How Spokane Colleges’ Samantha Rensvold found her long lost sister on the softball field

Someone in Samantha Rensvold’s dugout said it first. An infielder from the other team looked too much like her.

“Almost like a mirror,” she said.

What began as a casual observation from a teammate during a Montana high school softball tournament last summer stayed with Rensvold.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘That is genuinely how I think I look when I play,’ ” Rensvold said of the other player. “It was just crazy to look at.”

It wasn’t a coincidence. The player across the field was Rensvold’s biological sister, though she didn’t know it yet.

Answers about the resemblance came afterward. Rensvold told her mom about the conversation in the dugout and mentioned the opposing player’s name, Kyann Dean. Her mom immediately recognized it.

“She was like, ‘That’s definitely your sister, because that’s the name they gave her at birth,’ ” Rensvold said.

The sisters were adopted by separate families in Great Falls and Rensvold always knew she had a sister “out there somewhere.” They also share a younger brother, whom Rensvold has already met.

Nearly a year later, Rensvold is finishing her freshman season at Spokane Colleges.

The Polson, Montana, native is the team’s No. 2 starter, posting a 9-4 record with 49 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched.

When she’s not pitching, she’s often at shortstop – a position she was asked to take on early in the season after a teammate suffered a knee injury. She’s hitting .317 at the plate with two home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Spokane Colleges is 31-13 overall and 30-10 in Northwest Athletic Conference play and earned the East Region championship for the first time since 2015.

“It’s definitely gone a lot faster than I thought it would,” Rensvold said. “I’m having so much fun with this team. The team chemistry is better than any team I’ve ever been on. It feels like all these girls are my best friends.”

For now, Rensvold’s focus is on the NWAC Tournament in Portland. Spokane plays Thursday.

“She’s done nothing but work her tail off,” said head coach Terry McIntyre. “She’s made every adjustment we’ve asked her to make.”

That adaptability traces back to when McIntyre was first evaluating Rensvold as a recruit. It wasn’t a dominant outing that stood out, but a difficult one. After a night of volleyball and little rest, Rensvold arrived at a morning tournament in Pasco and struggled in the circle. But that wasn’t what stuck with her coach.

“Everything was going against her, and for me, as a college coach, that’s the girl I want to watch,” McIntyre said. “I want to watch them when they’re struggling or when they’re failing. That’s when I’m going to see the true player.”

McIntyre said Rensvold arrived with raw athleticism, but had “some things she needed to correct and work on.” Spokane’s staff reshaped some of her pitching mechanics.

“She doesn’t get up or down,” McIntyre said. “She has a really great demeanor about the game, and it’s almost like she’s always studying what’s going on, and it’s just made her a phenomenal player.”

“I wish I had 20 of her, to be honest,” McIntyre added.

Off the field, Rensvold still keeps in touch with her younger sister and recently spent time with Dean and her family when they visited town to tour Spokane Colleges. She had planned to go back to Montana the day before, but chose to stay to meet them, saying it was an important decision.

The experience has also changed her.

“I used to be kind of shy, but then I had to meet my sister, which was kind of awkward, almost like, ‘How are you supposed to go about that?’ ” Rensvold said. “So after being able to navigate that, I feel more outgoing in a way, knowing that I can make those connections.”

Softball, she said, made the moment even more meaningful.

“Having someone with your blood, like, that’s supposed to be your best friend in life,” she said. “And honestly, I think it was the perfect setting to meet her, because we were both doing something that we love.”