Near perfection

(Photo by Michael Fischer) Spencer's Amy McLaury goes into her windup against Spirit Lake on Wednesday, July 1, 2009. The sophomore pitcher threw a 1-hit shutout against the Indians en route to a 9-0 victory. [Click to enlarge]

Twenty-four games into the season, the Tigers finally put it all together.

A defense hampered by errors made none, and an offense handcuffed by inconsistency was anything but Wednesday at Tiger Field.

Add in Amy McLaury's 11-strikeout, 1-hit performance and Spencer cruised to a 9-0 victory over Spirit Lake, ending a 6-game losing slide.

"This is the way I felt we could play throughout the season. The most important thing is it happened with about two weeks left in the season. Hopefully this can carry over to our next four or five regular season games and the postseason," said Spencer head coach Greg Jones.

"It was an all-around Spencer Tiger softball game. We hit the ball on the nose, our defense was fundamentally sound and Amy pitched a great ballgame."

McLaury faced just two batters over the minimum in her sixth win of the year, keeping the Indians off balance with an overpowering fastball.

The sophomore gave up a first-inning single to Emily Mercer and walked the leadoff batter in the second.

From there, she was flawless.

McLaury retired the final 16 batters she faced behind the help of a steady defense that made all the routine plays Wednesday night.

Spencer (6-18, 4-9) scored in four of its six plate appearances, putting up four runs in the first, one in the third, three in the fourth and one in the sixth.

"When you hit the ball and make the other team play defense, there's a good chance you're going to be around at the end of the game," said Jones.

After a leadoff double from Shayna Zellaha and three Spirit Lake errors helped start the rally, Lutda Lovan roped a 2-run single to right center and Mackenzie Kabrick added an RBI single of her own in the bottom of the first.

"We had a lot of line drives, balls hit hard. It was nice to see Shayna step up and start the game with a double. It set the tone," Jones added.

Kabrick drove in Ally Mahrt on a third-inning ground out, Mahrt drove in a run the same way one inning later. Delaney Feddersen and Lindsey Woock also produced run-scoring singles in the fourth.

(Photo by Michael Fischer) Ally Mahrt locks her eyes on a pitch before loading the bases with a first-inning single against Spirit Lake on Wednesday, July 1,2009 . The Tigers scored four runs in the first inning and beat the Indians 9-0.

After Ali Garman's 1-out double, freshman Ashley Mahrt drove in the game's final run with a 2-out single in the sixth.

Spencer finished with 11 hits on the night -- all 10 girls who came to the plate recorded at least one hit.

Zellaha went 2-for-3 with two runs. Ashley Mahrt was 1-for-2; Kabrick, Ally Mahrt and Garman were each 1-for-3. Ally Mahrt scored twice, as did Feddersen, who was 1-for-4.

Spencer will play at Carroll Thursday. The Tigers return to Lakes Conference play Monday in a double header at Western Christian.