SPORTS BRIEFS / PAUL McLEOD : Knee Injury Ends Olympic Hopes of Former Bell High Baseball Star

Harbor College catcher Rene Lopez injured a knee in a playoff game last weekend and will be out of action indefinitely. Lopez, a graduate of Bell High School, was invited to participate in tryouts for the United States Olympic team, but that now seems impossible, a team spokesman said.

Olympic Coach Ron Fraser of the University of Miami said he is disappointed in the loss of Lopez. “I was looking forward to seeing him play because I had heard so many good things about him,” Fraser said.

Lopez injured the knee in a first-round state regional playoff game between Harbor College of Wilmington and Fullerton College. Harbor won the best-of-three series and qualified for the second round of the playoffs at Cerritos College on Friday (see below).

Baseball tournaments--One of four community college regional baseball tournaments begins Friday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. In the opening round of the double-elimination tournament, East Los Angeles (28-41) plays Harbor College of Wilmington (35-10) at 11 a.m., followed at 3 p.m. by a game between the host Falcons (29-8-1) and Cuesta College of San Luis Obispo (22-15).

The tournament runs through Sunday. Three other regionals will be held this weekend at other California sites. The four champions will advance to the state tournament May 22 to 25 at the Riverside Sports Complex.

Players of the week--Outfielder Eddie Christian and pitcher Mike McLain of Cal State Long Beach were chosen Big West Conference baseball players of the week.

Christian, a .339 hitter, extended his hitting streak to 17 games during a three-game sweep at Fresno State last weekend. Christian is batting .456 during his streak and has raised his seasonal batting average 77 points.

McLain, a junior right-hander, pitched his fifth complete game of the season last Sunday in an 18-2 victory over Fresno State. He struck out nine batters and did not give up a walk. Earlier, McLain came on in relief in a nonconference game against Cal Lutheran and struck out five, walked none and did not allow a hit in four innings. McLain is 6-4 with an earned-run average of 4.29.

Softball playoffs--Cal State Long Beach was the last team chosen to the 20-team field of the NCAA softball playoffs. The 49ers play the University of Toledo at 1 p.m. Friday in the opening game of a three-team round-robin tournament at Cal State Fullerton. The loser between the 49ers (36-29) and the Rockets (39-20) plays the host Titans (43-18) at 3 p.m., followed by the 49er-Rocket winner and Fullerton at 5.

Action continues through Sunday, with the tournament champion advancing to the eight-team world series in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Long Beach has advanced to the world series the past two seasons by defeating Fullerton for regional championships.

Track and field--Long Beach City College, which won its 12th Southern California men’s regional community college track and field title last weekend, plays host to the men’s and women’s state championship meets Friday and Saturday on its new all-weather facility at Veterans Stadium.

The Vikings defeated Riverside City College by 40 points to win the men’s regional title last week. Long Beach and Riverside are expected to dominate the state meet, although Taft College is expected to mount a strong challenge. Long Beach, which has won 10 state titles, has finished no lower than second since 1979.

At the women’s Southern California meet, the Vikings finished fourth behind Mt. San Antonio College of Walnut, San Diego Mesa and El Camino College. Action at the state meet begins at 9 a.m. Friday with the start of the decathlon. The heptathlon begins at 9:30 a.m. The women’s 5,000-meter run is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. and the men’s 10,000-meter run goes off at 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the second phase of the decathlon begins at 8:30 a.m. and the final phase of the heptathlon gets under way at 10 a.m. The hammer throw, which will be held at Cerritos College, is slated for noon. The remainder of the field events begin at Veterans Stadium at 3 p.m., with running events scheduled to begin at 6.

College softball--Long Beach City College plays Napa Valley of Napa at 11 a.m. Friday in the first round of the state community college softball tournament. Other games at 11 have Sacramento City College (50-3) meeting Cypress (36-12), San Mateo (34-11) playing Orange Coast College of Costa Mesa (33-9) and Ohlone of Fremont (28-12) meeting Palomar of San Marcos (34-6).

The event runs through Sunday and is being held at American River College in Sacramento. Long Beach (38-12) advanced to the state tournament by winning a regional tournament that they played host to last weekend. Napa Valley is 49-13.

Swimming championships--The CIF Southern Section high school boys and girls championship swimming meet begins today at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

Preliminary events in the 4A Division get under way at 11 a.m., followed by the 3A Division preliminaries at 5 p.m. Preliminary events in the 2A Division will be held at 11 a.m. Friday. The 4A Division finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday. The finals of the 2A Division will be at noon Saturday, followed by the 3A Division finals at 7 p.m.

Coaching change--Tom Lewis, an assistant basketball coach at St. John Bosco High School last season, has resigned to accept a similar position at his alma mater, Mater Dei High of Santa Ana. Lewis was a high school All-American at Mater Dei and later played at USC, Pepperdine and professionally in Europe.

Athletic honors--The Lakewood Youth Sports Hall of Fame will hold a reception honoring its 1991 athletic award winners at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at the McDonald’s restaurant, 4848 Woodruff Ave. Information: (310) 633-4183.