SPORTS : PLAYING ON (AND ON)

The Long Beach City College softball team etched itself into the record books in the state community college softball championships in Visalia. The Vikings, however, lost their bid for the title, losing to host College of the Sequoias, 2-1, in the final Sunday.

Long Beach lost to Sacramento, 8-7, in 26 innings in the opening game of the eight-team double-elimination tournament, breaking the state tournament record of 22 innings for longest game.

The teams combined for 41 hits, 24 by Sacramento, and 18 errors. Long Beach rallied from a 7-4 deficit to tie the score in the fourth and neither team scored until Sacramento pushed over the game-winner from third on an infield grounder in the top of the 26th.

Long Beach (44-7) won five games in a row to advance to the championship. The Vikings defeated Mt. San Antonio, Palomar and Cypress on Saturday. Long Beach held on for a 3-2 victory over Sacramento in 10 innings and a 2-1 victory over Sequoias on Sunday.

Pitcher Lisa Balbirnie and outfielder Chris Benyak of Long Beach were all-state selections. Balbirnie (28-1), the South Coast most valuable pitcher, recorded three victories in the tournament, including a four-hitter against Cypress.

PHOTO FINISH

The Long Beach City College men’s track team won its 11th state title in 16 years with Ron Allice as coach Saturday at Cerritos College.

The Vikings needed some heroics in the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, to earn a tie with Riverside with 100 points for the title.

Ronnie Williams ran a 45.9-second anchor leg to move Long Beach from second to third in the final 25 meters as the Vikings timed a school-record 3 minutes, 6.81 seconds.

Riverside, which had defeated Long Beach in the 1,600 relay in the Southern California championships, entered the event holding a 96-92 lead but finished fourth. Sacramento won the event with a meet-record 3:06.03.

“This (championship) wasn’t easy and we had to battle to tie it,” Allice said. “I’m as elated with a tie as with any of the other titles. My enthusiasm hasn’t diminished.”

Jonathan Jordan, who won the long jump with a leap of 24-0 3/4, and Barry Massey led a one-two Long Beach sweep in the triple jump, bounding 52-0 and 50-8 1/4, respectively. Frank Guialdo also won the 110 high hurdles in 14.18 for the Vikings.

Ricky Carrigan, the 1992 state 100 and 200-meter champion for Compton College who now attends Merritt, won the 100 and 200 in 10.27 and 20.72 to become the first athlete to win the events in two state meets.

Magdalena Lewy, Karen Vigilant, Tammera McLin and Angel Carver won individual titles to lead the Long Beach women to second in the team competition with 95 points.

Lewy, a sophomore from Lakewood High, won the 1,500 in 4:41.89 and was also second in the 5,000 in 17:27.10 and third in the 3,000 (10:14.77).

Vigilant won the 400 hurdles in 1:02.37 and joined McLin, winner of the 400 in 54.37, LaShawn Stringer and Alisha Lopez on the Vikings’ 1,600-meter relay team that placed second in 3:44.83.

Carver leaped 41-6 to win the triple jump and finished fourth in the long jump at 19-1.

INVITATION ONLY

The Long Beach State baseball team, bidding for its fourth College World Series appearance in six years, will play Washington (42-16) Friday in the Midwest II Regional at Wichita, Kan.

Second-seeded Long Beach (39-17), which shared the Big West title with Nevada and Cal State Fullerton, earned an at-large berth to the 48-team double-elimination tournament.

The winner of the Midwest II regional, which includes top-seeded Georgia Tech, Wichita State, West Coast Conference champion Santa Clara and Connecticut, will advance to the College World Series in Omaha.

REPEAT PERFORMER

The Long Beach Poly girls’ track team won its third consecutive Southern Section title and sophomore Michael Granville of Bell Gardens won his second individual title in the divisional finals Saturday at Veterans Stadium.

Aminah Haddad won the 100 meters in 11.81 and the 200 meters in a Southern Section Division I record 23.23, a time that makes Haddad the 12th fastest in high school at that event.

The Jackrabbits amassed 82 points to run away from runner-up Muir (66) and Long Beach Wilson (58).

Pam Simpson won the 400 in 56.65 and the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 20-1 1/2, and joined Aisha Washington and Myesha Williams on the Jackrabbits’ victorious 1,600-meter relay (3:45.39).

Granville, who won the 400 meters as a freshman, won the 800 meters in 1:48.98 on Saturday, smashing the national sophomore record of 1:50.8 shared by William Contee of Washington, D.C., and Fred Bronner of New Jersey.

A Southern Section Division I record, Granville’s time would have been fast enough to win at the Pacific 10 Conference by almost a second and the state community college meet by nearly two seconds.

LaKeisha Backus of Wilson rebounded from a false start in the 100 to finish second in the 200 in 23.42 and anchor the Bruins’ 400-meter relay team of Michelle Nelson, Mary Davis and Kinshasa Davis to first in 46.49.

NAMES IN THE NEWS

* Erin Nomoto of Cerritos High has signed a letter of intent to attend Hawaii. Nomoto was the Southern Section Division III champion in the 100-yard butterfly as a junior. She placed second in the butterfly and was fourth in the 200 individual medley in this year’s Southern Section championships.

* Ted Stevens of Cal State Los Angeles, a senior pitcher-catcher from Lakewood High, has been selected to the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. first team. Stevens was 6-2 on the mound and batted .355 in conference play.

* Rod Barajas, Juan Rocha, Norm Padilla, Dusty Wathan and Jim Reinecker of Cerritos College have been selected to the South Coast Conference baseball team.

* Greg Walbridge of Long Beach City was one of only four freshmen named to the 19-player team, batting .422 and driving in 16 runs in conference play.

* Mike Stembridge, a sophomore from Lakewood High who helped Harbor to the conference title, also was named to the first team.

* Long Beach City College Athletic Director Mickey Davis has been inducted into the State Community College Softball Coaches’ Assn.

Davis guided Golden West College to state championships in 1981 and ’83. She is involved in USA women’s softball and will serve as an ambassador to the upcoming International Softball Federation World Championships in New Zealand.

* Chris Kim and Han Lee of Cerritos High and Sam Vance of Bellflower qualified for the CIF Southern California Golf Assn. tournament at Redlands Golf Course June 6.

Kim shot a two-over par 73 in the Southern Section individual tournament at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara. Lee and Vance shot 74 and 76, respectively, in Monday’s competition won by Tiger Woods of Western at 66.

The top 22 players advanced to the CIF-SCGA championships June 6 at Redlands Country Club.