THE BEACH IS HOT, COLD, RICH, BROKE AND ALMOST ALWAYS HOPEFUL
 
As you can tell by the soaring summer temperatures and/or the calendar, Long Beach has pretty well passed the end of the Diamond Days and the beginning of the Plus Period. Or not.
 
Actually the thermometer isn’t sure what time of year it is. Some mornings the 49er faithful grab the sun-block, some days the sweater and a lot of days they power up that big old flat screen and just watch the world go by. Last week for me was mostly the NCAA baseball tournament, which is sort of not like football (which has no real tournament). Or basketball (which does and nationally seeds the field for the billion plus in TV dollars). They correctly get the list of 64 correct but then flunk fairness in favor of geography.
 
The baseball folks complain that the NCAA selection committee hates the South (why would  No. 2 Florida host No. 16 Miami instead of No. 64 Sacred Heart?). Or hates the state of Mississippi (pairing up Mississippi State and Southern Miss) or the state of California, with four CA teams being sent to the slaughterhouse at UCLA or anybody at all to the burial grounds at Fullerton. Update—both hosts UCLA and Fullerton finished third in their own post-season party and are available for your home BBQs.
 
Enough of the recent past, it may well be time to think about the next ‘Niner outing because women’s volleyball is less than two months away. Coach Brian Gimmillaro checked in on the summer phone line to report on the scramble for starters on the front line and the sorting out of candidates for setter (three so far).
 
Last year’s improving talent Michelle Osunbor, who was just beginning to experience what the coach called “that fifth year magic” after an excellent spring, is now on the shelf for four to six months with a knee injury outsiders say is likely a career-ender. Brighter prospects for still growing (somewhere between 6-6 and 6-7) middle blocker Haleigh Hampton, who foot wizard Dr. Doug Richie successfully treated over the winter and had a minor clean up of a previously-injured knee. “I expect her to be ready when we get started on our fall workouts.”
 
The other possibility is Alma Serna, sister of 6-9 UCSB basketballer Jaime Serna who has apparently sorted out her bookwork and has the VB boosters very excited because of her size and power. Not in the mix however is Kiri Hirini, the 6-1 New Zealander who has now left the program.

The Beach gals report on August 8th and then jump into training the next day (sometimes twice a day) until they open the season with guests from the U of Washington, Prairie View and Maryland-Baltimore County on August 26 in their LBSU Mizuno Invitational.
 
Hampton was eye popping in her first year and was one of five collegians singled out for Blocker of the Year by Collegiate Volleyball Update. Hampton had an outstanding debut season for the 49ers, earning first-team All-Big West honors along with All-Freshman team honors for Long Beach State. On the year, Hampton led the 49ers in offensive efficiency, hitting .314, while ranking second on the team with 2.89 kills per set. CVU said, “She was also a force defensively, abilities that were recognized in this award from CVU. CVU looked at a formula to note a player’s effect on the overall team’s defensive prowess as well as blocks per game as a tally for the award. Good enough to rank third nationally.”
 
OVER THE WIRE DUST–The NCAA Outdoor Championships are underway through Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa and three Beach athletes are hunting for honors including in the Decathlon – Nicholas Armstrong, in Men’s Discus and Hammer – Colin Dunbar and in Women’s Javelin – Randi Hicks.  


My favorite Titan killer last week was Stanford two-way baller Tyler Gaffney, who is a mean-spirited running back for the Cardinal and a mean-spirited left fielder for the baseball team who has good power/speed combo, leads the team in SLG and got a lot of boos from the Titan masses in their win over Tuffy last weekend. The Nutwooders also must have been drinking some of the Morgan Ensberg wine. They woofed about SU signaling real or imaginary pitch locations, a long time practice of players on second base… just part of the psych job.
 
One of my early sportswriting heroes Tom McEwen of Tampa passed recently. He won lots of writing awards and was just as big on the banquet circuit where, as an emcee, he knew how to get laughs and the diners’ home on time.
 

On the MLB Draft stuff, at press time they had picked a mere 871 players first of which, and best of any player in the Big West, was pitcher Andrew (hard luck) Gagnon who was selected No. 100 in the draft followed later by Brandon Pinder, Mike Marjama and Kirk Singer. The Post will have a draft wrap-up when the name shouting ceases.
 
Padres scouting director 35 year old Jaron Madison (a former Dirtbag slugger) guides the San Diego war room, where five of the top 58 picks were chosen this year. Madison will soon see more of his family after spending 100 of the last 120 days on the road. He says, “We spend a lot more time with everyone whereas last year we’d see a guy once who was between our first pick and our second and then you’d under-scout him. This year everyone is in play. There’s no one we’re saying, ‘Hey, this guy is not going to be there.’ Even guys that go between our first and second first-round picks, there’s not very many of them, so we’ve scouted everyone hard.”

Another ex is Danny Espinosa who has some monster games (had 2 HR’s and a 3-3 with 4 RBI’s effort last week) and needs to get his average up to be a serious candidate for Rookie of the Year in the NL. (Bobby Crosby won it in 2004 when he hit .230 with 22 HR’s and about 60 RBI’s.)
 
Kim Sowder of softball will reload this summer for 2012 with three of her four incoming position players hitting .500 or better in high school.
 
The Sporting News has a feature called “The 50 Best Players in Baseball” and it includes No. 2 Troy Tulowitzki, No. 7 Evan Longoria and No. 30 Jared Weaver. Of course, these lads played in the live bat days. (The new bats have taken 25 feet off hits this season.)

Final bit of bragging, Long Beach State has reclaimed the Big West Conference Commissioner’s Cup after tallying the best point average during the 2010-11 season. The victory is the third overall for the 49er program in the 13-year history of the Cup. The 49ers won three conference titles (men’s basketball, women’s tennis and men’s track and field) and placed second in five other sports. The 49ers averaged 130.7 points over the 14 conference sports in which they competed. The Commissioner’s Cup is presented to the institution with the best overall results in the conference’s 16 sponsored sports championships. The rest of the list had Cal Poly, UCSB, Davis, UC Irvine (98.7), Pacific (93.6), Cal State Fullerton (73.6), Cal State Northridge (73.3) and UC Riverside (60.0).