Worley Stands Test of Time as Saugus Coach

Golden League baseball coaches have come and gone since Doug Worley became coach of Saugus High in 1976. How many? At least 18 that Worley can recall, either by name or face. But 30 is probably a closer estimation, Worley said.

Just two years ago, Antelope Valley, Canyon, Palmdale, Quartz Hill and Ridgecrest Burroughs had different coaches than they had this season.

Yet Worley has remained Saugus’ only coach since the school opened. Although Worley admits retirement recently entered his mind, he plans to return for his 18th season.

“My thinking all along was that I wanted to coach my son until he graduates,” said Worley, whose son Brian, a senior, was the Centurions’ starting center fielder this season. “But it’s looking more and more like I’m going to come back.”

Saugus (19-6-1) cruised to its seventh league title this season, finishing four games ahead of second-place Palmdale. Worley’s career record is 277-126-8. Only once, in 1979, has Saugus had a losing record under Worley.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

Talk about working a crowd. When former NBA center Swen Nater spoke at the Faith Baptist athletic awards banquet last weekend, he started by announcing that Contenders’ center-forward Peter Rasmussen had signed a letter of intent to play next year at Christian Heritage College in El Cajon, where Nater coaches.

Having grabbed the crowd’s attention, Nater, who played at UCLA under John Wooden and had an 11-year career in the NBA and ABA, then warmed up the folks with several consecutive quips.

Said Nater, 42: “I play in a 40-and-older league. They don’t have a jump ball. They put it on the floor and whoever can bend over and pick it up gets it.”

Nater’s speed may have deteriorated since he last played professionally in 1985, he admits. “I drove down the lane at full speed the other day and got called for three seconds,” he said.

Nater also took a few good-natured shots at his former Laker teammates.

“I saw Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) the other day,” he said. “When we played, he used to have all this hair. I told him he went from using Head and Shoulders to Mop and Glow.”

HOST WITH THE MOST

Host Birmingham ran away with its first boys’ title in the City Section track championships last week, but the Braves’ 70-46 margin of victory over second-place Locke could have been larger if not for bad luck.

Favored Raymond Banner crashed to the track after hitting the fifth barrier in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and failed to finish. Teammate Alvaro Mejia was favored to win the 3,200, but side cramps slowed him to third.

“I just couldn’t kick,” said Mejia, who won the 1,600 earlier in the meet. “About halfway through the race, I started cramping up and I couldn’t get rid of them. I was just running for the points the last few laps.”

Depth was the key to Birmingham’s victory as the Braves scored in 11 of 15 events.

They had a pair of first-, second- and third-place finishes, along with four fourths and three fifths.

“We had our disasters and heartaches,” Coach Scott King said. “But we came through when we needed to. I think the fact that Ray came back (after the intermediate hurdles) and ran a great leg in the 1,600 relay says something about what kind of a team this is.”

JUMPIN’ JEFF FLASH

Dean Balzarett, the boys’ track coach at Monroe since 1967, has criticized the specialization of high school sports because it frequently requires an athlete to focus on one sport year-round, preventing football and basketball players from coming out for the Vikings’ track team.

Jeff Nadeau, who averaged 10.9 points a game for Monroe’s basketball team, bucked that trend this season, and he accounted for 22 points in the City track championships Thursday to propel Monroe to a tie for fifth in the team standings with 30 points.

Nadeau, a 5-foot-11 junior, placed second in the long jump (21 feet 4 3/4 inches) and triple jump (personal best of 44-3), and third in the high jump (6-4).

“I really haven’t been surprised with anything he’s done,” Balzarett said. “He can dunk easily so we knew he had great jumping ability.”

In addition to his 44-3 in the triple jump, Nadeau has cleared 6-7 1/4 in the high jump and leaped 22-2 in the long jump. Balzarett figures he can still improve. “I think he can go 45 to 46 feet in the triple jump, and 6-8 or 6-9 in the high jump,” Balzarett said. “It’s just a matter of him getting better technique. And I’m waiting for him to really unload one in the long jump.”

VIVA LA DIFFERENCE

Greg Herrick admits that coaching women’s basketball will be quite a change. But Herrick, who last week was offered the job as coach of the College of the Canyons women’s team, says he is looking forward to it.

Herrick said he expects to resign next week as boys’ coach at Hart and, pending the approval of the Canyons’ Board of Trustees on June 10, accept the job at Canyons.

“Certainly, there will be some adjustments that I’ll have to make,” Herrick said. “I won’t be bursting into the locker room, I can tell you that. But I don’t think it will be as difficult as people think. I’m excited about it. Who knows where this could lead?”

Herrick has been a part-time teacher at Canyons for seven years, but he said he expects to remain a full-time teacher at Hart. As boys’ coach at Cleveland High from 1979-85, Herrick led the Cavaliers to City Section 3-A championships in 1981 and 1982.

