Bowling Green State University Athletics
photo courtesy Miami Athletics
Falcons Fly to Colorado for NISC
May 18, 2022 | Softball
BGSU opens national tourney play Friday morning
UP NEXT IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• BGSU at National Invitational Softball Championships •
• May 20-26 • Fort Collins, Colo. •
• The BGSU softball team is set to participate in national postseason play for the first time in 18 years. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons head to Colorado to take part in the 2022 National Invitational Softball Championships.
• The Falcons are seeded ninth in the 12-team, double-elimination tournament, and BGSU begins tourney play on Friday morning (May 20) vs. eighth-seeded Stephen F. Austin. That game is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. Eastern).
• The BGSU-SFA winner advances to face top-seeded Virginia on Saturday (May 21), with that game also set to start at 8:30 a.m. locally. The BGSU-SFA loser will play an opponent to be determined on Sunday (May 22) morning.
• All tournament games will take place at the TC Colorado Field in Fort Collins, Colo. Live stats will be available, and all games will be streamed via FloSoftball (fee required).
• The Falcons are participating in the NISC for the first time. The tourney was held from 2017-19, but was not held in 2020 or '21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• BGSU is 32-19 overall, and the Falcons ended Mid-American Conference 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.
• The Falcons returned to the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2013 and advanced to the championship game. After losing to top-seeded Miami, 4-1, the Falcons knocked both second-seeded Ohio and third-seeded CMU out of the tourney.
• BGSU downed Ohio, 5-3, in a 10-inning affair on Friday (May 13), with Sophie Weber driving in all five runs for the Falcons. She went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and a walk in that win.
• After throwing 185 pitches in that four-hour game, Payton Gottshall came back that evening to fire a two-hit shutout as BSU topped CMU, 1-0. Reagan Williamson's homer in the top of the seventh inning accounted for all of the scoring Gottshall would need.
• BG's league tourney run came to an end the next day, with a loss to Miami on the RedHawks' home field. Gottshall, Weber and Williamson all were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team.
• Gottshall threw 442 pitches, including 291 strikes, in under 48 hours during BG's time in Oxford. She fired 282 pitches on Friday alone.
• By several standards, this has been the Falcons' most successful season in a decade. BGSU's total of 32 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.
• Gottshall and centerfielder Greta L'Esperance were named to the All-MAC First Team. Additionally, Gottshall was also named the MAC Pitcher of the Year.
• Gottshall enters the NISC with a record of 25-12, a 1.51 ERA and a school-record 356 strikeouts in 237 innings this spring. The seven-time MAC Pitcher of the Week has allowed opponents to hit just .159 against her in 2022.
• 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, was 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.
• Two weeks ago, 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 nine statistical categories, and is ranked among the top 25 pitchers in the nation on eight of those lists. She is second in the country in total strikeouts, fourth in innings pitched, seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio, eighth in shutouts, ninth in wins, 15th in strikeouts per seven innings, 18th in hits allowed per seven innings and 24th 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 3.89 ERA this spring. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in eight years.
• At the plate, L'Esperance is batting a BGSU-best .383, and she also leads the Falcons in hits (67), stolen bases (30) and runs scored (40). Her stolen-base total ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list, and she is also ranked among the top-five all-time Falcons in batting average (third), hits (T-fourth) and runs (fifth) on those school seasonal charts.
• L'Esperance leads the MAC and is ranked 19th 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 .364, which puts her third on that BG career chart.
• Williamson is hitting .318 on the year, with Peyton Dolejs and Weber batting .287 and .263, respectively.
• Williamson tops the team in homers (eight), runs batted in (35), extra-base hits (15), total bases (78), walks (25) and slugging percentage (.527). She is ranked among the top 20 on several BGSU single-season lists, including sacrifice flies (T-ninth, 3), RBI (T-10th), walks (T-11th) and homers (T-18th).
Dolejs, one of three Falcons (along with L'Esperance and Williamson) to start all 51 games this spring, is second on the club in walks (23; 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 224 of BG's 225 games since her arrival on campus, making 223 starts. She is third on the BGSU career list for games started and ranks fourth all-time in games played. Gonzalez is also ranked among the top all-time Falcons in homers (15, 12th), walks (64, seventh), sacrifice flies (eight, T-third) and sac bunts (24, 13th).
