Apr. 14—The last time her team took the field, Windham softball coach Darcey Gardiner watched the Eagles strike out 23 times in 10 innings in a 2-0 Class A South final loss to Cheverus and its freshman ace, Addison DeRoche.
Gardiner knew she had a championship-caliber team coming back in 2025. And she knew DeRoche wasn’t going anywhere. So coming into this season, she knew Windham needed to figure something out.
“We know what she’s capable of, and we know her skill level,” Gardiner said. “So I think, for us, it’s really trying to find where the weak spots are and getting as good as we can at their weak spots. Obviously, there are not many.”
It’s the challenge every SMAA team is faced with this spring. How do you hit a pitcher who went 12-1 with a 0.08 ERA, struck out 212 batters in 87 innings and pitched six no-hitters — and who will likely be even better this year?
“I’d probably have a D-I hitting coaching job if I could figure that out, because she’s that good,” South Portland coach Drew DiMauro said. “It’s just the movement, they’ve never seen anything really like it around here. Some girls throw balls that move a little bit, cut a little bit, but hers almost jumps and cuts at the same time.”
DeRoche, the 2024 Varsity Maine Softball Player of the Year, has been drawing interest from power conference colleges — since June, she’s attended camps at Oklahoma State, LSU, Texas A&M, Clemson, Arkansas, Florida State and Alabama — and she was a force let loose on the Maine scene last year. Most hitters weren’t prepared for her velocity; the few that were, weren’t prepared for her movement, most devastatingly demonstrated in a rise ball that left batters waving at air.
DeRoche said she has been working on further honing her repertoire.
“(I’m trying to) spin my pitches more, add more velo, change speeds more, work on different pitches,” she said. “In March, I worked on more inside to lefties and outside to righties, on my glove side. Working on my dropball, knowing I can throw it on different counts.”
Now teams have to figure out how to give themselves their best chance against DeRoche. DiMauro said he tried a few tricks last year, including speeding up the pitching machine in practice and doing soft toss from an angle, starting low and coming up, to imitate the movement.
“I would tell hitters they need to be looking for anything from the belt down and early in the count,” DiMauro said. “They need to try to jump on it, because she’s going to try to get ahead of every hitter, and that is probably going to be the best pitch you’re going to see.”
Working the count does little good; DeRoche’s command is too good for hitters to be trying to draw a walk.
“The best you can do is pump them up and tell them to go up there and get you three cuts, and try to find the timing for it,” DiMauro said.
Kennebunk coach Eddie Pike, who’s got an ace of his own in daughter and senior Julia Pike, said attacking pitches early is the key for any sort of success against DeRoche.
“It’s really hard for these kids to pick up (the movement),” he said. “So how do you coach it? I’m going to tell our girls, we just have to be aggressive. We can’t let Addison dictate what the count is going to be. But she’s so good, it’s so hard to stop her from dictating it. … Let’s go ahead and be aggressive, let’s not be afraid of it.”
And do your homework. Gardiner’s Windham team struck out looking 12 times in the regional final, which she attributed to a lack of preparedness the Eagles were feeling in the box.
“This year, we as a team are looking to be a lot more informed,” Gardiner said. “Not just stepping in and saying, ‘Hey, this is a good pitcher, she throws a rise and a drop.’ It’s more of, ‘When she throws the rise ball, here’s what count she normally throws it in. She throws the drop ball, here’s what count she usually throws it in.’ Really trying to get to know our opponents more this year I think is a big goal.”
For all of DeRoche’s dominance, there were some breakthroughs. Windham’s Kennedy Kimball — a dominant pitcher in her own right who should also give batters plenty of fits — had the loudest one, a home run in the regular season finale that saddled DeRoche with her only earned run of the season.
Kimball said a mix of aggression and discipline is the formula that works against the sophomore standout. Don’t let the perfect pitch go by, but don’t hack at the bait pitch either.
“Yeah, you need to find your pitch, but you also need to be able to also make sure, before you swing on your first strike or maybe your second strike, that it’s something you can actually hit,” Kimball said. “It’s being disciplined, until you can’t be any more.”
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Cheverus pitcher Addison DeRoche delivers to an Oxford Hills batter during the Class A championship game in June 2024. DeRoche, a sophomore this spring, pitched six no-hitters and allowed only one earned run during the Stags’ run to the Class A state championship last year. Brewster Burns photo
The last time her team took the field, Windham softball coach Darcey Gardiner watched the Eagles strike out 23 times in 10 innings in a 2-0 Class A South final loss to Cheverus and its freshman ace, Addison DeRoche.
