunts (23, 13th).
• As a team, the Falcons lead the league in ERA (2.46) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.50), while ranking second in winning pct.
• The Falcons finished with a 12-4 record at Meserve Field this season, and BGSU is 7-9 in true road games and 11-4 in neutral-site contests.
• Gottshall struck out a school-record 282 batters last season – a record that she has since broken – 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.
• This season, Gottshall is averaging 10.27 strikeouts per seven innings, which would shatter the record she set just last spring. Her total of 23 wins this year, as mentioned, ranks second in school history and is the highest single-season total by a Falcon pitcher since 1992.
• Gottshall is now ranked second in school history with 735 career strikeouts, in just 501 innings pitched. She trails only BGSU Hall-of-Famer Liz Vrabel (768 strikeouts) on that list.
• 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 (first), strikeouts (second), winning pct. (.667 [54-27], third), wins (54, third), shutouts (20, T-fourth), ERA (1.65, sixth), complete games (58, sixth), innings pitched (ninth), games started (70, 10th), saves (four, T-11th) and appearances (85, 15th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is already tied for 11th on the BG career 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.
• Miami is 36-15-1 on the season, and the RedHawks won the MAC regular-season title with a 24-5 conference mark. MU is 17-3-1 at home this spring to date. Karli Spaid is hitting .419 with 24 homers and 64 RBI to lead the team in all three categories. She is second in the nation in homers. Miami is hitting .311 as a team this year. In the circle, Courtney Vierstra is 17-9 with a 3.20 ERA, and Brianna Pratt has a 15-4 record and a 4.08 ERA.
• BGSU trails Miami, 60-57, in the all-time series, and the RedHawks captured two of the three regular-season meetings in Oxford. BGSU used a seventh-inning rally for a 4-2 win in the opener (April 19, 2022), before MU swept a doubleheader the next day.
• Following the Miami game, the Falcons will play a team to be determined at Miami Softball Stadium on Friday (May 13). Depending upon BG's Thursday result vs. the RedHawks, the Falcons' Friday game will begin at either 1:00 or 3:30 p.m.
• More information is available in the PDF version of these notes.
• BGSU at MAC Tournament • May 12-14 • Oxford, Ohio •
• The BGSU softball team returns to the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013. Head coach Sarah Willis and the fourth-seeded Falcons will open the tourney with a Thursday (May 12) matchup against top-seeded Miami. That game, the second of the day, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at Miami Softball Stadium.
• The three-day, double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday (May 14). Live stats and a live video stream will be available for every game.
• BGSU, as mentioned, is returning to conference postseason play for the first time in nine years. The Falcons have a 24-33 record in MAC Tournament action through the years. BG participated in the tournament three times during the 1980s, going 1-2 in each of those trips.
• Beginning in 1998, BGSU advanced to the MAC Tournament 14 times in a 16-year span. The Falcons made the tourney in eight-straight seasons from 2003-10, winning the championship in 2004. But, after qualifying in both 2012 and '13, BG did not return to postseason play until this season. The complete list of the Falcons' MAC Tournament results can be found on page 16 of the PDF version of these notes.
• The 2022 Falcons are 30-17 overall, and BGSU ended MAC play with a 16-11 record, good for fourth place in the 11-team league. Just one game separated the second- through fourth-place teams in the final standings, as Ohio went 17-10 and Central Michigan 17-11 in conference action.
• By several standards, this has been the Falcons' most successful season in a decade. BGSU's total of 30 wins this season is the program's highest since 2012. And, the 2022 team's MAC winning percentage (.593) is the highest since that '12 club went 15-7 (.681) in league action.
• Payton Gottshall had another stellar week in the circle for the Falcons, with an ERA of 0.91 and an opponent batting average of just .105 in the final week of the regular season. BGSU swept CMU in a midweek doubleheader before taking one of three games at Kent State over the weekend.
• The seven-time MAC Pitcher of the Week is 23-10 with a 1.32 ERA and a school-record 325 strikeouts in 212 1/3 innings. She has an opponent batting average of just .154 on the year.
• Gottshall has recorded the second-highest individual win total in school history and the highest in 30 years. Jody Record holds the BGSU mark with 27 wins in 1992.
• Gottshall, as improbable as it might sound, has been even better in MAC play. She went 15-6 with an ERA of just 1.15 and 196 strikeouts in 140 innings in MAC games this season.
• Last week, Gottshall became the first Falcon ever to record 300 strikeouts in a season. Only eight BGSU pitchers (including Gottshall, obviously) have struck out 300 batters in a CAREER.
