Tom Griffin has seen more high-end softball talent than nearly anyone else in Maine. The former Scarborough head coach led the Red Storm for 32 years, won 498 games, eight state titles, and has seen many of the state’s top players up close. But in Addison DeRoche of Cheverus High, a 15-year-old pitching phenom from Westbrook, he sees something he hasn’t seen before.
“I’ve never seen a kid come in as a freshman like this and do what she’s done,” he said. “Not even close.” Few athletes in any Maine high school sport have dominated the landscape the way Addison did this spring.
In the high school softball season that just ended, she amassed a 12-1 record, with 212 strikeouts in 87 innings and only one earned run allowed for a 0.08 ERA. She pitched six no-hitters, had 23 strikeouts in a marathon Class A South final , and then followed that with 21 strikeouts in a Class A championship victory over Oxford Hills .
She achieved this under an avalanche of attention, as a state still giddy from Cooper Flagg clamored for the next big star. She also pulled off a stellar end of the season while traveling back and forth between Maine and Kansas City, playing for her club team in a renowned tournament in Missouri while also representing her high school team in Maine. In one week, she played the regional final in Maine on a Tuesday, flying out the following day for games Thursday and Friday in Kansas City.
She then returned to Maine in the early morning hours on Saturday to p.
