This year’s Mercer County Community College softball team’s active roster was 20 percent Hamilton Township players.
That may sound like a lot, but it’s only two.
And yet, with just 10 players (its 11th was injured), the Vikings earned a berth in the NJCAA Division II World Series, which began in Oxford, Alabama on May 19.
“We didn’t envision this coming together like it did,” said coach Ryan Zegarski, a Hamilton West grad. “Once we started getting into a rhythm, getting to know each other and playing together it really took off. You’re sitting there and you’re like ‘Wow, what did I just witness?”’ You don’t envision that, and they just took to it.”
It’s one of the more amazing and impressive sports stories in New Jersey and beyond, and a township duo was in the middle of it all.
Sophomore Makenna Spak, who played for Steinert’s 2023 state championship team, batted eighth and patrolled centerfield. Redshirt freshman Arianna Acevedo, a West graduate, was right next to her in right field and right behind her batting ninth.
The two set the table in a big way for the top of Mercer’s order. Spak carried a .373 average in the World Series, with four doubles, a triple, two homers, 12 stolen bases, 33 RBI and 45 runs scored. Acevedo was at .333 with three doubles, two triples, 15 stolen bases, 13 RBI and 39 runs. The duo ranked 1-2 on the team in steals.
“I call them our havoc creators,” Zegarski said. “They’re both very fast. They create havoc every time they’re on base. Bunting and running, hitting and running, stealing, going first-to-third, second-to-home. When they get on we score a ton of runs.
“They wreak havoc all the way through. They get on and just run. They don’t need a sign from me, the. They know when they can go, when they can’t go. They just put a lot of pressure on a defense and put them in predicaments they can’t figure out sometimes.”
The two are the same age, but only knew one another from being rivals in high school. They have formed a friendship and Spak loves how they have come together on the diamond.
“I like being next to Anna in the outfield and I feel like we can do a lot of damage at the plate together because we’re both quick,” she said. “Either hitting away or bunting, I feel it works well, and turns over the lineup for us.”
Acevedo said the two “definitely clicked’ during the season. And while the former Hornet practiced with the team last year, she sat out the games (focusing on academics) and learned the nuances from Spak.
“She would give me tips in the outfield, tell me about angling to the ball,” said Acevedo, whose sister Cierra starred for the team in 2023-24. “I’m right behind her in the lineup. She would always let me know where the pitches were and how they were getting thrown to help me adjust.”
The pupil, who also plays second base depending on who’s pitching, learned from her mentor.
“She’s done really well,” Spak said. “I’ve always known about her from playing West. I like having someone else in the outfield that’s speedy. I think we just work well together.”
Spak’s presence did more than just aid Acevedo. In her three years as a regular, her Steinert teams went 60-15 with two state finals appearances, one state title and one Mercer County Tournament crown. Her winning attitude was infectious.
“One hundred percent,” Zegarski said. “She doesn’t know what losing is. She doesn’t accept defeat. She’s a grinder, she fights and that’s one of the many positive things she brought to the program. Knowing how to win, knowing how to close out games.”
Spak felt her experience at Steinert got her ready for the pressure of college tournament play.
“Being able to play at that level, those moments, those close championship games prepared me for this, where other girls who don’t have that experience don’t know what to expect,” she said. “I try to tell them a little bit but it’s hard. If you’re just nervous you gotta just try and battle through it.”
Acevedo didn’t have pressure games in high school, but that hasn’t seemed to bother her at Mercer.
“She’s very laid back and relaxed,” Zegarski said. “She goes with the flow, she follows the sophomores. She understands what it means to be in the program after her sister played here.”
And she understood the heartbreak endured by her sister and others who played for MCCC between now and their last World Series berth in 2018.
“It was really exciting for me to see how excited the coaches were,” Acevedo said. “I know they put their hard work and time into practices and games everyday. We did it for ourselves, for the coaches and for the other girls from past years that didn’t get the chance to make it to the World Series.”
The team is more than just the two Hamiltonians, of course. Zegarski continues to prove himself a winner, guiding the Vikings to their fourth World Series appearance under him, and their first berth since 2018. He has over 600 career wins and, with a 42-4 record, the Vikes needed one win in Alabama to set the school record.
With…just…10…players.
“It’s crazy to think about,” Spak said. “We just had to be strong together. I love all the girls and we were able to press through. We all played for each other.”
Zegarski would not let the girls think in terms of small numbers but of big talent.
“Every practice and every game he let us know this was our smallest group of girls but we’re also the strongest and most athletic and skilled,” Acevedo said. “If all of us just put our skills together we can make it to wherever we want to make it. And we like to pray before games to give the game to something bigger than us.”
Zegarski felt that the small roster had its positives and negatives. He wanted his players to be aggressive, and they knew if they made a mistake out of aggressiveness they wouldn’t be benched, since there was no one to replace them. That led to the offense putting a ton of pressure on opposing defenses.
The downside was, if a player made excuses to, say, show up just before practice, there wasn’t much Zegarski could do since, again, he couldn’t bench them.
But the good far outweighed the bad.
“It’s been positive for us,” Zegarski said. “Once they’re on the field, they’re trying to get their stuff done. It’s been crazy what they’ve accomplished. At the beginning of the year, the goal is to get [to the World Series], but in my head I’m saying, we’re low on numbers, we have to avoid the injury bug.
It helped, he said, that several players developed as players over the course for the season. “Our defense has been phenomenal all year, and we have a lot of girls playing different positions. There were a lot of moving parts this year and that’s why you have a fall season. It’s been one crazy year. A fun year.”
In assessing the overall situation, Spak felt the team’s transformation from enemies to teammates has formed a nice cohesion.
“We all work well together and it’s nice to play with people who you might have been rivals with in the past,” she said. “Our hitting has great little spurts when we’re on it, and it kind of falls like a domino effect. Our defense has been really good, not too many errors, we turn double plays all the time in the infield and our outfield is pretty strong.”
Acevedo admitted that she doubted Mercer could be so good at the season’s outset. But her mindset changed as the year went on.
“Everybody picks everybody up,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if somebody strikes out, somebody drops a ball. It’s just like ‘Hey let’s go, shake it up, let’s get the next play and not worry about it.’ We have a lot of heart.”
The family has the right patriarch in Zegarski.
“He’s been great,” Spak said. “He hasn’t been hesitant or down with us. He always pushes us to be our best.”
Great things in softball are commonplace for Spak. Aside from her success at Steinert, the future Rutgers student won a travel tournament in Florida and played for a second-place travel team at a Texas event. That gave her a positive outlook heading to the World Series.
“Wherever I’ve gone I’ve been happy with how it turned out,” she said. “Wherever I go, it seems to be good luck. So we’ll hope.”
Makenna Spak, a 2023 Steinert graduate, is the starting centerfielder for the Mercer softball team, which reached this year’s NJCAA Division II World Series. (Photo courtesy of MCCC Athletics.),
Hamilton High grad Ryan Zegarski is the coach for MCCC Vikings softball. (Photo courtesy of MCCC Athletics.),
