Coach Hipple begins her sixth season as head coach of the CMS Athenas.  Since her inaugural 2005 campaign, she has quickly built the program into a perennial SCIAC contender.  In 2008, the Athenas took a a shot at first place into the last weekend of play and finished second in conference.  After qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the first time in 2009, CMS won a share of the SCIAC title in 2010 and returned to the NCAA Championships.

Hipple came to CMS from Hunter College, City University of New York.  In five seasons there, she led the team to three CUNYAC titles (02, 03, 05), three CUNYAC tournament titles (01, 02, 03) and into the NCAA Championships three times (01, 02, 03). She was named CUNYAC Coach of the Year three times (01, 02, 03).  She coached multiple all conference players, pitchers of the year, and players of the year.  These accomplishments are of particular note given that Hunter College did not have a home field to either practice or compete on.  All training was done in a gym and a local, city of New York field was used to host teams from out of town. 

Coach Hipple, an avid student of the game, attends camps, clinics, and workshops whenever possible and has earned the rank of a 2.5-star master coach through the NFCA's Master Coach Program.  The NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) master coach program offers an eight course, ½ star per course progression for softball coaches examining all facets of the game under the guidance of the most successful coaches in the sport.   

Coach Hipple and the Athenas share their knowledge and love of the game with local youth teams during clinics they offer throughout the year to serve the community.  Remembering how they felt watching "the big girls" play, the Athenas bring a huge enthusiasm to these clinics teaching and bonding with their young trainees. 

Prior to entering collegiate coaching, Hipple led Outward Bound courses with adjudicated and at-risk youth for almost ten years.  An outgrowth of this work led her to corporate leadership consulting for several years before attending graduate school at the University of Utah.  Master's degree in hand, Hipple left to fulfill another lifelong dream and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two and a half years in Malawi, Africa. 

A native of Gainesville, FL, Hipple started her career coaching with a 12U basketball team in a local church league.  Coaching highlights since then have been many.  Among the most memorable was organizing an all-day practice session for the 2004 U.S. Olympic softball team   during the ‘Aiming to Athens' tour.

In addition to coaching the softball team, Hipple is an Assistant Professor of Physical Education at CMS.  She is also the SCIAC representative on the NCAA West Region ranking committee and directs the Athena softball summer camp program. 

Coach Hipple, who lives in Claremont, relocated her mother to Claremont in 2007 and is very fortunate to have her niece nearby attending Scripps College and beginning in the fall of 2009, to have her oldest nephew attending Claremont McKenna College.

Gerry Lopez joins the CMS softball program for his fourth year as an Assistant Coach. Coach Lopez has coached travel ball for eight years most recently at the 16, 18A and 18gold levels with the American Athletics in Orange County. In addition to 3 appearances at ASA nationals he assisted in international competition by taking a team to China three years ago and last year to Italy.

Gerry resides in Mission Viejo, Ca. He is married and has two daughters. He recently retired after 32 years of management with Marriott Hotels.