Ari and Andi Jarvis play for the OC Batbusters-Briggs 18U team as a pitcher-catcher battery and were recruited by universities across the country before making their commitment this past weekend. You may know Andi from her video blogs for us including her first “A Day in the Life of a Softballer” clip. In this write-up, Andi details how they came to make their college decision final…

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My twin sister and I have been recruited on some level or another by colleges since about the time we were 14 years old and at 14 we weren’t planning on making any hasty decisions because we knew that we were too young to really know what we wanted.

Thankfully, our family has always said “Play for the love of the game, not for the scholarship,” and so that’s exactly what we have lived and played for—the passion of our sport.

Today we are 16 years old halfway thru our junior year in high school. We have been on numerous campus visits to different schools and received several offers throughout the past few years. Some offers for us to go together, and some apart.

However, neither Ari or I had ever felt “that feeling” about a school. The one that tells your inner voice “this is it.”

So of course, we knew we wouldn’t be comfortable accepting offers from a place we wouldn’t be happy. So many had told us that when you know what you want, you just know. That there’s this sixth sense you get at a place when you know you want to go to school and play softball there. Well, through patience and hard work, we have finally found our home.

It kind of started this past summer, when Ari and I were on two separate teams yet both still playing for Mike Stith‘s Team Mizuno. That is when we truly knew we wanted to go to college together. We were playing in New Jersey, at the New Jersey Summer Classic and the University of Maryland saw Ari pitch and started watching her.

Coach Amber Jackson was the one who discovered her, but neither she nor the other coaches knew that she had a twin sister who was a catcher. Then, I’m pretty sure Coach Jackson saw me playing later that same week or in Colorado at the Louisville boulder tournament, and realized that not only were we twins, but a pitcher and catcher, the perfect combo kind of twins!

And after that is when the twin recruiting began. It took several months of phone communications and a few visits to more of our games by Coach Jackson, until recently when we were offered generous scholarships for both of us to play for Maryland.

Although we were still in no rush to commit, we felt we were at a better time and age to make a decision now than two years ago. And having spent a lot of time researching Maryland (UMD), the amazing education we know we’d receive, the determined coaching staff, and impressive level of competition the softball program has, we had a feeling that this would be a good place for us.

Ari is very interested in Criminology and I am interested in Journalism. We discovered UMD has top programs in both areas and the location for internships is perfect.

And of course there was the bonus: Maryland moving into the Big 10 conference next year, the extra incentive of additional competition and facing some of our former and current teammates, such as Brianna Betchel (Ohio State), Taylor Swearingen (Michigan), and Paulina Anasis (Northwestern),

We thought, hmmm, how could we go wrong? And the double, double bonus of now knowing where our hearts lie as far as being together or apart. We have been given an opportunity to play together, pitching and catching—our dream, often lost in the recruiting process.

With excitement and anxiousness, we jumped on finding convenient dates to fly to Maryland for an unofficial visit to the campus. This past Thursday, the 12th of December, we arrived with our mom.

We immediately fell in love with the area, the people, the campus, and yes, even the 20 degree weather. Friday morning we met with Coach Jill Calloway for a campus tour. Coach Jill is absolutely wonderful. She has so much spirit and enthusiasm that she leaves a spark of joy wherever she goes, and she made us feel welcome from the first minute we met her. As a UMD alumni she knew so much about the school’s history and tradition. Not to mention the oh-so-wonderful pride and tradition that engulfs the campus and surrounding areas. It was everything we had ever hoped for. As Ari and I walked around campus, we began talking. We looked at each other and “just knew” that the University of Maryland was the place for us hands down.

Friday afternoon we met with Coach Laura Watten and Shannon Bustillos, a junior on the Terrapin softball team. What’s funny is Shannon has played for Mike Stith as well and she attended Canyon High School, which is in the Century League—the same league that our high school, Foothill High School, is in.

So we had a lot in common and so much to talk about. Coach Jackson who is credited for finding us, was not there this weekend, but left us in very capable hands as Coach Watten and Coach Calloway were amazing, just like Coach Jackson has been. They are both very nice, but with drive and discipline as well, which we love.

On Friday night my sister and I were able to hang out with the team and we couldn’t have enjoyed them more. They were all so welcoming and funny, and we felt like we were already home. Many of the girls are from California as well–even better!

We finally got that sixth sense people talk about and there was nothing like it. I remember the exact answer we gave my mom when she asked how we knew. We said, “Mom, we know because when we walk around campus, we don’t feel homesick and we don’t want to leave. We just know.”

Saturday was the big day, we knew we were ready. We talked to our parents who gave us their blessing. Then about 11:30 my sister, my mom, and I met with Coach Watten.

We were excited, our time had arrived and we knew it was right so we did it, we committed! The long-awaited decision had been made and we are thrilled.

After verbally committing to Coach Watten to be Terrapins and telling her that we wanted nothing more than to be a part of this amazing school and unbelievable softball program they have developed, tears instantly began forming in my mom’s eyes out of pure joy. She claims she cried because of how proud she is of us, but we’re pretty sure she’s just glad to know we’ll be 3000 miles away!

To celebrate, the team took us to the basketball game at the Comcast Center where Maryland played Florida Atlantic and won. My sister and dad, who were at home, saw us on TV and we ended the perfect weekend with a few hours of relaxation with our future teammates before heading back to California.

So it’s official, on Saturday, December 14th, 2013, the two softballers previously known as the Twin Towers (Ari and I) verbally committed to the University of Maryland.

We are blessed and honored to have such a great future home and are proud that we will be known as “Twin Terrapins.” Dreams really do come true… just wait, because like us, you will see.

— Andi Jarvis