Herrick cited several reasons for the move, among them his growing displeasure with coaching at Hart. Last season, Herrick was dealt a one-game suspension by Principal Laurence Strauss for shouting at an official after a game.

“It’s no secret that there has been some disagreement between the administration and myself,” Herrick said.

BATTERS BEWARE

Monroe used four pitchers this season and none finished with an earned-run average higher than 2.00. The staff’s combined ERA was 1.46.

“And I’m getting three of them back next year,” Coach Kevin Campbell said.

Junior right-hander Jorge Dorado (7-1; 1.51 ERA) is 13-2 with an ERA of 1.31 over the past two seasons. Also returning next season is junior Robert Ballester (5-0) and sophomore Joel Zamudio (2-1). Senior right-hander Adrian Lovrich (3-2) is the only pitcher the Vikings lose to graduation.

PROGRESSIVE PITCHER

At the rate Hoover softball pitcher Nancy Evans is progressing, batters who face her in 1993 won’t stand much of a chance.

As a freshman, Evans struck out 209 and walked 28 in 147 innings. Her sophomore year, she struck out 287 and walked 13 in 154 innings. In 194 innings this season, Evans struck out 379 and walked only six.

“Each year the strikeouts went up and everything else went down,” Coach Kirt Kohlmeier said.

Evans finished with a 23-4 record and an ERA of 0.25 this season. Although Hart beat Hoover, 4-0, in a Southern Section 4-A Division quarterfinal playoff game last week, Hart Coach Al Weil is a self-proclaimed fan of Evans.

“If she’s not player or pitcher of the year in the (Southern Section), then I don’t know who is,” Weil said. “They might as well throw away the ballots.”

KEEPING HIS WORD

Royal middle blocker Kerry White is generally a player of few words.

So his teammates on the Highlander boys’ volleyball team were a bit surprised Saturday when he told them he needed 13 blocks to break Kevin Hambly’s single-season school record of 129.

“They were snickering at him and saying, ‘Yeah, sure, Kerry, you are going to get 13 blocks in a CIF final,” Coach Bob Ferguson said.

It turns out White underestimated himself. He not only beat Hambly’s seasonal record, but his 14 blocks also broke Hambly’s one-match school record of 11 to help the Highlanders win their third Southern Section title in four years.

White’s last two blocks, on consecutive plays, were the 13th and 14th points for Royal in the fifth game of its match with Esperanza, giving the Highlanders a 14-8 lead. He came up with a third consecutive block at match point, but was called for a net violation that gave the serve back to Esperanza. That only delayed the Highlanders’ title bid. They eventually won the final game, 15-11.

TOO TIRED TO CELEBRATE

Ferguson has participated in many victory celebrations as the coach of the boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams at Royal. In eight years of coaching, he has collected three Southern Section boys’ titles and one girls’ championship.

But Ferguson didn’t have much energy left to celebrate Saturday’s 3-A championship after watching his team take 2 1/2 hours to beat Esperanza.

“Everybody was jumping up and down and I couldn’t even get out of my seat, I was so drained,” Ferguson said.

Coming into Saturday’s match with a 21-0 record, Royal was a heavy favorite. But it took an inspired comeback for the Highlanders to go from a 2-1 deficit to a five-game win.

“This was the hardest one (of the section titles Royal has won), so this one feels better,” Ferguson said.

VILLAGE VISIONARY

Times are changing when Village Christian becomes the team to beat in the Alpha League baseball race.

The Crusaders, who were winless in league play in 1991, earn the honor partially by default; Montclair Prep has been banished from the league.

But they also earn it by virtue of a second-place finish in 1992, an appearance in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 1-A Division playoffs, and the fact that several key players return.

Back will be the Crusader leaders in batting average--junior Jeff Deal (.366), freshman Jason Robitaille (.362) and sophomore Mike Agnor (.345)--and ERA--Robitaille (2.17) and Mike Rieger (2.83). Also returning will be junior Brett Borden, who led the team in home runs (four) and RBIs (22).

The Crusaders rebounded from a horrid 1991 thanks to the emergence of Robitaille, who finished with a 7-1 record, and Mike Spielman, a vocal sophomore who Coach Mike Henzie called “the catalyst.”

It also helped that the Crusaders had a place to play. In 1991, when they finished 6-12-1, 0-10 in league games, they played games 30 minutes from school at The Master’s College.

And they had no practice facility, so drills consisted of nothing more than batting practice at Village Christian.

After the season Henzie made a five-year agreement with the Tujunga Little League. He would revamp the run-down senior-league field and maintain it; they would let Village Christian play there.

Henzie moved the fences back, laid sod and resurfaced the infield. It paid dividends. “The fact that we were able to do defensive drills, that really helped,” Henzie said.

David Coulson, Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega and T.C. Porter contributed to this notebook.