Uniform Effort Propels Saugus to 8-5 Victory

So what if Saugus High doesn’t have Roger Salkeld anymore?

They have his uniform.

The Centurions donned new duds for Tuesday’s Golden League game against visiting Palmdale--blue and gray uniforms similar to those of the Seattle Mariners, who made Salkeld the nation’s third pick in last June’s amateur draft.

Dressed for success Saugus, on the strength of a pair of two-run home runs by catcher J. B. Johnson and satisfactory efforts from three inexperienced pitchers, fashioned an 8-5 victory.

The win gives Saugus (11-5-1, 7-1 in league play) a two-game lead over second-place Palmdale (9-4, 5-3).

Saugus Coach Doug Worley, a Seattle native and University of Washington graduate, insisted that the new attire was not a tribute to Salkeld. Not solely, anyway.

“I was a Mariner fan long before he came along,” Worley said.

Still, the uniforms served to boost morale--which some players needed.

Johnson, for example, who struck out swinging in the first inning, admittedly still feels the sting of last June’s 1-0 nine-inning loss to La Palma Kennedy in the Southern Section 3-A Division championship game at Dodger Stadium. In his last high school game, Salkeld threw a bases-loaded, game-ending wild pitch that skidded to the right of Johnson.

“It goes through my mind every once in a while,” Johnson said. “It took a while to say, ‘Hey, that’s only one pitch, I gotta forget that.’ But this builds my confidence a lot.”

Said Worley: “He’s been putting too much pressure on himself. I think he had to realize, ‘Hey, I struck out, but I came back and hit two home runs, that’s good.’ ”

Saugus, powered by Jeff Albert’s two-run home run, grabbed a 3-0 first-inning lead. In the third, Johnson crushed his first home run as Saugus extended its lead to 6-0.

Palmdale countered with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Johnson smashed another two-run shot in the bottom of the inning to give Saugus an 8-2 lead.

Sophomore left-hander Chris Hernandez (3-2) scattered four hits and six walks over five innings. From there, sophomore Jayme Riggio, who was tagged for two runs in the sixth, and junior right-hander Doug Maggiora, who entered in the sixth and recorded his second save, mopped up.

Palmdale right-hander Jim Carson (4-3), who allowed six runs in 2 2/3 innings, took the loss.