CHERRY TWP — Talk about your long-lasting batteries.

Seniors Courtney Stewart and Abby Rottman have been the starting pitcher and catcher at Moniteau for the past four seasons. They've handled those same roles for the Silver Creek travel team, based out of Bessemer, for a couple of years.

“There's a definite comfort zone when I throw to her,” Stewart said.

“I know exactly where her pitches are going and what she's throwing,” Rottman stated.

That battery may be humming along for a few more years yet.

Stewart and Rottman are looking into the possibility of playing softball together at Slippery Rock University. Stewart wants to go into pre-law, Rottman wants to go into safety management.

“Nothing is confirmed yet, but we're hopeful,” Stewart said. “It'd be awesome if we wound up being pitcher and catcher there as well.”

Why not?

That tandem has been working just fine at Moniteau.

Besides serving as the Warriors' battery, Stewart and Rottman hit second and third in Moniteau's batting order. Through the season's first 13 games, they combined for 52 hits, 51 runs and 47 RBI.

“Those two came into the program as freshmen a year after we graduated a bunch of seniors,” Moniteau softball coach Bob Rottman said. “They were thrust into the spotlight right away.

“They've just gotten better year after year. With (shortstop) Taylor Shultz batting first, our first three hitters have done an incredible job for us this year. We score two or three runs in the first inning pretty often.”

Stewart has been playing softball since she was 8. Rottman didn't start playing softball until age 13. She was a baseball player until then.

Rottman was a pitcher, shortstop and catcher during her baseball years.

“Thinking back, I pitched more than I did anything else,” she said.

“That's probably where that cannon arm came from,” Stewart said, referencing her catcher's strong arm from behind the plate.

Once she switched sports, it took some adjustment time for Rottman in terms of hitting.

“Baseball and softball are the same in a lot of ways, but the swing is totally different,” Rottman said. “My baseball swing was an upper-cut. In softball, you have to swing level. It took me a year or two to get that level swing consistently.”

Rest assured, she's gotten it down.

Rottman is hitting .604 this season with 10 doubles, three triples and a pair of homers. Stewart is batting .565 with six doubles, a triple and four homers.

“They work well together,” Coach Rottman said. “Nothing seems to rattle them.”

Maybe that's because they're always together.

“Yeah, we hang out,” Stewart said. “It feels like we've been playing ball together forever.

“We grew up together. We've been friends since we were little kids.”

Stewart has 96 strikeouts in 63.1 innings pitched this year. She is among the district leader in strikeouts.

Rottman isn't surprised.

“Courtney is pretty easy to catch,” she said. “She hits her spots — and her pitches are noticeably quicker.”

Stewart said her fastball has hit 60 miles per hour this season and averages around 58. That's quite a jump from 53, which is what she averaged as a sophomore pitcher.

The players' junior year, of course, was lost to COVID-19.

“When we didn't have a season last year and had a bit of a quarantine (last fall), we decided to work out at every opportunity, to not take a single day for granted,” Stewart said.

“We entered this year determined to make evertry game count because we didn't know for sure how many games we were gonna have.”