BOWLING GREEN — An already potent University of Tennessee softball program has picked up a new ace.
After a brief but historic career pitching for Bowling Green State University, Payton Gottshall, the reigning Mid-American Conference pitcher of the year, announced her commitment to the Volunteers program on her Twitter on Tuesday.
“Catch me pitching on Good Ol’ Rocky Top the next two seasons!! #GoVols,” she tweeted.
Catch me pitching on Good Ol’ Rocky Top the next two seasons!!???? #GoVols pic.twitter.com/N9IZhJ3YfW
— Payton Gottshall ♡ (@pgott33) June 14, 2022
Gottshall entered the transfer portal early last week, not long after former Falcons head coach Sarah Willis resigned to take the same position at Bradley University.
She was recruited heavily, as expected, as she told The Blade she was contacted by Big Ten programs and others in the Southeastern Conference alongside Tennessee.
“I’m really big on family and somewhere feeling like home to me, and when I stepped on campus and met the coaching staff, it made my decision easy,” Gottshall said. “We got to hang out and have dinner together, and it felt like my family back home. I just absolutely loved coach [Karen] Weekly and her staff, and it’s such a great group of players, as well as people.”
Weekly welcomed Gottshall publicly with her own tweet on Tuesday.
“Excited to coach this talented competitor! Welcome to Rocky Top Payton!” Weekly wrote.
Excited to coach this talented competitor! Welcome to Rocky Top Payton! @Vol_Softball #GBO https://t.co/T8PULOJoFX
— Karen Weekly (@KarenWeekly) June 14, 2022
Gottshall stormed into the BGSU softball record books in her three seasons inside the circle. Gottshall has thrown three perfect games in her career, and she ended her sophomore season as Bowling Green’s career leader in strikeouts (784) and Ks per 7 innings (10.13). She posted a career 58-30 record with a 1.77 ERA as a Falcon.
She registered a 27-13 record with a 1.63 earned-run average in 253⅓ innings this season. She struck out 374 batters, and opponents hit .170 off of her. She faced Tennessee in a game in the 2020 season, in which she struck out 13 batters in a complete-game effort.
Two years later, she will don a different shade of orange and will have a legitimate shot of pitching in a Women’s College World Series. Gottshall has two seasons of eligibility remaining, and she said she will get her start at Tennessee with summer classes.
“They have a great staff, but [Weekly] wants me to come in with some more experience and some knowledge to help this staff and continue to grow this team and program and to get back to the WCWS,” Gottshall said.
Gottshall as listed as a top-100 player in Division I softball on the Extra Elite 100 College Player Preseason Rankings by Extra Inning Softball.
Tennessee finished 41-18 overall and earned a third-place finish in the SEC standings with a 15-8 mark. The Vols made it to the NCAA regional tournament, where they lost to Oregon State in a double-elimination bracket.
Tennessee’s pitching staff finished seventh in the SEC with a 2.91 team ERA, and Gottshall is sure to bring more power into the rotation with her strikeout-recording ability. Gottshall recorded more strikeouts this season while pitching fewer innings than the Vols’ entire pitching staff (347 in 392.0 innings). Tennessee ace Ashley Rogers (12-6, 2.01 ERA) has one season of eligibility remaining, but Gottshall is undoubtedly going to be Weekly’s 1-A in the circle, with the departure of Texas Tech graduate transfer Erin Edmoundson (19-8, 2.58 ERA).
Regardless of what she accomplishes in a Volunteers uniform, Gottshall’s status as one of the greatest to set foot inside the circle at BGSU will remain. The Falcons finished 34-21 overall and 16-11 in the MAC, reaching the MAC tournament championship series this season. The Falcons claimed their best record since 2012, excluding the pandemic-shortened 11-6 season registered in 2020.
“I’m just so grateful to have been able to rep the Falcons and help build the program up to somewhere it hasn’t been in a long time,” she said. “But, especially, I want to thank coach Willis for allowing me to come into that program and for her helping me become the player I am. She was such a great coach and even more so off of the field as a friend.”
First Published June 14, 2022, 9:30 p.m.
