HAMILTON TWP. — Slowly but surely, you can just see the merger of the Nottingham and Hamilton High softball programs is doing exactly what it was it was designed to do. Now in its third year of the merger, Hamilton/Nottingham looks increasingly solid and it was on display Monday afternoon as it ro lled past New Egypt by the score of 5-1 to up its record to 4-2. Even better, this is a young team with three pitchers, including two who are freshmen. It also  has some athletic girls who can swing the bat and it’s definitely better in the field than it was two years ago. In other words, Hamilton/Nottingham looks more and more like, well, a softball team. “We are working on developing something here,” said H/N coach Gaby Bennett. “We have some girls who have been with the program for a while now and they are giving us good leadership.” Unlike previous years when the once-mighty Nottingham and Hamilton programs declined dramatically, a very big positive is these players have become much more involved in softball outside of school; And in Hamilton Township that means playing in the Hamilton Girls Softball Association, which has been cranking out outstanding players for Steinert by the boatload “A lot of our girls now are in the HGSA and some of their fathers coach in it, too,” confirmed Bennett. “It really helps. We’ve been working on knowing what to do with the ball. You can see the improvement.” New Egypt came into this game with a record of 4-1, but for the third straight year it lost to Hamilton/Nottingham as it once again just couldn’t get anything going at the plate. The winning pitcher was Naomi Blackburn. Although she struggled with her control at times and hit five batters, she consistently was able to work her way out of minor jams and finished with a four-hitter and three strikeouts. Helping matters was a defense that committed no errors and made all the plays, including a sensational diving catch by catcher Angelica Roman in the fifth. She intends to continue her softball career at Millersville University and also gunned down a New Egypt runner attempting to steal. Mixing in an effective change-up, New Egypt pitcher Jackie Bowen got through the first two innings unscathed before Hamilton/Nottingham busted out with one run in the third, two in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Singles by Ava Umansky and Roman accounted for the run in the third. In the fourth inning, Mikayla Umansky doubled and Ava Umansky singled to drive in runs. Singles by Lauren Harrison and Roman led to a two-run double by Jamie Montgomery in the fifth. Both Ava and  Mikayla Umansky were 3-for-4 to lead their team’s 12-hit attack. New Egypt scored in the seventh on an RBI single by Jo Jo Kildaire and then looked like it might really be in business when it loaded the bases with two outs, Blackburn, however, roared back with a pop fly to third to end the game. With only two seniors on its roster, look for a well-coached Hamilton/Nottingham team to continue its upwards trend. New Egypt (4-2) 000 000 1 – 1 4 1 Hamilton/Nottingham (4-20 001 220 x – 5 12 0 WP-Blackburn. LP-Bowen. 2B-Montgomery (HN), Mikayla Umansky (HN). ...read more read less