The Bowling Green State University softball team has been invited to national postseason play. The Falcons will head to Fort Collins, Colorado, for the 2022 National Invitational Softball Championships.
BGSU will open play in the 12-team, double-elimination tournament on Friday. The Falcons, seeded ninth for the tournament, will face eighth-seeded Stephen F. Austin.
Tournament officials announced the field for the NISC on Sunday. The NISC is a Division-I postseason softball event that includes four Power 5 programs and eight mid-majors with action set to begin on Friday and run through May 26. All games will take place at the TC Colorado Field, just outside the offices of Triple Crown Sports.
The NISC began in 2017 and ran through 2019 before stepping aside because of the pandemic for two years.
The top-four seeds each have a first-round bye and will start on Saturday. The No. 1 seed for the 2022 NISC is Virginia (27-24). Baylor (28-24) is the No. 2 seed, UNLV (38-13) is seeded third and No. 4 is Central Arkansas (35-20).
To be eligible for consideration for the 2022 NISC, teams had to have an RPI in the national top 100 or have a winning record if its RPI was greater than 100. Conference record, results against the RPI Top 50, last 10 games, notable wins, upset losses and player injuries also were taken into consideration.
The team bowed out of the Mid-American Conference Tournament with an 11-0 loss to Miami University on Saturday.
The Falcons (32-19), the number-four seed for the four-team tournament, fell behind early as the top-seeded RedHawks (39-15-1) scored twice in the first inning before putting together a six-run second inning.
Payton Gottshall, Sophie Weber and Reagan Williamson were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team.
Gottshall threw 442 pitches, including 291 strikes, in under 48 hours during BGSU’s time in Oxford. She fired 282 pitches on Friday alone as the fourth-seeded Falcons (32-19) knocked second-seeded Ohio and third-seeded Central Michigan out of the tournament.
On Saturday, Gottshall left the game in the second inning to a standing ovation from the Miami fans as well as the BGSU fans.
Senior Kiara Hurley pitched the final two-plus innings for the Falcons, with Williamson and Greta L’Esperance picking up hits against the RedHawks.
