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#33, Right-Handed Pitcher, R/R

Payton Gottshall

University of Tennessee, Knoxville '24

Hometown: Massillon, Ohio

Four-time All-Conference

Payton Gottshall is a 5-foot-9 professional softball pitcher from Massillon, Ohio. She was acquired in the 4th Round of the 2026 Expansion Draft following a collegiate career at Bowling Green and Tennessee.


Personal Life


Education: Earned a master's degree in special education.

Background: Daughter of Mike and Holly Gottshall. Has two dogs named Lala and Louis.

Professional Experience


Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball, AUX & AUSL (2024–2025)

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup: Accumulated 368 leaderboard points over five appearances (one start), posting a 7.64 ERA.

2025 AUSL Regular Season: Tied for second in the AUSL with 15 appearances, recording a 3-3 record with one save, a 3.40 ERA, and 23 strikeouts.

2024 Championship Season: Compiled 968 leaderboard points with a 3.57 ERA and 10 strikeouts over 15.2 innings.

2024 AUX Season: Set the AUX single-season record with three saves, accumulating 896 leaderboard points with a 4.30 ERA.


Other Professional Experience (2025–2026)

Mexican Softball League: Piloted Monterrey Sultanes to the 2026 league title, ranking second in the circuit with 87.2 innings and 95 strikeouts.

College Experience: Bowling Green & Tennessee (2020–2024)


Career Statistics: Appeared in 156 games (116 starts) with a 94-37 record, 1.70 ERA, 10 saves, and 1,078 strikeouts.

Graduate Year (2024, Tennessee): Compiled a 20-5 record with a 1.37 ERA and 164 strikeouts.

Senior Year (2023, Tennessee): Accumulated a 16-2 record with a 1.65 ERA and 130 strikeouts.

Bowling Green (2020–2022): Posted a 1.78 ERA with 58 wins over three seasons. Set the school single-season strikeout record with 374 in 2022 and finished her career with a school-record 784 strikeouts over 542.0 innings.


Awards & Honors

All-America: 2024 First-Team All-America (Softball America and NFCA) and Second-Team All-America (D1Softball).

Conference Honors: First-Team All-SEC as a graduate student. 2022 MAC Pitcher of the Year and 2021 MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

AUSL Headshot of Payton Gottshall

Career Stats

YEAR
W-L
ERA
G
GS
IP
H
SO
BB
ER
HR
B/AVG
HB
CG
SHO
SV
B
S
WP
2025 All-Star Cup
0-2
7.64
5
1
7.1
11
1
3
8
2
.367
-
-
-
-
14
37
-
2025 AUSL
3-3
3.40
15
1
47.1
49
23
14
23
6
.265
5
-
-
1
154
270
-
2024 Championship*
0-1
3.57
6
2
15.2
16
10
6
8
3
.271
1
1
-
-
19
34
-
2024 AUX Softball
0-0
4.30
8
-
14.2
16
8
-
9
4
.267
-
-
-
3
27
70
-
Career Totals
3-6
3.95
34
4
85.0
92
42
23
48
15
.275
6
1
-
4
214
411
-

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Game Log

DATE
HOME TEAM
AWAY TEAM
W-L
ERA
G
IP
H
SO
BB
ER
HR
B/AVG
HB
CG
SHO
SV
B
S
WP
8/31/2025
Team KowalikTeam Coffel
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/30/2025
Team CoffelTeam Ricketts
0-0
0.00
1
2.0
1
-
1
-
-
.250
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/29/2025
Team CoffelTeam Garcia
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/26/2025
Team CoffeyTeam Netz
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/25/2025
Team KowalikTeam Coffey
0-0
31.50
1
0.2
3
-
-
3
1
.600
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/24/2025
Team RickettsTeam Coffey
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/20/2025
Team WillisTeam Falby
0-1
100.00
1
-
3
-
-
3
1
1.000
-
-
-
-
3
7
-
8/19/2025
Team FalbyTeam Kowalik
0-0
4.20
1
1.2
2
1
1
1
-
.286
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/2/2025
Team CorrickTeam Lorenz
0-1
2.33
1
3.0
2
-
1
1
-
.182
-
-
-
-
11
30
-

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Highlights

2026 MLB x AUSL First Pitches

Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) are showcasing their partnership through a series of first pitches at baseball games across the country. Follow where the pro softball players made an appearance during the 2026 season: Bri Ellis at the Houston Astros View this post on Instagram A post shared by […]

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Awards & Honors

Four-time All-Conference
2024 NFCA All-Southeast Region First Team
2022 MAC Pitcher of the Year
2021 MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year
Three-time First-Team All-Mid-American Conference

Transactions

  • 12/2/2025Cascade
    Cascade drafted Payton Gottshall in the expansion draft: [Round 4, Pick 1 (7)]
  • 1/30/2025Volts
    Volts drafted Payton Gottshall in the inagural draft [Round 6, Pick 3(23)]

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