BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 Archived Blogcasts
Box Scores:  SSU 4, WOU 0  |  SSU 5, #11 CSUC 0

Official 2012 Tournament of Champions Web Page
Final TOC Standings and Statistics

2012 Tournament of Champions, Bracket Winners
Gold Bracket:  Cal State Monterey Bay def. Grand Canyon, 6-5.
Silver Bracket:  Cal State Dominguez Hills def. Cal State East Bay, 2-1 (8 innings).
Bronze Bracket:  Chaminade def. Montana State Billings, 2-1.
Platinum Bracket:  Sonoma State def. Chico State, 5-0.
Consolation A Bracket:  Central Washington def. Western Washington, 4-3.
Consolation B Bracket:  Dominican def. Humboldt State, 5-4.

TURLOCK, Calif. -- Samantha Lipperd recorded a pair of shutout victories in the pitching circle, improving her current shutout streak to 28 innings, Shannon Kehr had four hits with three runs scored and Hayley Condon had a pair of hits, including a two-run home run as the Sonoma State softball team scored a 4-0 win over Western Oregon and a 5-0 win over 11th-ranked Chico State to win the Platinum Bracket of the Tournament of Champions, presented by Mizuno, on Sunday at Pitman High School in Turlock.  The victories wrap up a weekend in which the Seawolves went 6-1 at the 24-team event, improving to 26-14 this season.

Lipperd, who struckout 16 batters in the two games combined on Sunday, finished with 104 strikeouts in the seven games Sonoma State played this weekend.  She went 6-1 with a 0.65 earned run average, posting the aforementioned 104 K's in 53.2 innings of work, allowing just 26 hits, six runs (five earned) and 12 walks.  The right-hander from Boulder Creek tossed 781 total pitches, and fanned 52 percent of the 200 batters she faced.  She holds the new tournament record for strikeouts during the three-day event, more than doubling the previous record (which was 46, set back in 2003).

Oh, and not to mention, she shattered the Division II record for most strikeouts in a single game with 26 against Hawai'i Pacific on Friday, threw a no-hitter on Saturday against Hawai'i-Hilo and has a current streak of 28 innings without giving up a single run, solidifying the Tournament of Champions' Most Valuable Pitcher award, as well as All-Tournament honors, which was announced by host Cal State Stanislaus on Sunday evening.

TOC Platinum Bracket Semifinal:  Sonoma State 4, Western Oregon 0 -- Box Score  |  Archived Blogcast

After ending pool play after the stroke of Midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning, Sonoma State started off a bit slow, recording just one hit in the first three innings on Sunday afternoon.  Defensively, Lipperd put runners on second and third bases with one out in the bottom of the first inning, but as she had done all weekend, Lipperd pitched herself out of the jam, keeping Western Oregon off the scoreboard.

It was in the fourth that the Seawolves broke through for a pair of runs, thanks to an RBI double by Ali Palermo and an RBI single by Samantha Lepp, scoring Ancia Purdy and Palermo, respectively.  Another Seawolf run would come across the plate in the fifth on a defensive error by WOU that would allow Danielle D'Eccliss to score, putting SSU up 3-0.  Yet another run would score an inning later, this time on an RBI double by Skylynn Myers, bringing home pinch-runner Jayme Tickemyer, who ran for Lepp after her one-out single through the left side of the infield.

That would be all the run support Lipperd would need, despite allowing an individual tournament-high seven hits in the contest.  She would not let a run score, however, to continue her shutout streak.  Lipperd fanned 10 Wolves; the sixth consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts.

Palermo, Lepp and Myers had two hits each, accounting for six of the nine that Sonoma State recorded off of Western Oregon pitcher Hannah Pomeroy (2-5).

TOC Platinum Bracket Final:  Sonoma State 5, #11 Chico State 0 -- Box Score  |  Archived Blogcast

By the start of the Platinum Bracket final, Lipperd was set on cruise control.  She gave up just five hits to Chico State, the CCAA's third-best hitting team that came into the weekend as the 11th-ranked team in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

The only real offensive threat by the Wildcats came in their half of the sixth inning.  A pair of leadoff singles put two runners on with no outs.  But, the defense behind Lipperd came up big -- Purdy inparticular -- forcing an out on the lead runner at third base then completing the unassisted double play four pitches later, ending the Chico State threat.  It would also be Chico's last, as Lipperd recorded a strikeout, a pop out, a single to center field, then groundout after a nine-pitch at bat by Jackie Munoz to end the game.

Meanwhile, the Sonoma State offense scored one run in each of the first three innings, even threatened for more in the second inning, but left the bases loaded.  Condon would pretty much put the exclamation mark on the victory, smashing a two-run home run to left center field, despite fierce resistence from the strong winds at Pitman HS on Sunday.  Neither team would score again as Sonoma State cruised to the 5-0 win on Bracket Championship Sunday in Turlock.

It was the first time all weekend that Lipperd struckout less than 10 batters, ending with six against Chico State, adding to her epic total of 104 strikeouts this weekend; a mark that won't be topped for quite sometime, if that mark has even been recorded in the history of college softball.  Lipperd will head into next weekend's home series against defending national champion, UC San Diego, with a streak of 28 consecutive innings without giving up a run of any kind.

The offense pounded out 11 hits -- five off of Chico State's starter Kayla McConnell in the first 1.2 innings, then six more off of Sam Baker the rest of the way.  Kehr went 3 for 4 with two runs scored.  Palermo and Konieczka had nearly identical stat lines, both going 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.  Condon would hit the only home run of the game; her second of the season.

Sonoma State will return to CCAA action on Friday and Saturday when it hosts UC San Diego at the Seawolf Softball Field.  Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.