Softball Players Learn They’re Biological Sisters During Classic

You’ll have to excuse Samantha Rensvold’s misplay of a ball in right field Friday during her team’s second game of the 12th Annual Veterans Memorial Softball Classic. Her mind, understandably, wasn’t focused on softball at the time.

Rensvold, a 2025 graduate of Polson High School, admitted to eavesdropping on a conversation taking place behind the outfield fence on Field 3. The 18-year-old had a life-changing moment less than an hour earlier, discovering she had just played against the sister she had never met.

“I had to go back out and play. I really couldn’t focus,” Rensvold, who was competing for the Army team at the Belgrade Softball Complex, said. “I was in right field and while they were telling her I was her sister, and she was sitting outside the fence in right field.”

“She missed the ball because she was tuning in on the conversation,” Hayley Hernandez, a teammate on the Army, interjected.

“I missed the ball, but it was OK,” said Rensvold.

While Rensvold was chasing down the ball, Huntley Project’s Kyann Dean was being informed by her parents that Rensvold was her biological sister. It soon became the talk of the tournament and Hernandez was instrumental in creating this stunning revelation.

Dean and Hernandez are teammates at Huntley Project, and they were slated to play with Rensvold on the Coast Guard at last year’s tournament. But Dean was unable to attend the event.

Hernandez was struck by the resemblance they shared, but when Dean and Rensvold looked at photos of each other neither agreed. Still, knowing that Dean had been adopted, she pried Rensvold for a little more information during the Army’s opening game of the tournament.

“I told her you look a lot like my friend Kyann. They both pitch, they both have like the same mechanics, the same everything, just how they play,” said Hernandez. “And then we got here today, and I seen Kyann and her on the field together when they were warming up and I was like, ‘There’s no way these two aren’t (related).’

“So this morning in the dugout I was like I should just ask. So I asked Sam, ‘Are you adopted?’” That’s when the pieces began to fall into place. Like Dean, Rensvold had been born and adopted in Great Falls. Both girls knew they had a sister out there somewhere, but little more.

“They (my parents) always told me I had a sister,” said Rensvold. “I didn’t know her name, I didn’t know where she lived. I knew she was in Montana but that’s all I knew.”

Rensvold spoke to her mom about it following Hernandez’s questioning, and she in turn spoke with Dean’s mother. They realized the details matched up and after the Air Force, Dean’s team, defeated the Army, she was hanging out behind right field when her mom broke the news.

“My mom came over and she said I need to tell you something. And I thought I was in trouble or something because it was urgent,” Dean said. “She told me, and I couldn’t believe it. I never thought this day would come where I would meet my actual sibling. It was just crazy, I’m speechless.”

During Friday evening’s opening ceremonies, the trio were asked to come to the pitcher’s circle and tournament organizer Jim Matter Jr. informed the crowd of the heartwarming union. Afterwards, in the first base dugout on Field 4, they spoke about a whirlwind day.

“I’m just really shocked. It’s just so special that it’s during softball too,” said Rensvold. “I think it’s crazy, and I don’t know, honestly, I’m speechless about it. I feels so weird, especially playing against her the first game.”

Hernandez noted the similarities between the two, who each wore the No. 1 for their respective teams at the tournament. Their mannerisms, the same laugh, the same facial features, it was hard to miss.

“I was just like watching her,” Dean said. “And I could just see, like, it was me.”

“Every time I look at her, I just feel like it’s me,” added Rensvold. “I’m looking in a mirror.”

In addition to softball, the sisters are volleyball players. Ironically, they’re both outside hitters.

Dean and Rensvold also have a younger brother, Case, who Rensvold has already connected with. The girls hope to plan a meet and greet with him soon.

“I never imagined this day,” said Dean. “My mom was telling me she thought it would be when I’m like 30 and I’m 17.”

How are their parents handling it? “They’re getting along really well,” Rensvold said. “Our dads are like best friends.”

Although they live across the state from each other, both said they plan to remain in contact and get to know each other better. Rensvold is headed to Spokane Community College to continue playing softball, while Dean is a senior this fall at Huntley Project.

(Editor’s Note: This article is reprinted by permission.)

Rensvold

Samantha Rensvold readies for a pitch Friday during Army’s tournament opening game against the Air Force.

(Photo by Dan Chesnet/ Belgrade News)