NOTEBOOK : Westchester Guard Gray Signs With CS Long Beach

SEAN WATERS

James Gray, the City Section 4-A Division basketball co-player of the year, signed a letter of intent last week with Cal State Long Beach.

Gray, a 6-foot-4 senior point guard, averaged 15.5 points and five assists a game in leading Westchester High to consecutive City championships. He also was selected The Times’ Westside Player of the Year for 1992.

Gray made his decision after talking with Harold Miner, a guard at USC who last week announced his intentions to forgo his senior season and make himself eligible for the NBA draft.

“Harold Miner convinced my parents that I should sign there,” Gray said. “We’re close friends and my parents respect his opinion. I think I made a good decision.”

More than 40 schools, including Georgetown, USC and Pepperdine, showed interest in Gray but were reluctant to offer him a scholarship because he had not satisfied Proposition 48 requirements.

Long Beach was among the few schools to offer Gray a scholarship and wait until he becomes eligible to play.

“I think the school has an up-and-coming basketball program,” Gray said. “They’re trying to develop a winning team and they need someone to initiate it. I look forward to the challenge.”

Gray said the opportunity to play with Westchester teammate and friend Lorenzo Ball also influenced his decision. Ball, a forward who averaged 15.4 points and 7.5 rebounds last season, has agreed to play at Long Beach as a non-scholarship player. Point guard Damian Wilson, who last played for Westchester in 1990, said he also might transfer to Long Beach. Wilson averaged 20.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists during his sophomore season at Moorpark College.

Hot streak: Stanford outfielder Steve Solomon has had a big year batting, but he doesn’t receive nearly as much publicity as one of his teammates.

Jeffrey Hammonds, Stanford’s All-American center fielder, is expected to be among the top five picks in the June amateur draft.

However, Solomon has been a force in Stanford’s past 17 games. The former Crossroads High standout has a .423 batting average, 26 runs batted in and 30 hits, including seven home runs and six doubles.

He leads the team in home runs (10) and slugging percentage (.590), is second in RBIs (43) and fourth in on-base percentage (.420).

Solomon, who was not drafted out of high school, is expected to be taken before the 20th round, according to major league scouts.

Following Solomon’s footsteps: Crossroads pitcher-outfielder Dan Ripoll decided Thursday to attend Stanford in the fall.

Ripoll has been a first-team All-Southern Section 1-A Division selection the past two years. He has a 3.8 grade-point average and is the student body vice president. He also was accepted to UCLA, USC and Cal.

“I think Dan is coming into his own as hitter and an outfielder,” Crossroads Coach Chuck Ice said. “And he’s only scratching the surface of his abilities. I think he can run, hit and hit with power. I think he has a big future and he can play Division I baseball.”

Ripoll hit a grand slam and set and tied a record for RBIs in leading Crossroads to a 20-4 victory over Buckley May 6.

Ripoll had six RBIs in the sixth inning to set a school record and tied another record with eight RBIs in a game.

Crossroads (14-7, 7-1) won the Delphic League title Tuesday by defeating Faith Baptist, 12-4.

All-Westside final: Palisades will meet University in the final of the City 4-A volleyball championships Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Cal State Northridge.

Palisades defeated Westchester, 15-7, 15-10, 15-4, in Tuesday’s semifinal and University beat Chatsworth, 15-13, 15-6, 15-3.

University (14-2) advanced to the semifinals last year and is making its first appearance in the final since 1988. David Ottenfeld, James Kohn and Philip Tongsak are the Warriors’ best players.

The Dolphins (16-1) have won eight championships and are led by Colin Wellman, John Lee and Bart Rachmil.

The teams split their two Western League matches.

Playoffs begin: The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team will play host to Utah in the NCAA West Regional this weekend at Sunset Field.

The three-game series begins Friday at 4 p.m. and continues Saturday at 1 p.m. A third game, if necessary, will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Bruins finished second in the Pacific 10 Conference with a 14-2 record and are 47-2 overall. Utah, the Western Athletic Conference champion, is 25-18.

UCLA pitcher Lisa Fernandez was selected the Pac-10 player of the year for the second consecutive season and Sharron Backus was named Pac-10 coach of the year for the second time in her career. Backus coached her 650th victory as the visiting Bruins defeated defending NCAA champion Arizona, 1-0, in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday. Bruin pitcher DeDe Weiman lost for the first time in three years as the Wildcats won the second game, 7-0, to win the Pac-10 championship.

Welcome back: Tom Lewis, a former Pepperdine basketball standout, has been hired as an assistant at his high school alma mater, Santa Ana Mater Dei.

Lewis will be the team’s weightlifting coach and will also work with post players. He was an assistant at Rosemead St. John Bosco last season.

Lewis signed with USC out of high school but played only one season for the Trojans. He transferred to Pepperdine, where he finished his collegiate career.

Staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this story.