July 21, 2007 - Valley Central twins now shine on pro softball tour / By: Kevin Gleason
Valley Central twins now shine on pro softball tour
July 21, 2007
They live apart now, barely, and one is even married. But Brandey and Courtney Weed are pretty much the same inseparable happy-go-lucky softball-playing twin sisters who demolished Section 9 pitching for Valley Central High.
They still hang out together, still smile and laugh a lot, maybe more than ever. They're a reminder that life is supposed to be fun, not a daily crawl through drudgery. Courtney even points out one night that they feel like the luckiest girls — oops, women — in the world. They are 25 years old and playing professional softball.
The Weeds are in their second year of touring with the 22-player PFX Pro Fastpitch X-Treme softball tour. The tour has a half-dozen Olympians, including pitching legend Lisa Fernandez, and runs through summer and part of the fall.
Its main objectives are to showcase and grow a sport that was dropped from the Olympics as of 2012. But the twins are confident softball can build a rock-solid league and a national/international following in the near future.
"I'm 100 percent positive that that's where we are headed,'' Courtney said.
Brandey Weed, married on Sept. 29, has made softball a vocation and an avocation. She runs a softball/baseball facility near her Central New Jersey home of Groveville, barely a 15-minute drive from Courtney in Morrisville, Pa. The tour will stop in Newtown, Pa., on Aug. 10-12. and Syracuse Sept. 7-9.
"I think it gives young girls hope to know they can go on and play after college,'' says Courtney, who played with Brandey at Rider College. Courtney works for Merrill Lynch and helps Brandey at the facility. "It's kind of like a show, but it's also competitive.''
The tour splits into two teams for scrimmages, and players have clinics and autograph sessions. And yes, both sisters have dug in against Fernandez, the Roger Clemens of women's softball, going hitless while putting the ball in play in their only at-bat. Brandey and Courtney both got a hit off Dana Sorensen, who consistently taps 72 mph on the gun, a tad faster than Fernandez.
"This is what we've always wanted to do,'' Courtney says of playing softball. "Did we ever know there was a chance of that? No. Do we feel like the luckiest people in the world? Yes! This is the most amazing experience of my life.''
It doesn't matter that they barely break even financially. They receive a base pay, but foot the bill for food, flights and lodging. They are playing the game they love — together.
"I've seen twins that are really close and twins that aren't,'' Brandey says. "We were just always twins who helped each other in any way possible. We respect each other.''
Just recently their grandmother was telling about how the twins, at only a couple months old, would lie next to each other. One would circle the other until their hands met, and then they would fall asleep.
You can almost see Brandey smile at the other end of the phone. Asked who's older, she says Courtney, by 31 minutes. "So,'' Brandey points out, "she's going to turn 30 first.''
When the day comes, the girls — oops, women — surely will celebrate. Together.
Kevin Gleason's column appears weekly. He can be reached at 346-3193, or via e-mail at kgleason@th-record.com.
