NOTEBOOK : Browns Select Greenfield in 10th Round

For three Glendale area players, this week’s National Football League draft did not work out as many experts had predicted.

Pitt punter Brian Greenfield, who played at Glendale College in 1987 and 1988, had been projected by some as the first punter to be selected, going anywhere from the third to the 10th round. Greenfield ended up as the Cleveland Browns 10th-round selection, the 252nd pick.

He was the second pure punter chosen behind Memphis State’s Jeff Fite, the Green Bay Packers’ fifth-round selection. Chris Gardocki, a punter and kicker from Clemson, went in the third round to the Chicago Bears.

Greenfield earned first-team All-American honors by the Football Writers Assn. of America and Walter Camp Foundation and was a second-team selection by the Associated Press after averaging 45.6 yards in 1990.

“This guy is one of the best punters in the country, if not the best,” said Ernie Accorsi, Cleveland’s executive vice president of football operations. “If you hit it right, you may have him around for 10 years.”

Greenfield will compete with Brian Hansen for the Browns’ punting job.

Hansen will be entering his seventh NFL season. He spent the first five years of his career with the New Orleans Saints before punting for the New England Patriots in 1990.

Add Draft: Brigham Young tight end Chris Smith, a 1984 La Canada High graduate projected by some as the first tight end to be chosen, was chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 11th round, the 295th pick.

Pete Tucker, Occidental College’s 6-foot-5, 278-pound offensive tackle whose selection to several small-college All-American teams fueled speculation that he would be taken in the draft, was not selected.

In the hunt: The Glendale College baseball team appeared to be a long shot for the Western State Conference title when it began its conference schedule 0-4, but the Vaqueros are now the hottest team in the conference.

Glendale (18-15), which has not won the conference championship since 1979, has won five games in a row and 10 of its past 13.

The Vaqueros are 10-7 in the WSC and in fourth place behind conference-leading Cuesta and Pierce, both of which have 12-6 records. Canyons is 12-7.

Glendale pulled into serious contention for the title when the Vaqueros beat Cuesta, 8-2, last Saturday behind pitcher Eric Asselin, who gave up two hits in his first appearance of the season.

Glendale, which plays at Pierce today, has three games remaining.

On her way: Berlyn Cosman, a Times’ All-Glendale basketball player who averaged 20 points a game for Crescenta Valley High last season, has accepted a scholarship to Missouri Western State College.

Cosman, a 5-9 senior, helped Crescenta Valley rebound from a winless season in 1989 to respectability last season.

Missouri Western State is a Division II university located in St. Joseph, Mo.

Rank and file: La Canada High’s softball team is ranked second behind Corona in the Southern Section 2-A Division, but several other Glendale area softball teams also are ranked.

Glendale and Crescenta Valley are ranked fifth and 10th, respectively, in the 4-A.

Flintridge Sacred Heart and Flintridge Prep are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 1-A.

Crescenta Valley is ranked ninth in the 4-A.

The Flintridge Prep boys’ volleyball team is ranked seventh in the 2-A.

Tennis anyone?: Signups are continuing for adult and children’s tennis tournaments to be held at Fremont Park in Glendale in May and June.

The 53rd Glendale parks tournament, May 21-25, includes divisions in men’s and women’s open singles; women’s 30 singles; men’s 35 singles and doubles; men’s and women’s open doubles; and mixed doubles.

The Glendale Junior tournament will be held June 1-2 and June 8-9. There will be boys and girls’ singles divisions 18-and-under, 16-and-under, 14-and-under, 12-and-under and 10-and-under.

There also will be doubles competition for boys and girls 18-and-under, 16-and-under and 14-and-under.

Information: (818) 548-3796.

Staff Writer Steven Herbert contributed to this notebook.