Every successful pitcher-catcher tandem forms a bond, some sort of connection that allows them to know what the other is thinking.

Few, though, are as close as the ones in Warren County.

Three fast-pitch softball teams – Warren Central, Vicksburg High and St. Aloysius – have sisters pitching to and catching for each other. And in all three cases an older sister is mentoring a younger one.

“It’s kind of weird, but it’s a neat thing,” said Vicksburg catcher Heather Shelby, a junior who is catching her eighth-grade sister, Kristi. “It’s helped. It kind of takes the pressure off, because I can talk to her and pick at her. It helps me relax.”

Warren Central’s Brittany and Mandy Fuller, as well as St. Al’s Mary Myers and Sarah Franco, are also part of family affairs on area fields this season.

The sister sets play together not only on their high-school teams, but on tournament teams and at home. And, like all families, each set has its quirks.

The Francos, for example, concede a bit of hectoring. Mary Myers Franco, 17, a junior catcher for St. Al, will often yell at her younger sister if a pitch is off the mark. It sometimes leads to squabbles on the field that are quickly forgotten once they step off it.

“She yells at me too, but I yell at her mostly,” said Sarah Franco, a 13-year-old eighth-grader who has pitched two no-hitters this season. “When we have our words, Coach (Gene) Rogillio calls us to the mound and we laugh it off. We leave it here.”

While the Francos motivate each other with a fiery attitude, the Shelbys lean more toward the warm and fuzzy side.

Heather was an infielder for the Missy Gators for several years before moving behind the plate this season. A primary reason for the move, she said, was to help Kristi develop as a pitcher.

“We didn’t have a catcher, and I didn’t want to leave her out there with no one. I wanted her to relax,” Heather Shelby, 17, said.

Part of Heather’s relaxation method involves singing songs to her younger sister during tight games. It calms Kristi down and helps her focus on the task at hand.

“She sings to me. If I’m in the worst mood, she sings everything you can think of,” Kristi Shelby, 13, said. “It helps me a lot. When I pitch to some of the other catchers, I get frustrated and they can’t pull me up like Heather can.”

Although Heather is quick to sing a song or offer an encouraging word, she’s not about to clean up Kristi’s mistakes. When the two are practicing, it’s Kristi’s responsibility to track down any wild pitches.

“When I’m pitching, if it gets by her and it’s my fault she makes me go get the ball,” Kristi said. “She won’t move from her spot.”

It’s the same routine for the Fullers, although Brittany has added motivation for keeping her pitches under control. The family’s front yard sits along U.S. 80, while the back yard has weeds, brush and barbed wire fences.

The location has led to some adventures and close calls – like the time an errant throw nearly hit an oncoming car – but has also generated a fan following.

“All these people are going by honking their horns when we’re out there,” laughed Brittany Fuller, an 18-year-old senior.

Mandy laughs and adds that there’s plenty of opportunity to see the Fuller sisters practice.

“When aren’t we out there?” Mandy Fuller jokingly asked Brittany. “I’m always outside with the catching gear on. Sometimes our dad will come home and catch us inside the house, and we’ll run out back and start throwing and say we were out there for hours.”

As with the other sets of sisters, Brittany has helped the younger Mandy, 13, an eighth-grade catcher, develop as a softball player. The three Fuller sisters – another Fuller, 15-year-old freshman Tiffany, is an outfielder for WC – tease each other constantly but are also quick to highlight their positive attributes and give a lift when needed.

“I look up to them a little bit, because Tiffany is such a natural outfielder that it makes me sick, and Mandy has a stronger arm than I do. We all do different things better than the other,” Brittany Fuller said, shifting gears moments later to joke about keeping her catcher in line. “Mostly I just yell at her … She knows when she does wrong, so I don’t have to worry about it too much. I’m always trying to pick her up, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

The parents of the girls are Denise and Tony Franco, Sherri and William Shelby and Liz and Rhea Fuller, all of Vicksburg.