LeCocq to Play Softball for Stanford

Maureen LeCocq, The Times’ Valley softball pitcher of the year last season at Chaminade High, has committed to Stanford.

LeCocq was 20-8 with 255 strikeouts and an 0.06 earned-run average as a junior. She also hit .363 in leading the Eagles to their first Mission League championship since 1977.

Hart’s choice: Cathy Giordano, mother of former Saugus High softball standouts Jeanine and Nicole Giordano, has been named coach at Hart High. She replaces Al Weil, who resigned in July and has been trying to get his job back ever since.

“It was a difficult decision . . . because I like and respect Al Weil,” Giordano said, “[and] because it will be a big sacrifice not to be able to see my daughters play.”

Jeanine plays at Washington; Nicole at Arizona.

Giordano coached the Hart junior varsity last year and has coached the Saugus junior varsity and freshman teams.

Fund-raiser set: The annual celebrity softball game to raise funds for the Nicole Parker Foundation will take place Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cal State Northridge.

Parker, an eight-year-old softball player, was kidnapped and murdered outside her Encino apartment in November 1993. Her parents established the foundation in her name to benefit Parents of Murdered Children and the Mid-Valley Girls Softball League.

Tickets are $5 and are available at TicketMaster locations and at the gate. A donation of $25 includes a post-game party.

Information: (818) 882-8295.

BASKETBALL

Matadors sign up: The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team will sign autographs and be available for photographs in the Sears men’s wear department at the Northridge Fashion Center on Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.

Information: (818) 677-2683.