Oilers avenge loss

Updated: May 4, 2011 11:56PM

WHITING — So many things shade a hitter’s mentality.

Thoughts like “how will this affect my batting average” and “what’s the situation” are typical.

But for Whiting’s Maria Zamora, the ideas stemmed beyond offensive strategy. According to Oilers coach Paul Laub, the No. 7 hitter was consumed with thoughts about fielding.

“I think she was so worried about fielding, that she took it to the plate with her,” he said.

Well, Zamora didn’t need to worry. Nor did Whiting, for that matter. Following Zamora’s move from shortstop to left field, her offense has picked up. And so, too, have the Whiting sticks. After an eight-inning 7-6 loss two weeks ago to Wheeler, the host Oilers came back against their GSSC rival with a 2-0 shutout Wednesday.

Zamora and a precarious situation started the comeback offense on Wednesday night.

It was the bottom of the second inning and Whiting’s No. 5 hitter Emelie Lovasko reached first base on an error by the third baseman, took second, and then advanced again on a passed ball. Following a strikeout, Zamora smacked a deep fly into left field. The yellow ball was so high that the fielder lost it in the sun. The result was the game-winning RBI double.

“I think she’s got the skills and got talent and she’s putting it together,” Laub said of Zamora’s 2-for-2 game.

The Oilers’ (11-4, 7-3) lineup collectively has improved from the last meeting. In the first meeting, Whiting’s Ashley Pokraka and Wheeler’s Nickole Finch were also in the circle. But Finch dominated with 17 strikeouts.

This time the duo had nearly identical stats. Both starters gave up six hits and three free passes while striking out six. The difference was Finch’s earned run in the bottom of the third (which also came in unusual fashion as Whiting’s Jasmine Bejar reached on a walk, advanced on a groundout and then scored when Amanda Blackwell bounced a single off the third baseman’s glove).

“It seemed like we had a lot of base runners all game,” Wheeler coach Marc Bruner said. “We just didn’t get the big hit.”

After Wheeler (9-4, 6-3) clawed out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth (including a double play by center fielder Meghan Zappa, who gunned out a runner at home), the Bearcats had a pair of consecutive two-out hits in the seventh, but couldn’t break through.

“(This is the) second day in a row we left a good pitching performance from our pitchers,” Bruner said of the loss.

Laub is happy about the improved hitting.

“This is the type of softball these girls are capable of playing,” he said. “You’re turning that batting order and that’s key in my book; getting the three and four hitters up.”

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