Sports Shorts OF LOCAL NOTE . . . The national finalist Stanford womenís basketball team will be recognized in a pregame event at Friday nightís San Francisco Giants baseball game at AT&T Park as part of the teamís ìCollege Nightî promotion. Along with the team being recognized before the game, junior forward Kayla Pedersen will have the honor of throwing out the nightís ceremonial first pitch. The Giants will be taking on the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
Friday College baseball: Stanford at Washington, 6 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)
Saturday College baseball: Stanford at Washington, 6:30 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)
Sunday College baseball: Stanford at Washington, noon, KZSU (90.1 FM)
Monday College baseball: Santa Clara at Stanford, 5:30 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)
Tuesday College baseball: San Jose St. at Stanford, 5:30 p.m., KZSU (90.1 FM)
SPORTS ONLINE For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, please see our new site at www.PASportsOnline.com
Palo Alto seniors Joc Pederson (10) and Scott Witte had plenty to celebrate as the Vikings rallied to topple host Los Gatos, 13-8, on Wednesday to earn the team’s first SCVAL De Anza Division baseball championship since 1994. Pederson and Witte both hit solo home runs in the victory.
Paly’s long-awaited baseball title a blast Vikings hit four home runs and rally from five runs down to beat Los Gatos for first De Anza Division title since 1994 by Keith Peters alo Alto baseball coach Erick Raich knows he is safe. There will be no water dumped on him after Friday’s regular-season home finale against Los Gatos. That’s because the celebratory dunking took place Wednesday, moments after the Vikings clinched their first SCVAL De Anza Division title since 1994 with a thrilling come-from-behind 13-8 triumph over the host Wildcats. “Yes, I got the bucket of water dumped on me,” Raich said. “The players got me good, and I didn’t even see it coming.” Actually, Raich should have expected the water bath, especially after the Vikings had rallied from an 8-3 deficit with seven runs in the
P
top of the sixth. And, Raich should have figured something was coming after watching his team blast four home runs. “Yeah, wow, what an amazing game to clinch a league championship with,” said Raich, 27, in his first season at the helm. “We had so many contributing players and it was fitting that we came back through some adversity to pull out the win.” The victory extends Paly’s win streak to 16 consecutive games and gives the Vikings a 13-0 division mark (21-3 overall) heading into Friday’s game. “As for finishing the season unbeaten, it would be great,” Raich (continued on page 44)
Allie Shorin
ON THE AIR
Allie Shorin
RUGBY AT STANFORD . . . Stanford’s Steuber Stadium will be the site of the USA Rugby Collegiate National Championships on Friday and Saturday. The Cardinal women’s club team finished second to Penn State last year and hopes to regain the national title they won from the Nittany Lions two years back. Stanford opens against Brown University at 11 a.m. Friday, with Penn State and Army following at 1 p.m. The women’s Division I championship match is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. Stanford defeated Virginia, 43-5, in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four. The Cardinal downed Northern Iowa, 62-0, in the Sweet Sixteen. U.S. national team member Jessica Watkins leads the Cardinal, with support from Kasonni Scales, Amelia Villines, Jamie Lawrence, Melanie Nacouzi, Christina Mayberry, Janae Grijavela and Jennifer Cooperrider. The men’s Division I and Division II and women’s Division II championships will also be contested at Stanford this weekend, with first day action at Steuber and on Dan Elliott Field. The second-seeded Cal men (24-0) looks to win their 25th Division I title. The Bears open against Arkansas State at 5 p.m. Friday. Top-ranked BYU takes on No. 4 Army in the other semifinal at 3 p.m. BYU is the defending national champion. The men’s Division II semifinals features No. 9 Claremont Colleges and No. 4 Miami University in a 3 p.m. match, while thirdseeded Temple plays No. 15 seed Massachusetts-Amherst in the semifinals at 5 p.m.
Paly’s Will Glazier (left) congratulates Christoph Bono on his three-run homer in the seventh for the Vikings’ final runs in a 13-8 win.
A return to NCAA polo tourney continues for Stanford, Eaton by Keith Peters tanford senior water polo standout Kelly Eaton is a biology major who has been accepted into the master’s program for the 2010-2011 school year. Thus, one decision already has been made for her. “So, I don’t have to think about getting a job for one more year,” she said. That’s a good thing because Eaton
S
has some other important things to think about these days, like trying to find a way to get herself (and her teammates) a national championship ring. “We’ve come close the last three years and it would be nice to finish with a national championship,” she said. The Cardinal finished third at the NCAA Championships the past two years after taking second in 2007,
Eaton’s first season of water polo at Stanford. In order to have a chance at that NCAA ring, the Cardinal first has to get to San Diego for the playoffs. Stanford begins that quest on Friday when it opens the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at UCLA’s Spieker Aquatic Center. The nationally No. 1-ranked Cardinal (22-1) will put its No. 1 seed on the line against No. 8 Arizona State
(16-12) at 1:30 p.m. Stanford defeated ASU in league play, 18-8, on April 18 in Tempe, Ariz. The Cardinal enters the tournament looking for its first title since 2006. Since that crown, Stanford has finished second twice (2007, ‘09) and third once (2008). A victory in the tourney finale guarantees Stanford a berth in the (continued on page 42)
*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ «À ÊÎä]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 41