Former Corban Softball Standout Named Oregon Sports Award Winner
BEAVERTON - Stephanie Nippert, who set NAIA career home run records as a member of the Corban softball team, was named the Ad Rutschman Small College Female Athlete of the Year at the 62nd Oregon Sports Awards held tonight at Nike World Headquarters.
The former Corban standout was selected for the award from a list of nominees that included Gabrielle Dixson and Hannah Kimsey from Concordia University in Portland.
Nippert, who played at Corban from 2010-13, closed out her record-breaking career with a NAIA-record 83 home runs, including a school and Cascade Collegiate Conference single-season record 30 as a senior in 2013. She earned NAIA All-America honors four times and was a three-time Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Year.
In her final season of collegiate competition, Nippert became the first player in CCC history to register more than 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single-season after she tallied 22 stolen bases to go along with her 30 homers.
On the strength of Nippert's bat, Corban won a school-record 43 games and the program's first-ever regular season conference title in 2013. She led the nation in homers (30), home runs per game (0.51), total bases (168) and slugging percentage (1.098), while ranking second in RBIs (82) and third in runs scored (77).
In her final season as a Warrior, Nippert set single-season school and conference records for home runs, runs batted in, and walks (68). She was the NAIA's all-time leader in home runs with 83 and ranks in the Top 10 all-time in seven statistical categories that includes home runs (1st - 83), slugging percentage (2nd - 0.954), total bases (2nd - 564), walks (3rd - 120), runs batted in (5th - 240), batting average (6th - 0.447), and runs scored (tied 6th - 220).
The Oregon Sports Awards honors the state's outstanding professional and amateur athletes, teams, coaches and administrators.