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MCCC softball team reaches collegiate World Series By RICh FIShER 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, Ala-
bama 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 See SERIES, Page 11
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Model citizens Celebrity intervention helps save a local model railroad club from possible demise
Langtree Elementary School parents Angela Mendola, Lisa Schulz and Danielle Nutt at the May 10 dedication ceremony for the school’s new Garden of Joy. Story, page 6.
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Model railroading is an imaginative endeavor. It appeals to the mechanical, scientific and creative mind. Building the world surrounding the train tracks is a fun challenge. The train can run through cities, small towns and countryside. There is a model railroading club in Rocky Hill, that has been steaming down the tracks since 1964, meeting at least once a week and building towns, bridges, tunnels and mountains. In a basement of a Cape Cod house in Rocky Hill, the Pacific Southern Railway Club has been a home base for model railroad enthusiasts. The 30-member club meets weekly and hosts periodic open houses for the public to see their miniature world of transportation. The club was nearly wiped out last fall when the owner of the house, Carlton Pate, died after a long illness. His widow Anne, wished to move out of state to be closer to family, and the home with the model railroad looked likely to be sold. When word of the plight of the railway club reached a cer-
tain local couple, everything changed. The railway has been more than saved. It has been enhanced. Comedic actor and writer James Murray and his wife, Melyssa, happened to be looking for space in the Princeton area for Melyssa’s her burgeoning handmade candle business. After they read a story about the Pacific Southern Railway in the Wall Street Journal, they went to have a look at the home. Murray is a lifelong model train aficionado, and, after seeing the layout in the basement he knew this would be a great fit. Melyssa’s younger brother is also a train enthusiast, so she was familiar with the lure of model railroading. “When I saw the railroad layout in the basement, I was floored,” James says. “I mean it just kept going. The basement is bigger than the home! There is no way that the railroad could be moved. Relocation was not an option, as it would have destroyed 90% of the layout.” The couple agreed to purchase the house. They took possession in April, but they did not wait until then to inject new life into the club. Since they became involved, the club has launched a new website as well as a new membership program. “Murr” is known as one of the stars of the long-running TV show Impractical Jokers. The See TRaInS, Page 8
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