STATWATCH : St. Genevieve Ace Can Strike From Home Plate, Too

With a 3-0 record, a 1.16 earned-run average and 50 strikeouts in 24 innings, Roland De La Maza of St. Genevieve is well-known for his pitching. But the Valiants’ junior also has racked up some impressive numbers at the plate. Entering this week, he is batting .500 with 4 home runs and 14 runs batted in. St. Genevieve had a .373 team batting average and scored 76 runs in its first eight games.

Improvements: Kennedy’s Gino Tagliaferri finished his sophomore season with a .439 batting average, 4 triples, 5 home runs and 23 RBIs. After seven games this season, the shortstop already has 3 triples, 3 home runs and 14 RBIs. He is 14 for 26 (.538). . . . Tim Costic and Ron Robart are Monroe’s starting pitchers and best hitters. Costic has 4 home runs, 8 RBIs and 11 runs scored and is batting .409 (9 for 22). Costic (1-1), a junior, has allowed five earned runs in 12 innings. Robart, a senior, is 10 for 25 (.400) with 8 RBIs and 9 runs scored. He is 2-1 as a pitcher.

Pitching: John Ward, the No. 2 pitcher on Royal’s staff, is 3-0 with three complete game and a 1.00 ERA. Staff ace Sean Sullivan is 2-0 with a 0.70 ERA, and reliever Brian Skow has three saves. Royal (7-0) is off to its best start in school history.

Saugus’ starting combination of Roger Salkeld and Jeff Bodeau has combined for 5 complete games and and 61 strikeouts in 42 innings. Salkeld (2-1) had a school-record 17 strikeouts and pitched a one-hitter against Palmdale on Friday. Bodeau (2-1) pitched a four-hitter against Santa Clara last week and has an ERA of 0.90.

Greg Nealon, Poly’s All-City pitcher, has 33 strikeouts in 26 innings. The left-handed senior has allowed 16 hits, walked 3 batters and given up only 1 earned run.

Dan Glassman of Calabasas, who pitched for the junior varsity last year, has allowed 1 earned run in 15 innings for a 2-0 record and a 0.46 ERA.

Batting: Chaminade has a team batting average of .326 and has scored 83 runs in its first 8 games.

Poly’s Luis Porres, an All-City outfielder, is batting .429 with 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, 2 triples and a double.

Tom Dodson, who leads Saugus with two home runs and nine runs batted in, is batting .542 with a five-game hitting streak. . . . Canyon’s Dave Tyson has 12 RBIs, including nine in one game.

Catcher David Kalman, a Calabasas junior, has a seven-game hitting streak and is batting .524 (11 for 21). Senior shortstop Chris Inglehart, who is supposed to be a better fielder than a hitter, is the second-leading hitter for Calabasas with a .500 average (11 for 22). . . . Agoura’s Mike Maggiora has a five-game hitting streak and is batting .682 (15 for 22).

Runs: Hart’s baseball team is getting exactly what it wants out of its Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the batting order--runs. After Hart’s first seven games, Lance Migita and Darin Tsukashima have each scored 10 runs, 40% of Hart’s total run production of 50.

Fielding: Agoura’s softball team committed 22 errors in its first four games. In the past two games, the Chargers made only three after Coach Linda Moule changed the infield. Shortstop Jill Hartwig and third baseman Wendy Baertschiger exchanged positions, and Tamara Dulansky moved from center field to second base. Dulansky fielded 11 balls at second base and did not make an error against Camarillo.

Extra points: Chaminade stole 16 bases in 16 attempts in its first 8 games. . . . Providence’s Mark Miyamoto has 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts. . . . Highland Hall failed to steal a base for the first time in two years when it lost Friday to Cantwell, 26-1. The Hawks, who stole 31 of 33 bases in 5 previous games, were 0 for 1.