The twins of Paint Branch Baseball

Published on: Friday, April 09, 2010

By Philip Speake

Sometimes a cliché fits.

In all walks of sports there are teams that go through offseason conditioning, pregame meals, banquets and bus rides that bring the collection of individuals closer together. The cliché “we are a family,” is often overused when athletes get emotional talking about teammates. For the Paint Branch varsity baseball team the cliché fits.

On the roster this spring there are three sets of twins, another set of brothers born less than two years apart, and to boot their head coach Tommy Rey, has his own set of infant twins at home to take care of. Ryan and Ella Rey are both 2 ½ years old and their father hopes they are both future ballplayers. There is also the footnote, that one of the team captains senior Todd Schultz has his twin sister Emma Schultz starting at shortstop for the Paint Branch softball team.

Paint Branch will be practicing and playing all of their games this season on the road while a new high school is being built on the current athletic fields. James Hubert Blake High School has been designated as the Panthers home field. The team has seven sophomores who are never going to get to play on the home field at Paint Branch. So coach Rey promised them that the first game at their new field will be an alumni game so they can be the first ones to play on the newly christened diamond in 2013.

“Its tough but it just makes us more mentally stronger…playing everything away it’s tough to have a home field advantage,” Rey said.

With the disadvantages of playing on the road, the unique sibling situation on the team should have a positive effect according to Rey.  “It’s good because the guys, the sets of twins will all compete against each other. They all play fall league and summer league together.”

The Smith Twins

David and William Smith, born 30 seconds apart on January 5^th, 1994 have grown up playing baseball together. They began as five-year-olds and now sophomores, Will also plays football and wrestles for the Panthers. Unfortunately this will be the second straight season that he will not be in lineup with his brother. He tore his left ACL in a wrestling match this winter and just had surgery last week. “I was 14-0 before the injury and then I came back for counties and regional’s and ended my season placing 4^th in the county,” said William. Placing 4^th in the county with a partially torn ACL is quite the accomplishment.  He also had a .406 batting average as a freshman last season in baseball.

David Smith is playing his first year of varsity baseball, and he also is a three sport athlete starting at center for the junior varsity basketball team and quarterback for the junior varsity football team. William played left tackle along the offensive line and protected David’s blindside for the whole year. “I never had to worry about getting sacked or anything,” David said. In respect to baseball David is a third basemen and has to routinely make throws across the diamond to William at first base, “we know each other so well I can make a throw and I know he’ll be there.” The Smith twins are hoping to both finish their high school careers three years from now with a state championship ring.

The De Los Santos Brothers

Michael and Mariano De Los Santos, like many young men learned baseball from their father. Unique to them a stop in the Dominican Republic where they will be traveling together next summer in hopes of being scouted and getting signed to play in Santo Domingo, a city in the Dominican. Mariano still plans on returning to Paint Branch and finishing high school with the rest of the sophomore class.

Michael is the older bother and a team captain. He plays shortstop. “When we were younger I played outfield and he [Mariano] played shortstop then all of a sudden we just switched,” Michael said.

Mariano is extremely happy to be on the varsity team as a sophomore. He has started the first two games, thanks to his fielding ability.

 They built their strong arms together playing catch in a long narrow strip of land behind their home. “Its helped him with his accuracy, it’s narrow houses on end and woods on the other, so if you make a bad throw the ball is lost,” Michael said.

The De Los Santos’ father has been in contact with former major leaguer ballplayer Neifi Perez and Pittsburgh Pirates assistant coach Tony Beasley. With those contacts they were invited down to the Dominican to be scouted.  Michael hopes to eventually return to the United States and get started with a baseball career in the minors.

Mariano is also looking toward possibly joining the Navy after high school if he can’t get a baseball scholarship.

The Hunt Twins

Chase and Colby Hunt have been playing together since kindergarten. The twins, born on March 12^th, 1993 are a study in contrasts. Colby is a right-handed pitcher who also plays first base. His favorite accomplishment in baseball was in 3^rd grade when he hit a grand slam. He considers himself to be a lot different than his brother. Colby is laid back, quiet, has a 3.7 GPA and said Towson is among his top schools he wants to attend for college.  

After playing together their whole childhood, Chase decided that he wanted to go to Blake High School while Colby has been at Paint Branch since 9^th grade.  The Colby’s older sister went to Blake and Chase followed her footsteps before transferring to Arundel High School for the end of his freshman year.

Even while they were separated in terms of schools, they always remained extremely close.   “Every single one of his friends are my friends, we all hang out together. There’s not a place that he goes that I don’t go,” Chase said.

Chase won the defensive player of the year award on the junior varsity level last season playing shortstop. He was brought up to varsity for the playoff run last year and he also wrestles in the 152 pound weight class for the Panthers on the varsity squad.

“I like making great plays, diving for the ball, dive for the backhand, you know plays that you don’t really see everyday,” Chase said.

He wants to play baseball on the college level, and is hoping to get noticed this summer playing on a travel team. “If I don’t get a baseball scholarship, I’m definitely going to join the military Navy or Air Force. It’s pretty much an ingredient for success,” Chase said.

The Chase brothers have a younger brother and younger sister, who are twins as well.

The Ponafala Twins

Born August 17^th, 1994 Nick and Jeremy Ponafala like the other sets of twins have grown up playing together. “We talk a lot of trash but it is good for us,” said Jeremy.

Jeremy is back and forth between the varsity and junior varsity as a backup catcher, while Nick started on varsity as a freshman last season as the designated hitter.  They grew up playing golf, basketball and soccer along with baseball.

Golf is what they excel at in the fall season. They began playing when they were four, and they both average very close to even par. “The local tournaments we’ve come out on top in most of them,” said Nick.

They get out and play almost every day in the summer and any other chance they can get, with their favorites courses being Worthington Manor and Andrews Air Force Base Golf Course.

They are identical twins and both hope they can continue their athletic success with them to the collegiate level. In both golf and baseball the Ponafala twins are capable of many things. 

Jeremy, as an avid golfer has predicted a top 10 finish in the Masters for Tiger Woods.

The Schultz Twins

 Todd and Emma Schultz are both seniors and both team captains of the softball and baseball teams respectively. Born February 11^th 1992 these seniors don’t play on the same diamond but both represent the school extremely well.

Todd is a center fielder, with speed and a powerful arm. He has been on the varsity all four years at Paint Branch after being pulled up from junior varsity during the playoffs as a freshman.  Being a captain and with the lack of a true home field his role will be even more important. He gets more satisfaction out of seeing his teammates do great things on the field. When asked what his favorite baseball memory was, he said it was watching a teammate hit a grand slam in his only at bat of the season. “I enjoy watching other people do good,” Todd said.

For Emma, she feels like having a twin isn’t that big of a deal. Todd is her only sibling and she used to play baseball with him in little league, until she eventually moved to softball when she was 12 on a travel team.

Even more impressive than her brother she has played on varsity since she got to Paint Branch. “It’s always a competition who’s better,” said Emma, “you know the baseball team is really good, so it was more tough for him to watch me be on varsity.”

The softball teams’ home field is at Columbia Park, so she will not get to see her brother up close like in past seasons.

Emma has high hopes for the softball team this year, “were going to be pretty good, we got a great pitcher and a lot of people returning. We won our first two games by a lot.”

While Emma and Todd will be graduating there will be plenty of sets of twins remaining at Paint Branch.

“The twins aren’t really a big deal, were all like a family on this team we’ve all been together for years and years…I guess were all like twins.” Chase Hunt said.