STATWATCH : Saugus Tandem Strike Strong Mound Presence

Saugus’ Jeff Bodeau has surprisingly emerged as the Centurions’ top pitcher, a position Roger Salkeld laid claim to at the start of the season.

Bodeau, a senior who transferred from Hart in mid-season last year, is 5-3 with a 1.23 earned-run average. He also leads Saugus in every pitching category except saves.

Entering Tuesday’s game Bodeau was the Valley-area’s strikeout leader with 69. Salkeld (4-2, 1.62 earned run average), with 65 strikeouts, is second.

With 134 strikeouts between them, Bodeau and Salkeld already have surpassed the Centurions’ strikeout total of 131 last year.

Offense: Poly, which has scored 137 runs in 13 games, is averaging 10.5 runs a game. In the Parrots’ three games against nonleague teams, they are averaging 6.3 runs. . . . Sylmar has scored at least three runs in each of its games, with the exception of a 1-0 loss to East Valley League rival Poly. The Spartans are averaging 7.9 runs a game. . . . North Hollywood scored 31 runs in its first two games but only 38 runs in its past 10.

Hart has 10 players batting .300 or better, including all nine starters and reserve Jay Sanford, who is batting .360. Starters Robby Davis and Lance Migita are batting .435 and .440, respectively. The team is batting .353. . . . Eight Chatsworth players are batting better than .300. Senior Rex McMackin, who is at a team-high .529, is followed by Vince Simili (.416), John Haselbusch (.388), Joel Wolfe (.380), Art Lowe (.351), Eric Niece (.333), David Waco (.333) and Kevin Chong (.318).

Pitching: In its first six games, Poly had four shutouts and allowed an average of 0.83 runs. In its past seven, Poly has allowed an average of 6.3 runs. . . . Sylmar has been impressive in 11 of its 13 games, allowing only 17 runs. In the other two, Sylmar lost to Westchester, 12-5, and Burroughs, 10-9.

Track and Field: Valley-area season bests were posted by nine athletes in 11 events at the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night. Ian Alsen of Granada Hills (1,600 and 3,200 meters) and Angela Burnham of Rio Mesa (200) posted national bests. . . . Burnham, a junior, moved to second and third on the all-time Valley-area list in the 100- and 200-meter dashes with her 11.65 and 23.94 victories at Arcadia. Sherri Howard of Kennedy set Valley-area records in both the 100 (11.61) and 200 (23.16) in 1980. Her sister Denean ran 23.25 in the 200 in 1982. . . . Rodney Burt of Birmingham took over the Valley-area lead in the 400 meters at Arcadia with a fifth-place time of 48.28 seconds. It was the fifth meet this season in which Burt has run under 50 seconds. . . . Four local runners set personal bests in the 3,200 meters. Alsen won with a time of 8:59.54, Bryan Dameworth of Agoura placed seventh with a 9:06.46 effort, Mike Esparza of Newbury Park placed 13th in 9:15.0 and Sasha Vujic of Burroughs finished 15th in 9:17.0.

Softball: Saugus pitcher Cathy Lewis has 41 strikeouts in 28 innings; she is batting .438.