“I honestly didn’t really realize that I was even getting close to it until a game or two before my parents had mentioned it, and then I’m like, ‘That would be really cool to break especially as a junior,’” Reese Wells said. “I was just confident in myself. And when I did break it, my teammates came up, they gave me hugs, and I was just very appreciative of my team and my catcher, which is my sister, and it was a very exciting and happy moment.”
The Wells twins have played softball together since they were 8 years old on Springfield Heat. The moment they shared together and with their Trojans teammates on April 1 represented a distinct highlight in their softball careers.
“I think it was awesome. It was a really big thing for her,” Kaylee Wells said. “I knew that well obviously she’s not finished with the records, but I knew that she really deserves it and it was her time to be recognized, and I didn’t want to take it away. And I was just proud of her.”
Southeastern coach Kaitlyn Blair helped out with the Strike Zone Phillies 10U travel team where she met the Wells sisters during one season. She noticed their knack for softball early.
“They had a very strong foundation, good fundamentals of softball,” Blair said. “The year after that they went to a different team, and they just flourished after that. They were very dedicated to the game. They were very committed to play at a high level, even at that age.”
Reese Wells was named Ohio Heritage Conference Player of the Year in the South Division in 2024. She currently leads the OHC with 130 strikeouts and 10 wins, and her 0.79 ERA through 71 innings is second.
Pitching “has changed me into the person I am today,” Reese Wells said. That’s something Kaylee Wells began taking note of when catching her sister each time they step on the diamond together.
“She always has that fight in her, like you can just tell by the way she stands on the mound, she’s just ready to go, focused and she wants to win,” Kaylee Wells said. “I think she’s a really big part of our team, not just because she’s our pitcher, but because she knows a lot about the game and she’s willing to pass that on to some girls who don’t know as much, and I think that’s really awesome.”
Kaylee Wells is fourth in the OHC with a .618 batting average this season. She set Southeastern’s single-season doubles record with 19 in 2023.
“She’s always really focused and she always has a positive attitude and picks everybody up,” Reese Wells said. “I know that when she’s catching, we kind of have like a similar mindset like for what pitches we want to call. She knows me very well, and she’s a good leader on the high school team.”
The Wells sisters committed in early April to West Liberty University, a Division II softball program in West Virginia.
Southeastern captured its 11th-consecutive win Thursday against Waynesville, and the Trojans are atop the OHC South Division after beginning the season 0-2. The sisters’ focus remains on trying “to help my team out as much as possible,” Kaylee Wells said, with plenty of softball left for the two to continue building their legacies together.
“I think what’s really cool also is that Reese and I can continue playing together,” Kaylee Wells said. “That was something that we have always been looking into. Like, are we going to go to school together? Are we going to split up? I mean, it’s obviously easier on our parents that we went together, but I just think that since we are such a pretty good duo together, I feel like it’s going to be really neat for us to go on to the next level to play.”
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