Payton Gottshall

Personal: Gottshall is the daughter of Mike and Holly Gottshall. She has one older brother named Josh. Gottshall lists LeBron James as her favorite athlete and her parents as her biggest influences. She also played tennis in high school and has two dogs named Lala and Louis. Gottshall names former Bowling Green Head Softball Coach Sarah Willis as a person who has made a difference in her life. She models her game after Jennie Finch and Cat Osterman. Gottshall lists her grandmother as one of her idols. She says getting a text from Cat Osterman after the AUSL Inaugural Draft is a time when she felt starstruck. As a child, Gottshall also participated in dancing, tennis, basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. She enjoys reading, working out, spending time with her friends and family, and traveling. Gottshall also likes to cook and bake. Her proudest accomplishment is earning her master’s degree in special education while winning three SEC titles and becoming an All-American. Gottshall has worn No. 33 since high school.

2024 Championship Season: Gottshall finished her first Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball Championship Season with 968 leaderboard points, including 820 win points. She appeared in six games with three starts, posting a 3.57 earned run average and a 0-1 record. Over the course of 15.2 innings, Gottshall recorded 10 strikeouts. Her best performance came on August 11 against Team Lorenz, where she earned MVP 2 distinction after allowing just four hits over 3.2 innings, with three strikeouts. Gottshall set her season-high with three strikeouts during a relief appearance on August 3 against Team Lorenz. She accumulated 100 or more leaderboard points in six games throughout the season.

2024 AUX Season: Gottshall accumulated 896 leaderboard points in her first professional season, including 790 win points. She emerged as one of the top relief pitchers in the league after setting Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball AUX single-season record with three saves. Gottshall appeared in eight games in the circle with one start and authored a 4.30 earned run average with eight strikeouts over 14.2 innings. She claimed MVP 3 honors after notching her first professional save against Team Warren on June 10, allowing just one hit over the final 3.0 innings with one strikeout. Gottshall secured her second save of the campaign against Team Alo on June 17 with a season-high two strikeouts. She also notched a save on June 22 against Team Mazon after allowing just one hit in 3.0 innings. Gottshall was one of the 15 players selected in the 2024 Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball College Draft.

Other Professional Experience: Gottshall played for the Monterrey Sultanes in the Liga Mexicana de Softbol during the 2024-25 season.

International Experience: Gottshall helped Team Israel post a 3-4 record at the 2023 Canada Cup.

College Experience: Gottshall is a two-year letter winner at Tennessee after playing three seasons at Bowling Green. She appeared in 156 career games with 116 starts and authored a 1.70 career earned run average with 1,078 strikeouts over 799.2 innings. She posted a 94-37 career record with 10 saves, including three seasons with 20 or more victories. Gottshall is a four-time All-Conference selection, including First-Team All-Southeastern Conference status as a graduate student. She also garnered First-Team All-Mid-American Conference accolades as a sophomore and junior at Bowling Green. Gottshall claimed First-Team All-America honors from Softball America after leading Tennessee to the 2024 SEC regular season title. She also received a Second-Team All-America certificate from D1Softball and was a member of the 2024 NFCA All-Southeast Region First Team. 

As a graduate student, she compiled a 20-5 record with a 1.37 earned run average and fashioned 164 strikeouts over 147.2 innings for the Lady Vols while notching eight complete games and three shutouts. She registered a season-high 10 strikeouts against Missouri in a complete game victory on March 16, 2024, and posted nine strikeouts, including the 1,000th of her college career, against Western Carolina on March 21, 2024. Gottshall guided Tennessee to an NCAA Women’s College World Series berth as a senior in 2023 after accumulating a 16-2 record over 29 appearances, including 19 starts. She ended the season with a 1.65 earned run average and 130 strikeouts over 110 innings, registering three shutouts with five complete games, and recorded a save against Alabama in the NCAA Women’s College World Series. She also threw a complete game shutout in the NCAA Super Regionals victory against Texas and tossed a no-hitter against Northern Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament with nine strikeouts. Gottshall also teamed up with Nicola Simpson to throw a no-hitter against Mercer on April 6, 2023. 

She posted a 1.78 earned run average with a 58-30 record over three seasons at Bowling Green and ranks second on the Falcons’ career wins list. Gottshall is a three-time First-Team All-Mid-American Conference honoree who tallied a school-record 784 strikeouts over 542.0 innings with the Falcons while adding 63 complete games and 19 shutouts. She was honored as the 2022 MAC Pitcher of the Year after ranking second in the nation with a school-record 374 strikeouts and 253.1 innings pitched. She also matched the program's single-season standard with 27 victories during her final season at Bowling Green. Gottshall registered a five-inning perfect game against Akron on April 24, 2022, with five strikeouts and authored a no-hitter against Buffalo on April 10, 2022, with nine strikeouts. She set career highs with 14.0 innings pitched and 23 strikeouts against Buffalo on April 9, 2022. She struck out all 15 hitters in a five-inning perfect game against Green Bay on March 5, 2022. 

Gottshall was tabbed the 2021 MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year after posting a 20-12 record with a 1.87 earned run average, becoming the first Bowling Green hurler with 20 or more wins in a season since 1995. She ranked sixth in NCAA Division I with 282 strikeouts while earning First-Team All-MAC plaudits for the second straight season. Gottshall earned a starting assignment in 29-of-33 outings and finished with a 1.87 earned run average, striking out 16 batters during a perfect game performance against Cleveland State on February 13, 2021, and opening the campaign with 20 strikeouts against Cleveland State on February 12, 2021. She started her college career during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, earning an 11-5 record with a 1.93 earned run average. Gottshall led the MAC in victories while ranking second in the league with 128 strikeouts in 87.0 innings. She struck out 17 hitters and allowed one hit in her college debut against Tennessee Tech on February 14, 2020.