After eclipsing major milestones over the weekend, Oklahoma freshman Lauren Chamberlain and Missouri junior Chelsea Thomas have earned the final Big 12 Softball Player and Pitcher awards of the 2012 season, respectively.

Chamberlain made league history as the first freshman to earn three Player of the Week honors. The previous record was held by TAMU's Meagan May and MU's Rhea Taylor who both earned the distinction twice as freshmen.

Thomas collects her fourth pitcher accolade this year and the 12th of her career.

Big 12 Player of the Week
Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma, Fr., Trabuco Canyon, Calif., INF
With three home runs against Iowa State over the weekend, Chamberlain broke the Big 12 single-season record for home runs as she moved to 25 on the year, eclipsing the mark previously set by TAMU's Meagan May in 2010 (24). The Californian drove in five RBI with 15 total bases in the series and boasted a slugging percentage of 1.500, leading the Sooners to their ninth overall Big 12 crown. The newcomer also recorded a double and a single to go with her three homers. She was also successful in her lone stolen base attempt. At the conclusion of the regular season, the first-year Sooner led the league through all games in slugging percentage (.888), runs scored (54), RBI (63), home runs (25), total bases (142) and sacrifice flies (5).

Big 12 Pitcher of the Week
Chelsea Thomas, Missouri, Jr., Pleasantville, Iowa, RHP
Appearing in all three games against Oklahoma State, Thomas helped the Tigers clinch second place in the Big 12 with a three-game sweep over the Cowgirls. She opened the series with her 11th career no hitter, allowing just two walks and striking out a dozen. She came out of the bullpen Saturday, pitching the last 2.1 innings to record her third save of the season. In that outing, the Pleasantville, Iowa-native struck out five more batters in Mizzou's 5-3 victory. On Sunday, Thomas allowed her first hit of the weekend, but would go on to throw all 10 innings of the 1-0 extra inning win. With her ninth strikeout on the day, she became MU's all-time leader for strikeouts in a career, breaking Teresa Wilson's 29-year-old record. Thomas now has 898 strikeouts through her time at Missouri. On the season, she improved to 23-7 and lowered her ERA to 1.07, a league-best this year.

2012 Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Week

Date	Player	Pitcher
Feb. 14	Lexy Bennett, Texas, Sr., INF	Whitney Canion, Baylor, Jr., LHP
Feb. 21	Sandy James, Texas Tech, Jr., INF	Blaire Luna, Texas, Jr., RHP
Feb. 28	Kelsea Roth, Missouri, Fr., 1B	Chelsea Thomas, Missouri, Jr., RHP
March 6	Courtney Craig, Texas, Sr., OF	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
March 13	Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma, Fr., INF	Kat Espinosa, Oklahoma State, Sr., RHP
March 20	Georgia Casey, Oklahoma, Fr., INF	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
March 27	Nadia Taylor, Texas, Sr., 3B	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
April 3	Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma, Fr., INF	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
	Adriana Perez, Texas Tech, Jr., INF/C/DP	Chelsea Thomas, Missouri, Jr., RHP
April 10	Ashley Fleming, Missouri, Sr., OF	Chelsea Thomas, Missouri, Jr., RHP
April 17	Nadia Taylor, Texas, Sr., 3B	Mel Dumezich, Texas A&M, Jr., RHP
April 24	Cassie Tysarcyzk, Texas A&M, So., OF	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
May 1	Taylor Hoagland, Texas, Jr., R	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP
	Nicole Morgan, Texas A&M, So., INF
May 8	Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma, Jr., LHP	Mel Dumezich, Texas A&M, Jr., RHP
May 14	Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma, Fr., INF	Chelsea Thomas, Missouri, Jr., RHP