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Melissa Beck was always too good as a softball player to spend much time on the bench when she participated in youth leagues and in high school.

But a serious knee injury forced Beck, Cypress College’s sophomore shortstop, to miss last season. Although she found watching to be frustrating, it turned out to be a valuable experience.

Beck traded her bat and glove for a pencil and paper and became the Chargers’ scorekeeper. She attended every game and recorded every play. She was there when the Chargers won a second consecutive state title. But this time she was in the dugout celebrating instead on the field as she was the season before.

“It helped me get a lot stronger,” Beck said of being sidelined. “I learned a lot. It amazed me how much I learned by watching the game. . . . I had a lot of free time on my hands.”

Beck, 20, returned this season with a renewed desire to play, but more importantly, according to Coach Brad Pickler, she is more mature mentally and physically.

“When she was a freshman she was in a fog sometimes,” Pickler said. “She would fade in and out of games and she doesn’t do that this year.”

Beck is hitting .452, which is 10 points higher than the Cypress single-season record, with seven home runs and 16 doubles through 55 games, She also has driven in 49 runs despite hitting leadoff and holds the Cypress career home run record with 13.

“I’m just trying to keep it going,” she said.

Beck, from Garden Grove High, hit well as a freshman (.295 with six home runs and 45 RBIs) but didn’t enjoy it much because of the pressure she placed on herself.

“I’m my own worst enemy,” she said, “[As a freshman] I was bad. I was like, ‘Oh God, I’m going to strike out or hit a grounder or something.’ But not now. I don’t think about what’s going to happen much.”

Her improved mental outlook is another benefit of the knee injury that occurred in the fall of 1997. Beck, playing second base, started toward first base then tried to change directions and suddenly fell in pain.

“I pretty much knew I was done because I heard it pop a lot,” Beck said.

One trip to the doctor confirmed that her ACL was damaged, requiring surgery. Rehabilitation was painful and filled with tears, Beck said, but she was cleared to practice in August and has not been bothered this season.

“It’s not good that it happened,” Beck said of the injury. “But I’m glad that it happened when it did so I could come back for a full season.”

BIG HITTER

Scott Lane, who was one of the most devastating outside hitters in Orange County history while helping Golden West win two state men’s volleyball titles, is returning to Southern California to seek another title.

Lane, a junior at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, was selected the most valuable player of the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. last weekend. He had 64 kills as his team won twice in the conference tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA’s final four, May 6-8 at UCLA.

TRANSACTIONS

Brandon Smith, a first baseman and designated hitter at Cypress, has signed with Kansas, Coach Scott Pickler said.

Smith, from Canyon High, is hitting .274 with four home runs and 19 RBIs this season after hitting .377 with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs last season.

Jennifer Adeva, who has been an assistant on the Santa Ana women’s volleyball team the last two years, has been selected as the program’s head coach. She replaces Kathy Farina, who stepped down.