Sports Shorts
ON THE AIR Friday College baseball: Rice at Stanford, 4:30 p.m.; Pac-12 Bay Area; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Saturday Women’s swimming: Cal at Stanford, 10 a.m.; Pac-12 Networks College baseball: Rice at Stanford, 2 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM) Men’s basketball: Stanford at Washington St..; 4 p.m. Pac-12 Networks; KNBR (1050 AM) Men’s volleyball: BYU at Stanford, 7 p.m.; Pac-12 Networks
Monday Women’s gymnastics: Utah at Stanford, 2 p.m.; Pac-12 Networks
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Menlo girls, SHP boys put finishing touches on league crowns by Keith Peters
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Menlo’s Sienna Stritter races out to celebrate her game-winning goal against Priory with teammates Alexandra Walker (2) and Amanda McFarland. The 2-1 win gave the Knights the WBAL title.
he Menlo School girls have a week off while the Sacred Heart Prep boys still have three matches remaining. The two soccer teams, however, do have something in common other than being neighbors. Both are league champions. Sacred Heart Prep earned its sixth straight West Bay Athletic League crown two days early as the Gators’ 6-0 victory over visiting Pinewood was coupled with second-place Menlo School’s 2-1 loss to King’s Academy. SHP has 33 points and can’t be caught. The Menlo girls, meanwhile, captured their third straight WBAL Foothill Division title on Tuesday following a 2-1 win over host Priory. The Knights needed a win or tie to secure the crown. Menlo coach Donoson FitzGerald made one thing perfectly clear to his girls before they took on Priory. “You’re either the champs tomorrow or the co-champs,” he said. “You can’t wait until halftime or when they get a goal up to decide whether you want this.” While Menlo did go scoreless in V Ì Õi`Ê Ê«>}iÊx£®
STANFORD BASEBALL
WOMEN’S SWIMMING
A season of transitions for Cardinal
Cal-Stanford duel definitely a big splash
by Rick Eymer anny Diekroeger feels like he can play any position, so when first base became a possibility he made himself at home. The Menlo School grad has played every position on the field at some point and feels comfortable wherever he’s been placed, as long as it’s on a baseball field. “I feel I can play anywhere and it just happens that first base could be the best possible situation for us as a group,” said Diekroeger, a senior. “I’ve had to play there at some point and coming from second base it was easy to pick up.” Being on the same side of the infield makes it an easier transition. Having a coach like Stanford grad Ryan Garko, who played his share of first during a five-year major league baseball career, is also helpful.
Rick Eymer elicia Lee may have thought Stanford women’s swimming coach Greg Meehan was a taskmaster the way he insisted she get into the water despite recovering from shoulder surgery last year. “I thought maybe I wouldn’t have to practice as much,” Lee said as the fourth-ranked Cardinal prepared for its final home meet of the season, a showdown with top-ranked California on Saturday. “He said ‘get in the water and kick.’ He wanted me to work on my weak points.” Lee rode a spin bike and continued kicking in the pool for three months while her shoulder healed. “Without swimming a lap she got better as a swimmer,” Meehan said. “You can see some of those results this season.”
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Sunday Women’s basketball: Arizona at Stanford, noon; Pac-12 Networks; KZSU (90.1 FM) College baseball: Rice at Stanford, noon; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Two titles already clinched
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BUSY WEEKEND . . . There’s no shortage of sporting events on the Stanford campus this weekend, beginning with the sixth-ranked Cardinal women’s basketball team taking center stage with a Pac-12 Conference contest against No. 14 Arizona State at 7 p.m. Friday. In case there’s a need to keep busy, one could start the day with the undefeated 14thranked Stanford softball team making its home debut Friday at 2:30 p.m. against Cal Poly as part of the Stanford Nike Invitational, which continues through Sunday. Perhaps you might be interested in watching the top-ranked Cardinal women’s tennis team take on visiting Santa Clara at 3 p.m. or taking in Stanford’s baseball opener against visiting Rice at 4:30 p.m. in the first of a three-game series at Sunken Diamond. The variety continues Saturday with the Peg Barnard Invitational, a two-day women’s golf tournament played on the Stanford Golf Course. In addition to the women’s swimming and diving meet between top-ranked California and No. 4 Stanford at Avery Aquatic Center at 10 a.m., there’s a women’s lacrosse game scheduled at 1 p.m., with Stanford hosting Ohio State. Still not satisfied? How about the eighth-ranked Stanford men’s volleyball team hosting No. 4 BYU on Saturday night at 7 p.m.? Sunday features the Rice-Stanford baseball series finale at noon, Cardinal-Arizona women’s basketball, also at noon, and the softball finale of the Stanford Nike Invitational with Stanford meeting Pacific at 12:15 p.m. The Cardinal women’s basketball team will be looking to rebound from its first conference loss of the season when it takes on the Sun Devils, the Pac-12’s second-place team who are also coming off a shocking loss. Stanford (11-1 in the Pac-12, 22-2 overall) dropped an 87-82 decision to host Washington on Sunday. The Cardinal shot 34.6 percent from the field, 22 percent from 3-point range.
PREP SOCCER
Stanford senior Danny Diekroeger from Menlo School might be moved from second base to first base this season.
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