Baseball Coach Named at Palmdale

Lance Pierson, a former assistant baseball coach at Long Beach Millikan High and former head coach at Biola University, has been named coach at Palmdale High.

Pierson, 36, guided Palmdale’s junior varsity team to three consecutive Golden League championships. He replaces Randy Lintemoot, who resigned.

SOCCER

Sanford and son: Guy Sanford has been named boys’ soccer coach at Newbury Park High.

Sanford, a walk-on coach, is the father of senior Paul Sanford, a receiver-defensive back on the Panther football team, and replaces Jim Marshall, who resigned earlier this month.

City shakeup: For the fourth time in four seasons, the City Section has increased the number of girls’ soccer teams and realigned its leagues.

This season, 47 teams will participate, 11 more than last season. Verdugo Hills and San Fernando are the region’s only first-year teams.

Verdugo Hills is in the eight-team North/East League while San Fernando joins Birmingham, Canoga Park, Cleveland, Kennedy and Sherman Oaks CES in the West Valley League.

The Coast/Valley League--composed of Chatsworth, El Camino Real, Granada Hills, Grant, Palisades and San Pedro--and the Mid-Valley League--featuring Monroe, North Hollywood, Poly, Reseda, Sylmar and Van Nuys--remain unchanged.

VOLLEYBALL

New Anteater: Swing hitter Michelle Wong of Harvard-Westlake High has committed to UC Irvine.

The 5-foot-11 Wong was an All-Southern Section Division III selection last season.

BASKETBALL

Cardinal clique: The Harvard-Westlake connection at Stanford is growing. Former Harvard-Westlake player Alex Gelbard, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, has made Stanford’s basketball team as a walk-on.

He joins former Harvard-Westlake stars Jason and Jarron Collins, who are freshmen. Former Wolverine assistant Mike Wolf is a Stanford graduate assistant.

BASEBALL

Catching on: Dane Sardinha, a freshman catcher from Pepperdine, is one of 66 players invited to try out for the 1998 USA national baseball team in November at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson.

Sardinha, who attended Kamehameha High in Honolulu, is one of nine catchers trying out.

TRACK & FIELD

Back on track: Brian FitzGerald, the highly successful co-coach at Rio Mesa High from 1981-95, will return as an assistant track coach this spring.

FitzGerald, who is also the athletic director at Rio Mesa, resigned from coaching two years ago. He had felt fatigued at times and was later diagnosed with Hashimoto Disease, a thyroid condition.

He has the condition under control and is looking forward to coaching again.

FitzGerald guided Angela Burnham to five state sprint titles from 1986-89 and Marion Jones to the 100 and 200 championships in 1990-91 before she transferred to Thousand Oaks.

GOLF

Shooting stars: Officials of the Los Angeles Women’s Championship, which will be played in February at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, have announced the addition of the Buick Cheryl Ladd Celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament.

The celebrity pro-am will be Feb. 11-12, with the LPGA Tour event on Feb. 13-15.