Through almost every step of their baseball and softball journeys, Mason and Teagan McCue have been no more than a diamond away. Whether it was in T-Ball or at the House of Sportz, where they played together, or at Bishop McNamara, where Mason just finished a four-year baseball career and Teagan will do the same next spring in softball, the siblings with one year between them have always physically and emotionally been right there for one another.

The physical distance will change when Mason begins his college career at the University of Evansville, starting school in August and baseball next February, while Teagan will handle shortstop duties in green and white for one more year before her academic and softball careers continue at Northwestern University.

But no state lines or miles of Interstate and country roads can separate the truly inseparable bond the siblings have. They’re not just brother and sister, but as siblings just a year apart, they’re also close friends and one another’s biggest fans.

“We’re not only siblings, we’re friends,” Tegan said. “We have some of the same friends, I get along with his friends and he gets along with my friends. We can just all hang out.”

Through the years, hanging out for Jim and Amanda’s two oldest children — Teagan and Mason’s sister, Evie, just finished seventh grade — has usually revolved around baseball and softball, sports as closely related to one another as two siblings.

Although their playing careers on the same field began to end during their days playing at House of Sportz, playing catch at home has never ended. Neither has the brother-sister conversation surrounding the games they both love and how they can continue improving.

“It’s easier to talk to my sister than somebody else,” Mason said. “Because we go through the same ups and downs with baseball and softball.”

<strong>Mason wraps up McNamara career</strong>

Those conversations and trainings together clearly have paid dividends. Mason, a recently graduated senior, finished his final high school season with a .397 batting average, accompanied by six home runs, eight doubles, a triple, 31 RBIs and 27 runs, all of which were first, second or third on the team. He started his freshman year on JV before ending it with the varsity squad, concluding his varsity career with a .416 average, eight homers, 65 RBIs and 75 runs.

A two-time Daily Journal All-Area and All-Metro Suburban Conference pick as a sophomore and junior, Mason was on the inaugural All-Chicagoland Christian Conference team this year and has his eyes on a third straight All-Area appearance.

“I think I looked forward to high school ball more than any other part of the season,” Mason said. “I made some of my closest friends through high school ball. We never made it super far any single year, but it was just the best part of high school.

“It being over, it is sad, but I have more to come in the next few years” he continued, a nod to his future with Evansville. “I’ll miss it, and miss a lot of the people and coaches that helped me get to where I am today.”

As his head high school coach the past four years, Kurt Quick said he knew from the first day of Mason’s freshman year that the left-handed hitting shortstop had a clean swing and great speed. But what he came to learn the past four years was that Mason also possessed one of the best work ethics he’s come across.

“I knew he always had a special swing and has always been a great kid, always very coachable,” Quick said. “He always looks you in the eye and his work ethic was always awesome, in the weight room and the offseason.

“We knew he was a really good baseball player and it showed with his athletic ability and his wing is special, but his work in the offseason is what impressed me, and I’ve been around for a long time.”

<strong>Teagan reaches first-team all-state status</strong>

The biggest difference between Mason and Teagan’s careers is the fact Teagan was a varsity starter from day one her freshman year rather than as the season went on, holding it down at third base while learning under then-senior shortstop Anna Beckman before moving into the hole the past two years.

Like her brother, she made the last two All-Area and All-MSC teams and was an on the first-ever All-CCC team this year. After sitting just under a .500 batting average each of the past two seasons, she eclipsed that mark this year, finishing the season with a .505 average, a homer, 14 doubles, seven triples, 26 RBIs and 50 runs. While the All-Area baseball and softball teams won’t be unveiled until next weekend, she has to feel good about her chances after making the Illinois Softball Coaches Association Class 2A All-State first team and helping her team to an undefeated run through the CCC.

As her skills have developed, so has her leadership role. Beginning her career as a soft-spoken freshman that was more seen than heard, Teagan said she grew into her leadership role the past two years, a natural job for a shortstop.

“It is weird that next season will be my last season playing shortstop, playing middle infield with [second baseman] Gabby [Burnett], all that stuff,” Teagan said. “ … I think my freshman year, I was still that little underclassman, the freshman. I wasn’t really loud, just there playing.

“But sophomore year, especially as shortstop, I got louder and became more of a leader because I had to for our team to be successful.”

A former shortstop herself, a role she held down for the 2013 undefeated IHSA Class 3A State champion Fightin’ Irish squad, second-year head coach Alee Rashenskas, an assistant Teagan’s freshman year, has particularly enjoyed watching the current McNamara shortstop continue to blossom.

“It’s been so rewarding having a front row seat to Teagan’s growth on and off the field the past three years,” Rashenskas said. “Meeting her as a freshman when I was an assistant, I immediately noticed how talented she was between the lines, but getting to know her as a person since taking over the program has proven she is every ounce as good of a person as she is a player.

“Teagan is a natural leader and I’m so thankful for one more year with her in green before she goes off to do big things at Northwestern and beyond.”

<strong>Forging their own paths</strong>

Between school ball, summer ball that’s included nationwide travel and keeping their top-notch academics up to par, the siblings also spent the past couple years figuring out their futures.

Mason settled on Evansville, a Purple Aces program that just played in its first-ever NCAA College World Series Super Regional last weekend. Teagan decided on 2024 regular season Big Ten champion Northwestern.

The oldest of his siblings, Mason was naturally the first to begin exploring a playing career in college, something he credited Brian Lown for helping him get started with a college recruiting service that led to Evansville.

Since the two didn’t get to go with each other on their visits due to their own busy summer ball schedules, the two would always discuss how things went when they got back. Those conversations became more frequent after Mason made his commitment and had the experiences of the recruiting life and included Mason helping Teagan draw up a pros and cons list for the schools she was contemplating.

“I think me going through that process and having already been through that helped Teagan out for that same reason,” Mason said. “She could ask questions and I could help her make the right decision.

“Ultimately it was her decision, but having someone who’s already been through it was a big help.”

The two know that their relationship as siblings, friends and fans will look a little different once the next school year starts. But they also know each other is only a phone call away and that the distance won’t dissipate their love for one another.

And they also know what each other’s college will be getting in their siblings.

“Northwestern is not only getting a really talented shortstop and a really talented softball player, but I think they’re getting one of the best human beings that I’ve ever known,” Mason said of Teagan. “I think she can be as good as a sister to her teammates as she is to me, being someone they can fall back on and talk to about their struggles or anything like that.”

“I think Evansville is getting a great baseball player, a great human,” Teagan said of Mason. “He has great qualities and has been the best big brother to me, helping me through everything, and I think he can be the same for his team and his school.”