Westlake Handles Saugus Pitching

Coming off an impressive one-hit shutout by ace pitcher Roger Salkeld, Saugus High could have been excused for expecting a slight dip in its pitching performance Saturday.

Unfortunately, the dip turned into a hole that the Centurions couldn’t crawl from. Saugus fell behind, 2-0, at the outset and went on to lose to Westlake, 13-5, at Saugus in the second round of the El Segundo tournament.

“Our pitching kind of fell off today--they threw a stinker,” Saugus Coach Doug Worley said. “There wasn’t much intensity and when you don’t play with intensity, this is what happens.”

Westlake (2-0) jumped on starting pitcher Glenn Terry early. Terry walked leadoff batter Tim Falsken on four pitches then gave up a double to catcher Derek Tamburro. Falsken scored on a ground out and Tamburro came around one batter later as J. R. Johnson hit a hard line drive to right field for a single that made the score 2-0.

“Tim Falsken getting on says where the ballgame is going to be,” Westlake coach Rich Herrera said. “It’s a lot better for your pitcher because he has more to work with.”

Saugus (1-1) scored its first run in the second when Terry, who was two for two and scored two runs, stroked a double into left-center field. Matt Tull followed with a double to score Terry.

Leading, 4-1, Westlake walked all over Terry in the fifth.

Steve Susco led off with a base hit up the middle, Tamburro followed with a line-drive single and Johnson walked to load the bases. Terry then walked Shayne Kline and Chuck Foster to force in two runs. Matt McHendry followed with a soft grounder down the third-base line that Terry fielded, but his throw to first was wild and two more runners crossed the plate, making the score 8-1.

Westlake pitcher John Brookman, who settled down after the second and retired the side in the third and fourth innings, allowed a two-run home run to Tull in the fifth that cut the Warriors’ lead to five.

Chad Keene came in to pitch for Saugus in the sixth inning and, with one out, hit Mike Lieberthal with a pitch that set off a chain reaction of walks, errors and Westlake hits. Before the inning was over, the entire Warrior batting order had faced Keene and Westlake had taken a 13-3 lead.

“We take a lot of cuts in practice,” Herrera said. “It paid off today because we had some timely hitting.”

Saugus scored two runs in the seventh off Westlake reliever Joe Orlando, but Scott Lerner came in and struck out Salkeld and George Lopata swinging.

Lieberthal was two for four with a home run, three runs scored and two runs batted in. Tull was two for two and had a home run and three RBIs to lead Saugus.

“They have a good ballclub with a solid defense and a good offense,” Worley said of Westlake. “But the only good thing you can say about this game from our point of view is that it ended.”