Wearing A New Shade of Orange, Payton Gottshall is Still Doing What She Does Best

Payton Gottshall likes to strike batters out.

She really likes it.

In three seasons at Bowling Green – including the shortened 2020 campaign – Gottshall collected 784 strikeouts. Thus far during her career, she’s averaged more than ten strikeouts per game; her exact number currently ranks third among active college softball pitchers.

An absolute force in the circle and a workhorse in the old-school softball mold, Gottshall earned the Mid-American Conference’s Pitcher of the Year award last season after posting 27 wins and a 1.69 ERA. She dominated the MAC, including outdueling Miami ace Courtney Vierstra – the reigning conference Pitcher of the Year at the time – in a late-April matchup to open a conference series between the two teams.

Talent like Gottshall’s certainly gathers attention from coaches and programs of all kinds. For the Ohio native, even as she dominated opposing hitters and offenses on a regular basis, she wasn’t looking to leave BG. Then, some things changed, including head coach Sarah Willis, the leader of the Bowling Green program for the better part of a decade, leaving the Falcons for greener pastures as head coach at Bradley.

“[Coach Willis] was a big factor in that,” Gottshall admitted of her decision to leave the Falcons’ program and transfer through the portal. “That’s not the only reason that I went in either, though. I absolutely loved my team at BG and everything, but some of the goals and things that I want to accomplish weren’t adding up in large part. With [coach Willis] leaving, it was just kind-of perfect timing. I just couldn’t see myself there any longer.”

After the coaching change and some thought, Gottshall’s name appeared in the transfer portal in early June. Right away, she was inundated with messages from all sides.

“I was not expecting as many calls or texts and emails as I got,” Gotshall said shortly after making her transfer destination known. “I wasn’t really expecting anything like that. [Going into the portal] was pretty nerve-wracking, because I know there are some people who go into the portal and never get picked up. That was always a bit in the back of my head, ‘what if nobody wants me?’ But at the same time, I was confident that this wasn’t going to be the end for me, that I was going to go somewhere and have an impact wherever I went – but to start with, my first reaction was ‘oh crap, this is really happening’.”

“My mom and I sat down and made a list of everyone who was contacting me,” Gottshall added. “We gauged where their program was and what their team had been capable of in the past. Because I obviously want to go to the World Series and everything, so looking at teams that have made that run in the past; can they get there now with where everything is for their program? So we got it down to a top 5, then a top 3 of schools that really interested me and that I wanted to go further with… I had three visits scheduled, and Tennessee was the first one that I went on. And it was the only one I went on. I loved the campus, it’s all close together; the environment of being around some of the players and the coaching staff; and finding some place that feels like home was important to me and they made me see that this is that environment for me.”

Tennessee coach Karen Weekly had a first-hand look at Gottshall’s skills during the 2020 season; the Lady Vols faced Gottshall and Bowling Green in an early-season tournament and, despite getting the best of her on that day, Weekly and Company clearly liked – and remembered – what they saw.

Now in Knoxville, Gottshall will be part of a full bullpen for the first time in her college career. Whereas she was the innings-eating ace at her previous school, she will share a more even workload in her new home. Though she’s had the workhorse mentality, if not the similar workload, for most of her career in softball, being one of several contributors in the circle is something that the fourth-year hurler is looking forward to.

“One of the things that I loved about Tennessee is I know Ashley Rogers and I’ve seen what she can do,” Gottshall noted. “I feel like we will compliment each other so well, and I absolutely love how she pitches, I love the fire that she has – that’s something that I have too, that competitiveness. As much as I loved being that workhorse [at Bowling Green], it does take some pressure off of me. Here at Tennessee, there are other pitchers who can pitch a second game of a doubleheader and pretty much have it on lock, and there are other pitchers who can come in and finish a game; it’s not always going to be put on me and as I get older, for my body, I need that so that’s always nice.”

The step up into the game’s most competitive conference isn’t something that phases Gottshall – “there’s going to be a little voice that’s like ‘can I really do this’ but that’s something that I’ve faced me entire life,” she said – and the opportunity to spend multiple years in the SEC she described as “a grind, something completely [new] and different, but that’s kind-of what pulled me in.”

Now sporting a Tennessee jersey to finish her college career, Gottshall’s potential for success as a Lady Vol is about as bright as the orange uniform she now claims as her own.