In Hannah Hamilton, Muskogee softball coach Keith Coleman knew he had a player in the making last season.

The 2007 Newcomer of the Year made a splash as a first baseman with a .515 batting average and 18 extra-base hits, 11 of which were triples.

Moving to rover this season, Hamilton shucked not only a position but also the newcomer label and didn’t surprise anyone as she further elevated her game, hitting .606 and doubling her extra-base hits with 35 (16 doubles, 13 triples and six home runs). Her effort netted her the Most Valuable Player tag on the All-Phoenix slowpitch softball team.

“She’s a gifted athlete with great speed,” Coleman said of her leadoff batter and rover. “We moved her from first base to Courtney Lee’s position at rover after Lee graduated. Courtney was a great outfielder and those were tough shoes to fill. But she’s got an excellent glove and like I said, great speed.

“That speed helps produce a lot of her extra-base hits. The college coaches I’ve talked to about her, even though this is slowpitch, they look at what girls can do with how they generate power, what kind of defense they play and their baserunning ability. She’s got both fastpitch and slowpitch experience. I have no doubt she’s got a great future in this sport, be it slowpitch or in college with fastpitch.”

Hamilton played first base in fastpitch. That brand of softball is her long-term playing goal, thinking of her college years.

“I just want to keep working and developing as a player,” she said.

Winning the MVP excited her. She emerged from a tightly contested race that included teammate Alyssa Wagner, a pitcher who hit 16 home runs and was walked intentionally 38 times, and last year’s MVP, Tahlequah’s Shelbi Bowin.

“Actually, I kept bugging coach about it — was it in, was it in, have you heard,” she said. “He finally told me I made it. It was great that two of us from the same team were in the running. I’d have been just as happy for Alyssa. Had it not been me, I wish it would have been her. She had a super year.”

Maybe Lindsey Hammer will follow in Hamilton’s shoes. The Sequoyah sophomore who played only scant innings last season was voted this year’s top newcomer.

“It was like the majors where a kid doesn’t get the at-bats to relinquish his rookie status,” Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg said. “She just wasn’t developed. She couldn’t hit — literally, she’d miss the pitch. But she worked at it and became a very good hitter this year.”

Hammer hit .525 with a slugging percentage of 1.213, 42 hits, 36 RBIs, 13 doubles and 10 home runs. She’s joined on the team by her older sister, Lorin Hammer.

“She made me compete,” Lindsey said of her sister. “We compete in everything, but she pushed me to be better. We had our own home run contest all season. She barely beat me.”

Lorin Hammer hit 11.

“Hannah and Lorin were excellent players on good teams,” said Tahlequah coach Ronnie Rogers, who was voted the team’s Coach of the Year for helping the Lady Tigers to the 6A finals where they lost to Moore.