Mar 27, 2016 5 min read

Hitting a baseball or a softball is an imperfect science. An elbow too low, a kick too high or an improper stance can turn a home run into a groundout and great players into average ones.

From the youth fields to the professionals, every hitter is constantly trying to find the right approach at the plate. There are constant adjustments that only proper direction and repetition can correct, and bad habits pop up like unexpected migraines that will only disappear with proper treatment.

When players advance to a higher level, the task of finding the right approach against better pitching is one that can separate a starter from a reserve.

Giorgiana Zeremenko has been through that constant game of chess to discover what works best at the plate. The former Canon-McMillan standout used time and patience to form a new stance and approach for Pitt’s softball team this spring.

Once one of the most feared hitters in Western Pennsylvania, Zeremenko is back to hitting a softball with the same authority that charged Canon-McMillan to back-to-back WPIAL titles and a PIAA championship.

The sophomore is batting a team-best .463 with nine home runs, 35 RBI and a .549 on-base percentage in 28 games for the Panthers. Her batting average ranks eighth in the nation and she ranks among the top 20 in RBI.

The surge came after a freshman year when the former all-state catcher batted .217 in a reserve role for Pitt, which made its first NCAA Tournament appearance.

With advice from the coaching staff, Zeremenko dedicated her offseason to correcting an overstep with her front foot and her batting stance needed revamped.

“For the most part, it’s my approach and having a lot more confidence at the plate,” Zeremenko said. “I tweaked a few things in my swing over the summer and it’s been working out. A lot of the stuff I did was tee work because repetition – you need a lot of repetition and front toss. I have to make sure I’m doing what I need to and translating it over to live (pitching).”

She also needed an opportunity. After starting the season as a pinch hitter for the first three games, Zeremenko was inserted as the Panthers’ starting right fielder after senior Ashlee Stills broke her hand.

Since then, Zeremenko has slowly climbed the batting order and the Atlantic Coast Conference statistical leaders. Zeremenko isn’t the only former WPIAL player taking advantage of an opportunity in Oakland.

Pitt freshman left fielder Olivia Gray, a Trinity graduate and the 2015 Observer-Reporter Player of the Year as a shortstop, has started 27 games for the Panthers at a new position. After struggling at the plate in the opening weeks of the season, the three-time first-team all-state selection is 6-for-14 with two home runs, two doubles and three RBI in her last six games.

They are two of four WPIAL players on Pitt’s roster and one of them also is an outfielder: sophomore center fielder Erin Hershman, a Mars graduate who is batting .363 with 20 RBI. The three actually played on the same travel team coached by Gray’s father, Shawn.

“Making adjustments, especially at the plate, with an ability to learn and get better is a critical piece of it,” Pitt head coach Holly Aprile said of the improvement by Zeremenko and Gray. “You have to throw out what you don’t need, use what you do and get better. The more the kids own that and are able to coach themselves, the better off they’re going to be. The kids from Western Pa we have on the team have all been very coachable.”

Much of that has to do with talent. That’s something all three have, but Zeremenko learned last season adjustments are always necessary. A gifted hitter who can drive any pitch in or out of the strike zone over the fence, Zeremenko struggled at the plate with a .239 on-base percentage last season.

Her batting stance was throwing her timing off and her step was too big. She went hitless in her final nine at-bats of the season, including 0-for-1 in her pinch-hit appearance in the NCAA Regional Final against Michigan. So, as she has always done, Zeremenko went back to work.

“There’s adjustments to be made and I think that that’s not just players from Western Pa, but it’s players from everywhere,” Aprile said. “Depending on the program you came from, whether it be high school or travel, your adjustments can be less or greater depending on that experience.”

Zeremenko has never been the type to get discouraged, even when a shoulder injury limited her junior season with the Big Macs. Like all great college hitters, she spent the offseason hitting balls off a tee and in front toss to work through the kinks.

Canon-McMillan head coach Michele Moeller has always raved about Zeremenko’s dedication to perfecting her craft. Even when she was hitting everything in site during her high school career, the former O-R Player of the Year always looked for the proper adjustment to her swing.

“Coming in as a pinch hitter, that’s not an easy job at all, but it helped me grow as a player and it helped me learn how to have a better approach,” Zeremenko said. “It showed me to stay confident and not to get down on myself. Being at a bigger level, it’s just a dream come true.”