• As a team, the Falcons lead the league in ERA (2.59) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.54), while ranking second in winning pct.
• The Falcons finished with a 12-4 record at Meserve Field this season, and BGSU went 7-11 in true road games. Entering the NISC, the Falcons have a 13-4 mark 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 10.51 strikeouts per seven innings, which would shatter the record she set just last spring. Her total of 25 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 766 career strikeouts, in just 525 2/3 innings pitched. She is just two strikeouts from tying and three from breaking the school record of 768, currently held by BGSU Hall-of-Famer Liz Vrabel.
• 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 (10.20, first), strikeouts (second), wins (56, T-second), winning pct. (.659 [56-29], fourth), shutouts (21, also fourth), complete games (61, fifth), ERA (1.72, sixth), innings pitched (eighth), games started (74, ninth), saves (four, T-11th) and appearances (89, T-13th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is already tied for 11th on the BG career saves list.
• Gottshall's strikeouts-per-seven-innings averages have blown all previous BGSU pitchers out of the water. Prior to her arrival on campus, the school single-season and career records in that category were 8.46 and 7.12, respectively.
• Gottshall broke the single-season record for strikeouts per seven innings last season, with 9.79, and is on pace to break it yet again, with 10.51 this spring to date.
• Her career average of 10.20 is on pace to obliterate the old record of 7.12, set by Vrabel.
• Stephen F. Austin is 31-25 overall, and the Ladyjacks went 18-6 in the Western Athletic Conference to win the league's Southwest Division. Kassidy Wilbur, the WAC Pitcher of the Year, is 22-14 with a 3.25 ERA and 236 strikeouts on the season. Wilbur was named to the All-WAC First Team, with Gaby Garcia and Sydnee Hebert chosen to the all-conference second team.
• BGSU trails SFA, 2-1, in the all-time series, and the teams have not met since 2004. The Falcons have an overall record of 11-23 against the other teams in the NISC field, including marks of 1-0 vs. George Washington, 2-2 vs. Baylor, 3-3 vs. Rutgers, 1-3 against UNLV, 3-10 vs. Virginia and 0-3 against Kansas. BG has never faced Central Arkansas, North Alabama, Tarleton State or UC San Diego on the softball diamond.
• More information is available in the PDF version of these notes.
• BGSU at National Invitational Softball Championships •
• May 20-26 • Fort Collins, Colo. •
• The BGSU softball team is set to participate in national postseason play for the first time in 18 years. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons head to Colorado to take part in the 2022 National Invitational Softball Championships.
• The Falcons are seeded ninth in the 12-team, double-elimination tournament, and BGSU begins tourney play on Friday morning (May 20) vs. eighth-seeded Stephen F. Austin. That game is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. Eastern).
• The BGSU-SFA winner advances to face top-seeded Virginia on Saturday (May 21), with that game also set to start at 8:30 a.m. locally. The BGSU-SFA loser will play an opponent to be determined on Sunday (May 22) morning.
• All tournament games will take place at the TC Colorado Field in Fort Collins, Colo. Live stats will be available, and all games will be streamed via FloSoftball (fee required).
• The Falcons are participating in the NISC for the first time. The tourney was held from 2017-19, but was not held in 2020 or '21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• BGSU is 32-19 overall, and the Falcons ended Mid-American Conference 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.
• The Falcons returned to the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2013 and advanced to the championship game. After losing to top-seeded Miami, 4-1, the Falcons knocked both second-seeded Ohio and third-seeded CMU out of the tourney.
• BGSU downed Ohio, 5-3, in a 10-inning affair on Friday (May 13), with Sophie Weber driving in all five runs for the Falcons. She went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and a walk in that win.
• After throwing 185 pitches in that four-hour game, Payton Gottshall came back that evening to fire a two-hit shutout as BSU topped CMU, 1-0. Reagan Williamson's homer in the top of the seventh inning accounted for all of the scoring Gottshall would need.
• BG's league tourney run came to an end the next day, with a loss to Miami on the RedHawks' home field. Gottshall, Weber and Williamson all were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team.
• Gottshall threw 442 pitches, including 291 strikes, in under 48 hours during BG's time in Oxford. She fired 282 pitches on Friday alone.
• By several standards, this has been the Falcons' most successful season in a decade. BGSU's total of 32 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.
