ESPN RISE

Watching Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.) play must get confusing for spectators.

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Scott Kurtz

Taylor and Tatum Edwards have become one of the best batteries in the country.

Taylor and Tatum Edwards, twin sisters, play for the Broncos. Tatum pitches, Taylor catches and they both hit. It's a good thing they wear numbers or people would think the team was cheating.

While the seniors look the same, their personalities are different.

"I'm more of the aggressive one," said Tatum. "I'm way louder and more outspoken."

Taylor agreed and said, "Tatum is really outgoing and really loud. I can be loud if necessary, I just choose not to be."

The girls started playing softball when they were young. Their dad introduced them to the sport.

"Since T-ball when we were 4, we have been really interested in softball," said Tatum. "We have always wanted to play, have been competitive and we just never let go."

It seemed natural that the girls would want to work closely with each other throughout the game. They became a deadly pitcher-catcher combo for every team they played on.

They never had a conversation deciding who would play what position, but Tatum says she always has had a knack for pitching.

"I guess it just happened naturally. When I was a little girl, I would walk around doing a windmill motion with my arm," Tatum said. "I just always wanted to pitch and Taylor always wanted to catch."

"I don't know how it happened," Taylor added. "I think it is just because I am bigger than Tatum and because I'm close with my dad and he was a catcher."

The girls, who are also best friends, have never played on separate teams. Their chemistry allows them to work well together as the Broncos' battery.

"Most of the time Taylor doesn't even need to give a sign, we both already know what I want to throw," said Tatum.

Taylor added, "Sometimes I go out to the mound to talk to her and I don't even say anything. Then we just laugh, but she knows what I was thinking."

It turns out that they are so close, in fact, that they share much more than just softball.

"We are the closest people you'll ever meet," said Tatum. "We are always together. We even have the same friends."

"We have the same friends, same things, we have the same everything," said Taylor.

But that doesn't mean they don't compete with each other. After all, they're still sisters.

"Oh yeah, we definitely compete," said Taylor. "If Tatum does something good, I try to do something great. I always try to be better. It's like a game; sometimes I don't even realize I'm doing it!"

"We don't say it, but we can tell we are trying to one-up each other," Tatum said. "It makes us stronger because we always have someone to focus and compete with."

They will continue to compete with each other when they attend Nebraska together in the fall. The duo admits that attending different schools was never really an option.

"Since we grew up always on the same team, we never even thought of going to different colleges," said Tatum.

In the end the girls agreed to become Cornhuskers. They both said it felt the most like home.

"One day we just felt it," said Taylor. "We just looked at each other and knew."

The twins have always had one person they can always count on. For Tatum and Taylor, it has always been each other.

"I consider myself lucky to have one person I can trust and talk to about anything. I can't explain it. We have always been close and will always be close," said Tatum.

For now, they will try to win a CIF championship in their last season at Vista Murrieta.

Let's hope the umpire remembers they are twins and he isn't seeing double.

Garland Cooper covers high school softball for ESPN RISE