A softball game turned into an extraordinary family reunion.
A Montana high school softball player discovered her long-lost sister after facing her on the opposing team—when a teammate noticed the striking resemblance between the two athletes.
Samantha Rensvold, 19, was competing in a tournament in Belgrade, Montana, last August when one of her teammates spotted Kyann Dean, 18, playing for the other team.
Rensvold, who was adopted, had always known she had a younger biological sister. But because the adoption was closed, she had no idea where her sister lived or what she looked like.
“I hadn’t seen her close up yet when my teammate was pointing her out to me,” Rensvold told People on Sept. 30.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way that this would happen to me right now,’” she recalled.
Rensvold did not speak to Dean immediately after the game because she was unsure whether they were actually related. After telling her mother about the resemblance, however, they checked the tournament roster and found Dean’s name.
“My mom knew that that’s what my birth mom named her,” Rensvold said. “So my mom was like, ‘That has to be your sister. That’s not a coincidence.’”
Rensvold’s mother then approached Dean’s family at the tournament. The families compared the name of the girls’ biological mother and the hospital where they were born—and both details matched.
When the sisters finally met on the softball field, they shook hands in disbelief before breaking into laughter.
“There’s a girl on my all-state team who looks just like you,” Rensvold’s teammate said in a clip obtained by Inside Edition on Tuesday.
“We were just freaking out. We were in tears. It was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Rensvold’s mother told the outlet. Inside Edition compared the surprise reunion to the 1998 film “The Parent Trap,” starring Lindsay Lohan.
In the movie, Lohan portrays twin sisters who meet unexpectedly at an all-girls summer camp and realize they look remarkably alike.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Rebel Force Opposed to Putin Secures Second Village in Russia Within Two Days Following Declaration to Advance Towards Moscow – NewsFinale
Rensvold and Dean were thrilled to find each other, though Rensvold said the reality of the moment took time to sink in.
“It’s like we didn’t know what to feel because you’ve waited your whole lives for this moment,” Rensvold told People.
The sisters have not taken a DNA test. Both were adopted as babies by separate families in Great Falls, Montana.
Rensvold was raised in Polson, in the state’s northwest, while Dean grew up about 400 miles away in Worden.
Rensvold said their biological parents were 19 and 17 years old when she was born.
“I’ve always just assumed that they were too young and they wanted to give me a better life that maybe they couldn’t give me,” she said. “What I don’t know is why they had two more [children] and then gave them both up for adoption.”
Under Montana law, adoption proceedings are confidential and automatically sealed. According to the Adoptee Rights Law Center, those records can be unsealed or released only through a specific court order.
Rensvold and Dean have since discovered several similarities beyond their appearance. Both played volleyball in high school, both wore No. 6 and both played the same position.
They also have the same “little giggle,” Rensvold said.
Rensvold now attends Spokane College in Washington state, where she appeared in 26 softball games and started 13, recording 11 wins and five losses during her freshman year.
Dean attends college in North Dakota and recently visited Rensvold and her family at Spokane.
“When I would talk to people about my situation with my biological family, I’d always have to explain ‘I have a sister,’” Rensvold said.
“But now it’s so nice to be able to put a face to her and to meet her, hang out with her. It doesn’t leave any doubt or wonder in my mind,” she added.