WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Junior Samantha Lipperd continues to shatter every pitching record in the Sonoma State University softball record book.  That said, her efforts rarely go unnoticed these days.  After helping the Seawolves to a sweep of Cal State Stanislaus this past weekend, Lipperd has again been named as the California Collegiate Athletic Association's Softball Pitcher of the Week.  It is the third time this season -- and the fifth time in the last two years -- that she has earned the conference's top weekly honor.

In four games against Cal State Stanislaus, Lipperd went 4-0 and allowed just two runs in 29 innings of work (a 0.48 earned run average).  She tossed four complete games, including a one-hit shutout in Saturday's game two victory and a four-hit shutout in Sunday's series finale.  In fact, Lipperd was just two outs away from her seventh-career no-hitter in Saturday's nightcap, but a one-out hit in the top of the seventh inning by the Warriors, ended the no-hit bid.  Lipperd allowed just nine hits in 91 at bats, as Cal State Stanislaus sported a miniscule .099 batting average in the series.

The right-hander out of Boulder Creek also continued her torrid strikeout pace, fanning 38 batters to break SSU's single-season strikeout record of 324 that she set just last season.  With 332 strikeouts in 2012, Lipperd leads the entire NCAA (across all three divisions) in that category, just three more K's than the University of Massachusetts' ace Sara Plourde.  She also has 153 more strikeouts than Cal State Dominguez Hills' Lauren Harper, who is the CCAA's second-best strikeout pitcher with 179.

In 117 career appearances, Lipperd is 73-27 with a 1.53 ERA and is just one win shy of setting the school record for most career wins as a pitcher.  Since breaking the school record for most career strikeouts (which was previously 426), Lipperd has amassed for 798, just two short of 800 for her career.  She already holds almost every pitching record in SSU softball history, including opponent batting average (.179), strikeouts (798), strikeouts per seven-inning game (8.43), strikeouts looking (173), appearances (117), starts (103), complete games (74), among others.

Sonoma State is 31-17 this season and is tied for fifth in the CCAA standings at 17-15, but it was announced on Monday that Chico State has captured the fourth and final spot in the CCAA Championship Tournament, leaving the two-time defending conference tournament champion Seawolves out of this year's event.  There is still a strong possibility, however, that SSU will compete in the NCAA tournament.  The team was ranked sixth in last week's official NCAA regional poll -- the top eight in the final poll, that will be released via a live selection show on NCAA.com on Apr. 30, will qualify for the NCAA postseason.

But first, Sonoma State will wrap up the regular season on Friday and Saturday against San Francisco State in San Francisco.  First pitch of Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

CCAA Softball Pitchers of the Week:
Jan. 30 - Feb. 5: Sam Baker (Chico State); Feb. 6-12: Jessica McDermott (Chico State); Feb. 13-19: Camille Gaito (UC San Diego); Feb. 20-26: Lauren Harper (Cal State Dominguez Hills); Feb. 27 - Mar. 4: Samantha Lipperd (Sonoma State); Mar. 5-11: Camille Gaito (UC San Diego); Mar. 12-18: Camille Gaito (UC San Diego); Mar. 19-25: Lauren Harper (Cal State Dominguez Hills); Mar. 26 - Apr. 1: Samantha Lipperd (Sonoma State); Apr. 2-8: Sam Baker (Chico State); Apr. 9-15: Samantha Lipperd (Sonoma State).