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Siblings set to split up after careers at PHCC

After helping each other thrive, Cassie and Ryan Pearson will head to NAIA schools to play softball and baseball.

By DAWN REISS
Published May 26, 2006

CRYSTAL RIVER - Sometimes it takes two. For Crystal River's Cassie and Ryan Pearson, living together helped their careers at Pasco-Hernando Community College.

Now the 2004 graduates are going on to four-year NAIA programs. Ryan will play baseball at Southern Polytechnic in Marietta, Ga., after batting .341 this season. Cassie will play softball at Webber International after posting a 1.85 ERA.

Despite what many people believe, 16 months separate them. Ryan is 21. Cassie is nearly 20.

"We used to get asked all the time if we're twins," Cassie said. "We got so sick of it, we started telling people we were."

Going to school together wasn't the original plan. Cassie was the Times All-Citrus-Hernando Player of the Year after a 16-6 season with 13 shutouts, 190 strikeouts and an 0.39 ERA. She signed with Division II Young Harris in Georgia while Ryan kept looking.

He broke his left wrist early in his senior season, which forced him to sit out for seven weeks. He rehabilitated and took over the No.4 spot in the batting order just before the playoffs and hit a seventh-inning home run in Crystal River's Class 4A, District 9 title win. Later, he signed with PHCC.

Cassie, meanwhile, didn't like being far away from home.

"I just missed home. I'm a Florida girl," she said. "It was getting cold there. My parents liked to come watch me play, but it was hard because they were so far away."

So she transferred to PHCC during Christmas break. She didn't live with her brother then, but just being on the same campus and being able to talk to a familiar face helped.

"I was nervous at first," Cassie said. "But I felt more comfortable with him there. He showed me around. And a lot of the girls on the softball team knew my brother, so it was easy."

While Cassie became a consistent pitcher, things weren't going well for Ryan. The injury and missed time caught up with him. His confidence and mental approach dipped, and he hit .214. "I thought I was going to be this big power hitter, but I forgot some of the basic mechanics," Ryan said. "Sometimes you have to go back to square one. Step in the box, look out and just visualize things. It's a failing game, and you're going to fail."

As their sophomore years approached, Ryan and Cassie decided it might be best to live together.

"I wasn't sure about it at first," their mother, Cathy, said, joking. "I thought by Christmas time they might say, "This is it. I've had it."'

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment gave them enough space. Ryan was the "neat freak" and would remind Cassie to vacuum the carpet. Cassie would jaw at him about all-nighters of playing Halo on Xbox. Though talking about dates was off-limits.

Both say the relationship worked because they aren't afraid to tell each other what they think.

"We're reallly close," Cassie said. "We lived with each other for 18 years, why not one more year?"

"It also keeps us both in check," Ryan said, joking, "because you know if you're doing something wrong, you're going to get tattled on."

Or talk about strategy.

Ryan would ask Cassie what she was thinking on the mound. When he'd go up to bat, Ryan said he'd think about what he would throw if he was the pitcher.

"Me and my sister have always told it like it is," Ryan said. "And that's only helped our game."

"Because if I was hitting (badly), she'll tell me. She doesn't sugarcoat anything."

It worked. Ryan hit .375 during the conference tournament.

"In high school, you've only got 25 games. So if you go 0-for-3, 0-for-3 two games in a row, your season is done," Ryan said. "When you play 55 games and your season is not made in two games, it's a marathon; a long process where you can slump and just come out of it and have a new season just like that."

Both found success. Although Ryan didn't become the power hitter he had hoped, he hit more consistently. As PHCC's top pitcher, Cassie went 14-8 with 97 strikeouts and 58 walks in 159 innings. Although they are going on to different schools, they will still share the same college colors next year: green and white.

[Last modified May 26, 2006, 00:50:07]