• Gottshall currently leads the MAC in eight statistical categories, and is ranked 15th or higher in the nation on seven of those lists. She is second in the country in total strikeouts, fourth in innings pitched, seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 10th in wins, 11 in hits allowed per seven innings and 15th in both strikeouts per seven innings and in ERA. She is the first player in school history to fire two perfect games in the same season.
• Kiara Hurley is 4-2 with four saves and a 3.39 ERA this spring. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in eight years.
• At the plate, Greta L'Esperance is batting a BGSU-best .390, and also leads the Falcons in stolen bases (30) and runs scored (39). Her stolen-base total ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list, and she is tied for fifth in runs and ranks seventh in hits (62) on those school seasonal charts.
• L'Esperance leads the MAC and is ranked 16th in the country in stolen bases. She has 59 steals in her BGSU career, and has moved into third place in school history on that list. L'Esperance currently has a career batting average of .366, which puts her second on that BG career chart.
• Reagan Williamson is hitting .316 on the year, with Peyton Dolejs and Sophie Weber batting .297 and .261, respectively.
• Williamson tops the team in homers (seven), runs batted in (33), extra-base hits (14), total bases (71; tied for first), walks (24) and slugging percentage (.522). Dolejs, one of three Falcons (along with L'Esperance and Williamson) to start all 47 games this spring, is second on the club in walks (22; tied for second), runs (29), extra-base hits (12) and RBI (27).
• Sarah Gonzalez, in her fifth year as a full-time starter, has played in 220 of BG's 221 games since her arrival on campus, making 219 starts. She is fourth on the BGSU career lists for both games played and games started, and she is also ranked among the top all-time Falcons in homers (15, 12th), walks (63, T-seventh), sacrifice flies (eight, T-third) and sac bunts (23, 13th).
• As a team, the Falcons lead the league in ERA (2.46) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.50), while ranking second in winning pct.
• The Falcons finished with a 12-4 record at Meserve Field this season, and BGSU is 7-9 in true road games and 11-4 in neutral-site contests.
• Gottshall struck out a school-record 282 batters last season – a record that she has since broken – 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.
• This season, Gottshall is averaging 10.27 strikeouts per seven innings, which would shatter the record she set just last spring. Her total of 23 wins this year, as mentioned, ranks second in school history and is the highest single-season total by a Falcon pitcher since 1992.
• Gottshall is now ranked second in school history with 735 career strikeouts, in just 501 innings pitched. She trails only BGSU Hall-of-Famer Liz Vrabel (768 strikeouts) on that list.
• 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 (first), strikeouts (second), winning pct. (.667 [54-27], third), wins (54, third), shutouts (20, T-fourth), ERA (1.65, sixth), complete games (58, sixth), innings pitched (ninth), games started (70, 10th), saves (four, T-11th) and appearances (85, 15th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is already tied for 11th on the BG career 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.
• Miami is 36-15-1 on the season, and the RedHawks won the MAC regular-season title with a 24-5 conference mark. MU is 17-3-1 at home this spring to date. Karli Spaid is hitting .419 with 24 homers and 64 RBI to lead the team in all three categories. She is second in the nation in homers. Miami is hitting .311 as a team this year. In the circle, Courtney Vierstra is 17-9 with a 3.20 ERA, and Brianna Pratt has a 15-4 record and a 4.08 ERA.
• BGSU trails Miami, 60-57, in the all-time series, and the RedHawks captured two of the three regular-season meetings in Oxford. BGSU used a seventh-inning rally for a 4-2 win in the opener (April 19, 2022), before MU swept a doubleheader the next day.
• Following the Miami game, the Falcons will play a team to be determined at Miami Softball Stadium on Friday (May 13). Depending upon BG's Thursday result vs. the RedHawks, the Falcons' Friday game will begin at either 1:00 or 3:30 p.m.
• More information is available in the PDF version of these notes.
# BGSU FALCON SOFTBALL #
Players Mentioned
Util.
/ Softball
3B
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
IF/C
/ Softball
C
/ SoftballSB: First Pitch Dinner Recap (Jan. 11, 2024)
Wednesday, January 24
BGSU-CMU Softball Highlights (May 13, 2022)
Saturday, May 14
BGSU In The Nest : Nikki and Alex Sorgi (Softball)
Wednesday, May 08
BG Softball Beats Akron in Game 1 on Senior Day 4.27
Saturday, April 27