'We're both competitive.' Medway's Bedard twins play alike on baseball, softball fields

MEDWAY – No. 14 is penciled into the lineup card. A junior captain. Position: catcher. Bats: right. Throws: right. Last name: Bedard.

At a nearby diamond: same.

Another similarity: Feb. 25, 2007.

Jason and Priya Bedard are twins, but not identical. Both hate losing and are ultra-competitive. Both are meticulous when it comes to attending every practice, every game, every school day.

But Priya is more vocal, more outgoing. Jason is more conservative. He is also more ... older. By a minute, born to their mother, Rita, who drove herself to the hospital in Boca Raton, Florida, to deliver nine weeks early. The month spent in the NICU just afforded the twins more time together.

Jason plays club baseball for the Longhorns out of Holliston; Priya club softball for the Raiders out of Concord. They both do their best to guard the net: Priya is a soccer goalkeeper; Jason is a hockey defenseman.

But after school in the spring, the 17-year-olds are Medway High captains, strapping on catcher’s gear over a uniform with the number 14 on the back, in homage to their father Greg’s favorite baseball player, Hall of Famer Jim Rice.

While having a pre-practice catch on Tuesday, the twins were asked about their unique take on sibling rivalry.

“We’re both competitive,” Jason said. “We try and see who’s better at what.”

“There’s always that competitive side,” Priya said. “Like when we’re hitting together, we’re always like, ‘who can hit the most line drives in the cage.’”

Priya has hit her share. She batted .517 for the Mustangs last season and was named a Tri-Valley League First Team All-Star. The team MVP also did not commit an error.

Serving as captains is more meaningful than statistics, however.

“It means everything. It’s great,” says Jason, one of three junior captains at Medway along with Garrett O’Mara and John Farrell. “You get to be a leader for your town, for your school. I take it as serious as it can get.”

“He’s a great leader on his baseball team, so it definitely fits right,” Priya said.

His coach, Mike Coppinger, agrees.

“His toughness is a great example for his teammates,” he said.

Priya relishes the act of passing along assurance, a trait that comes with her captaincy.

“I’ve always liked, especially when I’m catcher, to lead the team,” she said. “Keep them calm. Being the director as a captain, it’s a good role. Because you know how to communicate with your teammates, make sure everybody’s attitude is in the right spot and everybody’s positive.”

“Priya is what I call a confident captain. She owns the field,” said Medway softball coach Chris Reding, “making sure her teammates know their jobs and what the situation is. More importantly, you’ll never hear Priya criticize or yell at a teammate.”

Medway’s other captains are Ava Fahey, Olivia Klaus, Katie Anderson and Nina Pacella.

Leadership roles handed down from parents

Jason and Priya were T-ball teammates long ago, both playing catcher, before diverting onto their specific diamonds. Their parents were athletes and team leaders as well. Rita, whom Greg calls “the real athlete of the family,” captained the golf team at Rutgers for two seasons and played professionally on the Futures Tour.

Greg captained the baseball team at Lincoln-Sudbury for two years and played at Rutgers for two more. The twins have a great uncle, Larry Hoskin, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and ran the Bucky Dent Baseball School for 35 years.

The twins’ parents not only passed along a love for sports, but a strong work ethic as well. Jason is a member of National Honor Society and volunteers with Challenger Baseball. Priya coaches youth softball and is a photographer for the school newspaper. Both volunteer at Medway Food Pantry.

“We've just always taught them to lead by example, work hard and be great teammates, and the results will follow,” said Greg Bedard, a longtime journalist who is the founder of Boston Sports Journal. “That's really what they've always done.”

The captains with similar positions, numbers and birthdates no longer play on the same side, but their introduction to sports – as T-ball teammates in second grade – stoked an enduring competitive fire.

“My dad put us in and I just fell in love with the sport and being part of a team,” Priya said. “It was always such a good bonding experience.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Medway's Bedard twins share baseball, softball similarities