BELMONT, Calif- Freshman Samantha Lipperd tossed a no-hitter in game one and senior Simone Brandalise had five hits on the day as Sonoma State swept Notre Dame de Namur, 9-0 and 8-1, in non-conference softball action on Wednesday afternoon in Belmont. It is the third win in a row for the Seawolves, who improve to 3-1 on the season. The Argonauts fell to 0-2.

Lipperd's no-hitter was the first for Sonoma State since Meegan Kaminaka did so on Apr. 7, 2001 against San Francisco State and it was the 14th no-hitter in the history of the program.

The Seawolves wasted no time in taking the early lead via a RBI single by Brandalise that scored Danielle D'Eccliss, putting Sonoma State up 1-0. Rochelle Vanyi then came up in the second inning and scored Amanda Myers on a sacrifice fly to give Lipperd a comfortable 2-0 lead after two innings.

Lipperd (2-0) dominated from within the pitching circle, retiring the first seven Notre Dame de Namur batters before Mary Ortega reached base on an error in the third inning. Ortega then got thrown out by Skylynn Myers trying to steal second base, thwarting any scoring attempt by the Argonauts.

That's when the flood gates blew wide open. Sonoma State exploded for six runs on eight hits, including an RBI triple by Ashley Britton to give the Seawolves the 8-0 lead. An RBI single by Brandalise in the top of the fifth inning pushed the Seawolf lead to 9-0. Brandalise finished the game perfect at the plate (4-for-4) with a game-high four RBIs.

Notre Dame de Namur threatened in the last half of the fifth inning, as they sat on the heels of the eight-run rule. Lipperd loaded the bases after a couple of walks and a hit-by-pitch but forced Cassie Avila to pop out to Janelle Arnold to preserve the no-hit shutout. Lipperd, coming off a strong outing against Cal State Stanislaus last weekend, struck out four Argonauts in her five innings of work. Britton added two hits at the plate and brought home two runs for Sonoma State.

In the second game, D'Eccliss had three hits and three RBIs while Julianne Martinez and Brandalise combined to allow just one hit by NDNU to complete the doubleheader sweep with an 8-1 decision.

Martinez started the game and kept Notre Dame de Namur hitless in her four innings of work, striking out three batters. Brandalise came on in the fifth inning to allow just one hit and one run.

Sonoma State again scored one run in each of the first two innings before adding five more runs in the third inning to take a healthy 7-0 lead. One more run came across the plate in the top half of the fifth inning for SSU before the Argonauts pushed across their lone run of the afternoon after Sammy McConvey scored from second base after a fielding error.

The Seawolves will wrap up their home-and-home series with the Argonauts on Saturday when Notre Dame de Namur travels to Rohnert Park for a doubleheader, beginning at 12 p.m.

Box Scores
Sonoma State 9, Notre Dame de Namur 0 (5 innings)
Sonoma State 8, Notre Dame de Namur 1