Irvine, CA—The Big West announced today that Chelsea Ponce is the conference Softball Pitcher of the Week for games played from April 20-26. This is Ponce's fourth pitcher of the week honor this season.

View all-time UC Riverside Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week honorees.

The Norwalk, California native helped the Highlanders to their first conference series sweep since 2012 as they took down the UC Davis Aggies over the weekend going 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA in the circle while holding the Aggies lineup to a collective .256 batting average. 

Ponce threw 22.0 innings through three outings, allowing just three runs, walking eight, and striking out 15.

Even though she did not factor in the decision in the Highlanders 13-inning marathon in game one, Ponce hurled through 12.1 innings without allowing a run and striking out nine. The Highlanders went on to take the game 1-0 after a brief rain delay.

The redshirt junior gave up just one run in 4.2 innings of work during the Highlanders 5-2 victory in game two. In UCR's 5-3 win to complete the sweep, Ponce allowed two runs in 5.0 innings of pitching. She has struck out three in each of her last two starts.

Pocketing three wins, the blue and gold matched their single-season wins record during conference play with seven.

Ponce leads the Big West and ranks sixth in the nation with 26 wins over 228.2 innings of work. She also ranks third in the conference with 170 strikeouts and first with a 1.35 ERA.