• Gottshall and centerfielder Greta L'Esperance were named to the All-MAC First Team. Additionally, Gottshall was also named the MAC Pitcher of the Year.
• Gottshall enters the NISC with a record of 25-12, a 1.51 ERA and a school-record 356 strikeouts in 237 innings this spring. The seven-time MAC Pitcher of the Week has allowed opponents to hit just .159 against her in 2022.
• 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, was 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.
• Two weeks ago, 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 nine statistical categories, and is ranked among the top 25 pitchers in the nation on eight of those lists. She is second in the country in total strikeouts, fourth in innings pitched, seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio, eighth in shutouts, ninth in wins, 15th in strikeouts per seven innings, 18th in hits allowed per seven innings and 24th 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 3.89 ERA this spring. Hurley's save total is the highest by a BGSU player in eight years.
• At the plate, L'Esperance is batting a BGSU-best .383, and she also leads the Falcons in hits (67), stolen bases (30) and runs scored (40). Her stolen-base total ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list, and she is also ranked among the top-five all-time Falcons in batting average (third), hits (T-fourth) and runs (fifth) on those school seasonal charts.
• L'Esperance leads the MAC and is ranked 19th 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 .364, which puts her third on that BG career chart.
• Williamson is hitting .318 on the year, with Peyton Dolejs and Weber batting .287 and .263, respectively.
• Williamson tops the team in homers (eight), runs batted in (35), extra-base hits (15), total bases (78), walks (25) and slugging percentage (.527). She is ranked among the top 20 on several BGSU single-season lists, including sacrifice flies (T-ninth, 3), RBI (T-10th), walks (T-11th) and homers (T-18th).
Dolejs, one of three Falcons (along with L'Esperance and Williamson) to start all 51 games this spring, is second on the club in walks (23; 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 224 of BG's 225 games since her arrival on campus, making 223 starts. She is third on the BGSU career list for games started and ranks fourth all-time in games played. Gonzalez is also ranked among the top all-time Falcons in homers (15, 12th), walks (64, seventh), sacrifice flies (eight, T-third) and sac bunts (24, 13th).
• As a team, the Falcons lead the league in ERA (2.59) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.54), while ranking second in winning pct.
• The Falcons finished with a 12-4 record at Meserve Field this season, and BGSU went 7-11 in true road games. Entering the NISC, the Falcons have a 13-4 mark 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 10.51 strikeouts per seven innings, which would shatter the record she set just last spring. Her total of 25 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 766 career strikeouts, in just 525 2/3 innings pitched. She is just two strikeouts from tying and three from breaking the school record of 768, currently held by BGSU Hall-of-Famer Liz Vrabel.
• 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 (10.20, first), strikeouts (second), wins (56, T-second), winning pct. (.659 [56-29], fourth), shutouts (21, also fourth), complete games (61, fifth), ERA (1.72, sixth), innings pitched (eighth), games started (74, ninth), saves (four, T-11th) and appearances (89, T-13th). In her first season at BGSU, Hurley is already tied for 11th on the BG career saves list.
• Gottshall's strikeouts-per-seven-innings averages have blown all previous BGSU pitchers out of the water. Prior to her arrival on campus, the school single-season and career records in that category were 8.46 and 7.12, respectively.
• Gottshall broke the single-season record for strikeouts per seven innings last season, with 9.79, and is on pace to break it yet again, with 10.51 this spring to date.
• Her career average of 10.20 is on pace to obliterate the old record of 7.12, set by Vrabel.
• Stephen F. Austin is 31-25 overall, and the Ladyjacks went 18-6 in the Western Athletic Conference to win the league's Southwest Division. Kassidy Wilbur, the WAC Pitcher of the Year, is 22-14 with a 3.25 ERA and 236 strikeouts on the season. Wilbur was named to the All-WAC First Team, with Gaby Garcia and Sydnee Hebert chosen to the all-conference second team.
• BGSU trails SFA, 2-1, in the all-time series, and the teams have not met since 2004. The Falcons have an overall record of 11-23 against the other teams in the NISC field, including marks of 1-0 vs. George Washington, 2-2 vs. Baylor, 3-3 vs. Rutgers, 1-3 against UNLV, 3-10 vs. Virginia and 0-3 against Kansas. BG has never faced Central Arkansas, North Alabama, Tarleton State or UC San Diego on the softball diamond.
• 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
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