Competitive spirit between Brewster twins help make Bishop Carroll softball a winner
There aren’t many high school softball players in Kansas who are able to hit Bishop Carroll ace Kadence Brewster when she’s in the circle.
Perhaps the only player capable of routinely doing it is actually on her own team. It’s her twin sister, Kiley, who is having plenty of success hitting off other pitchers too, as her .622 batting average might indicate.
The twins have always been their own battery: Kadence the pitcher and Kiley the catcher. So what may seem unhittable to others — Kadence has allowed just one run in 23 innings with 43 strikeouts — is totally predictable to her twin sister.
“I’ve caught her my whole life, so I can tell what pitch it’s going to be as soon as it leaves her hand,” Kiley Brewster said.
“She has been my biggest advantage (when she catches for me),” Kadence Brewster said. “But she can definitely read my pitches out of my hand.”
The girls joke that they have twin telepathy. Their father says that certainly seems to be the case whenever Kiley is up to bat against Kadence on the rare occasion they are split up on different teams at summer camps.
“That’s the worst for me and their mom,” Josh Brewster said, laughing. “Kiley already knows the pitch before Kadence even throws it. It’s like, ‘Welp, she’s getting a hit.’”
It’s a competitive rivalry between the siblings, both juniors at Carroll, that can sometimes become heated, but always ends in love.
The competitive streak between the girls has only benefited Carroll, which is 12-0, outscoring opponents 167-10, and winners of a record 107 straight City League games and counting entering Thursday’s doubleheader against Heights.
“If she ever hits a home run, then I want to hit one too,” Kiley Brewster said. “We’re both very competitive that way. Both of us always want to be the better twin.”
If one twin leads off with a single, the other twin wants a double. If one twin hits a solo home run, the other twin wants to hit a two-run home run.
The end result of them trying to one-up each other has been both Brewster sisters becoming lethal bats in Carroll’s lineup. Kiley (.622 average) barely has Kadence (.583 average) edged in hitting percentage, while Kadence (four) has one more home run than Kiley. Both are tied for the team lead with 25 runs batted in and 13 extra-base hits.
“They’re both just such great competitors,” Carroll coach Steve Harshberger said. “They have such high standards. They don’t throw the ball away. They don’t waste at bats. They’re always locked in. I never have to worry about them.”
That’s because both girls have grown up around the game of softball their entire lives. The running joke in the family is that they were raised on a softball field.
After all, that’s where their father, Josh, met their mother, Michelle, who was a successful pitcher herself. When the twins were born, the parents would bring them to the softball fields in strollers with play pens ready to go. By the age of four, the twins were already playing the sport themselves.
Josh and Michelle were their coaches throughout childhood. Whenever they needed batting practice, one of the parents were always available to throw. Whenever they needed a ride to practice or a weekend tournament in the summer playing for the Oklahoma Athletics, their parents were always there.
“We’re just so proud of them as parents because we know all of the hard work they’ve been putting in over the years is starting to show and people are starting to see what they can do,” Josh Brewster said. “They are getting better and better and they’re growing and they’re finally getting the recognition that they deserve because they’ve worked their butts off for this.”
With Kadence’s command in the circle better than ever and both twins mashing at the plate, combined with bats like Kendall Forbes, Kaylee Back, Gabby Eck, Mereith Robinson, Anna Stephen, Eve Morris and Emma Green, Carroll looks like a favorite to once again return to the Class 5A championship game.
After losing in the 2019 title game, many of the juniors and seniors on the current team, the Brewster twins included, are motivated to bring home the program’s first championship since 2015.
“I’ve played with most of these girls my whole life,” Kadence Brewster said. “It’s been such a blast. I love all of the girls and we are so ready for this year. Our goal is definitely to go undefeated and then make it back to the state championship game and have a different turnout this time around.”
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