SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Rio Mesa Does It Again, but Saugus Can’t Do It at All : Centurions Find This One Hard to Swallow, Lose, 9-4

Since the playoffs began, the Saugus High baseball team has met before each game for a team meal. Saturday, the team met at an Italian restaurant near school for a spaghetti breakfast.

Had they eaten like the way they played in Saturday’s Southern Section 2-A final, their shirts would have been soaked with sauce and their cheeks scarred by misplaced forks.

The Centurions kicked the ball all over the field at Dodger Stadium, committing eight errors and losing, 9-4, to Artesia. It was the first time Artesia has won a Southern Section title.

The Valley-area has yet to produce a 2-A champion.

“I think we must have made more errors today than we had all along,” Saugus Coach Doug Worley said. “I just don’t understand it. What can you say? I was going looney tunes out here.”

On the other hand, Artesia (22-7) committed only one error, a first-inning miscue by third baseman Shane May that allowed leadoff hitter John Meyers to reach base.

Pioneer pitcher Gunnar Seedborg, however, didn’t think that defense was a factor.

“We would have scored more runs than they did even without the errors,” he said. “I was thinking to myself out there that I may give up some runs, but our guys are going to score a bunch, too.”

While Saugus (20-8) committed at least one error in every inning except the fifth, it was charged with only two unearned runs. But the Centurions’ generosity did factor into the game.

Besides the errors, four Saugus pitchers combined to issue six walks, three of which led directly to Artesia runs.

Saugus was in the championship game for the first time ever, mostly because of solid pitching and good defense. The Centurions had yielded just seven runs and 15 hits in the four previous playoff games.

Saturday, Artesia had equaled that run mark by the second inning.

After Saugus took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, the Pioneers came back to collect three runs and four hits off Dennis Moran, the Centurions’ No. 1 starter.

“Any time you get a few runs, you have to shut the other team down the next time they’re up,” Artesia Coach Tony Guggiana said. “That’s what they couldn’t do, and it made a big difference.”

They broke the tie in the second by scoring four times on only one hit.

Moran, who came within one out of hurling a no-hitter against Capistrano Valley in the second round, walked the first two hitters before being lifted for George Aliano. Aliano stayed just long enough to walk one batter and hit another before he was pulled in favor of sophomore Roger Salkeld.

By hitting catcher Todd Guggiana, Aliano forced Rod Benson, who had earlier walked, across the plate for the go-ahead run. The Pioneers added three more in the inning, providing Seedborg (9-3) with a 7-3 lead.

After the second, Seedborg retired nine straight batters and allowed only one Saugus player to advance past second base.

Meanwhile, Saugus continued to have its problems in the field.

Shortstop John Meyers committed three errors during a four-hit stretch in the third and fourth innings to allow Artesia to push their lead up to 9-3.

Saugus first baseman Don Pedersen kept the Centurions’ faint hopes alive in the sixth, when he slammed a Seedborg offering over the 395-foot marker in center field for a solo homer. The leadoff homer pulled Saugus to within 9-4, but Seedborg regained his composure and shut down the Centurions the rest of the way.

Pedersen, a junior, was the only Centurion to collect two hits. He also had a run-scoring ground-rule double in Saugus’ three-run first.

Artesia center fielder Tim Armenta scored three times in the first three innings. He was 2 for 2 and walked twice. Teammate Mike Lau was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in for the champion Pioneers.

Kent Gustaveson, who was 3-0 on the mound for Saugus during the playoffs after seeing only limited time during the regular season because of an arm injury, was philosophical about the loss.

“Everything started out the way we wanted it to,” he said. “It just didn’t finish that way. It was those errors that hurt us the most. I guess it just wasn’t meant for us to win it.”

Moran, who took the loss and fell to 7-2, said, “We went a lot further than anyone expected us to go, but you can’t win every game.”

Although Saugus was sent home with just a runner-up trophy, the players may have learned a lesson that could prove to be valuable someday.

“I guess pizza and spaghetti don’t work so well in the morning,” Meyers said.