Gardiner knew she had a championship-caliber team coming back in 2025. And she knew DeRoche wasn’t going anywhere. So coming into this season, she knew Windham needed to figure something out.
“We know what she’s capable of, and we know her skill level,” Gardiner said. “So I think, for us, it’s really trying to find where the weak spots are and getting as good as we can at their weak spots. Obviously, there are not many.”
It’s the challenge every SMAA team is faced with this spring. How do you hit a pitcher who went 12-1 with a 0.08 ERA, struck out 212 batters in 87 innings and pitched six no-hitters — and who will likely be even better this year?
“I’d probably have a D-I hitting coaching job if I could figure that out, because she’s that good,” South Portland coach Drew DiMauro said. “It’s just the movement, they’ve never seen anything really like it around here. Some girls throw balls that move a little bit, cut a little bit, but hers almost jumps and cuts at the same time.”
DeRoche, the 2024 Varsity Maine Softball Player of the Year, has been drawing interest from power conference colleges — since June, she’s attended camps at Oklahoma State, LSU, Texas A&M, Clemson, Arkansas, Florida State and Alabama — and she was a force let loose on the Maine scene last year. Most hitters weren’t prepared for her velocity; the few that were, weren’t prepared for her movement, most devastatingly demonstrated in a rise ball that left batters waving at air.
DeRoche said she has been working on further honing her repertoire.
“(I’m trying to) spin my pitches more, add more velo, change speeds more, work on different pitches,” she said. “In March, I worked on more inside to lefties and outside to righties, on my glove side. Working on my dropball, knowing I can throw it on different counts.”
Now teams have to figure out how to give themselves their best chance against DeRoche. DiMauro said he tried a few tricks last year, including speeding up the pitching machine in practice and doing soft toss from an angle, starting low and coming up, to imitate the movement.
“I would tell hitters they need to be looking for anything from the belt down and early in the count,” DiMauro said. “They need to try to jump on it, because she’s going to try to get ahead of every hitter, and that is probably going to be the best pitch you’re going to see.”
Working the count does little good; DeRoche’s command is too good for hitters to be trying to draw a walk.
“The best you can do is pump them up and tell them to go up there and get you three cuts, and try to find the timing for it,” DiMauro said.
Kennebunk coach Eddie Pike, who’s got an ace of his own in daughter and senior Julia Pike, said attacking pitches early is the key for any sort of success against DeRoche.
“It’s really hard for these kids to pick up (the movement),” he said. “So how do you coach it? I’m going to tell our girls, we just have to be aggressive. We can’t let Addison dictate what the count is going to be. But she’s so good, it’s so hard to stop her from dictating it. … Let’s go ahead and be aggressive, let’s not be afraid of it.”
Cheverus’ Addison DeRoche delivers a pitch against Kennebunk in April 2024. DeRoche, a sophomore this spring, pitched six no-hitters and allowed only one earned run during the Stags’ run to the Class A state championship last year. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Press Herald
And do your homework. Gardiner’s Windham team struck out looking 12 times in the regional final, which she attributed to a lack of preparedness the Eagles were feeling in the box.
“This year, we as a team are looking to be a lot more informed,” Gardiner said. “Not just stepping in and saying, ‘Hey, this is a good pitcher, she throws a rise and a drop.’ It’s more of, ‘When she throws the rise ball, here’s what count she normally throws it in. She throws the drop ball, here’s what count she usually throws it in.’ Really trying to get to know our opponents more this year I think is a big goal.”
For all of DeRoche’s dominance, there were some breakthroughs. Windham’s Kennedy Kimball — a dominant pitcher in her own right who should also give batters plenty of fits — had the loudest one, a home run in the regular season finale that saddled DeRoche with her only earned run of the season.
Kimball said a mix of aggression and discipline is the formula that works against the sophomore standout. Don’t let the perfect pitch go by, but don’t hack at the bait pitch either.
“Yeah, you need to find your pitch, but you also need to be able to also make sure, before you swing on your first strike or maybe your second strike, that it’s something you can actually hit,” Kimball said. “It’s being disciplined, until you can’t be any more.”
