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05/21/2015 12:01 AMSometimes in baseball, making minor adjustments can have a major impact on one’s offensive output. For Westbrook’s Ronnie Oldham, a few recent refinements have resulted in a steady streak of long-ball production with the lumber.
Ronnie is a senior captain for the Knights who earned Second Team All-Shoreline Conference honors last spring. Now as his fourth and final campaign on the Westbrook diamond reaches its conclusion, Ronnie finds himself locked into the zone as he recently bashed four home runs in a five-game span. In fact, Ronnie went yard in three-consecutive contests by doing so against Valley Regional on May 1, versus Morgan three days later, and then versus Haddam-Killingworth on May 6. This torrid stretch gave Ronnie’s offensive totals a big boost by pushing his batting average to .295, his on-base percentage to .426, and his slugging percentage to a clip of .591.
“I don’t know how it’s happened, but I just changed my batting stance a little bit to where I’ve started seeing the ball better and waiting more for my pitch,” says Ronnie. “I started crowding the plate more and moving up in the batter’s box, so I’m always out in front.”
Ronnie says that he’s flipped the script in comparison to last year when it comes to his recent hot streak. That’s just fine with him as long as Ronnie knows he’s helping the Knights win some ballgames.
“I feel this run has come at the right time because I started last year hot in hitting around .500 and then I cooled off right before states,” Ronnie says. “So it’s a lot better to heat up now and help my team more.”
Westbrook skipper Derek Hanssen adds that Ronnie has played all around the horn throughout his tenure and done it while showing a bright smile with a passion for the sport.
“Ronnie is a great team leader. He has been a four-year contributor to the team,” says Hanssen. “He has played a number of positions in his four years and does whatever the team needs him to do. He has a great personality and really loves baseball.”
While he enjoys being the utility man for Westbrook, Ronnie does prefer to play the portion of the field he’s patrolled throughout his life. Still, when it boils down to being a leader, he just wants what’s best for the program and his teammates.
“It’s been fun playing all the positions. I don’t like playing third and the outfield that much, but I do like playing the middle infield because I grew up playing around there and feel more comfortable with it,” says Ronnie. “I like being a captain on the team and having people look up to you and help make them better players. I like being that role model.”
In analyzing his at-bats, Ronnie likes to feel out each hurler out on the opening toss prior to picking his spots to send an offering to the outfield.
“For the first pitch, I like to swing as hard as I can and go back to a normal approach after that and wait for my pitch,” Ronnie says. “I do that because it doesn’t seem like you get many chances as a batter, but really I think it’s harder for the pitcher to be more consistent.”
Preparing to play baseball for Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he will double major in criminal justice and psychology, Ronnie looks to provide a spark to the Blue Tigers. For now though, he wants his Knights to get back to basics in hopes of putting together a solid finish to the spring.
“Lincoln has kind of been struggling, so I hope to help make them better, plus I’m ready for the work load that comes with being a double major,” says Ronnie, who thanks his mother Kristyn Neely, middle school baseball coach Brian Dailey, and Coach Hanssen. “[On Westbrook] I don’t think we are where I thought we would be. I think the mental side of the game has been getting to us this year, yet I think getting more reps in practice can help.”