Sadie Waterman, left, and Molly Flaherty will share time pitching for the Oak Hill Raiders this spring. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

 

Edward Little softball coach Elaine Derosby can remember a time when just one player did nearly all the pitching for an entire four-year career. Oak Hill coach Allyson Collins doesn’t have to look too far into the past for a time when her team had just one pitcher control the circle all season.

But now both coaches are taking a different approach, and borrowing baseball’s philosophy of utilizing a pitching staff rather than relying on one ace hurler.

How they got to that same philosophy — one that seems to be gaining in popularity — came from different routes.

Collins sent out Sadie Waterman every game two years ago as a sophomore, but last year started finding opportunities for Molly Flaherty, as well, to take some of the workload off of Waterman.

“That was my intent, actually, at the beginning of last season. That was my intent with pitching Molly more innings,” Collins said. “But it ended up working out so well, and Molly did so well, that it became much more than that. She became such a huge asset that I was like, ‘Wow, this is working out way better than I intended.'”

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Derosby watched her sister, Nicole, be the ace of her father’s EL teams for her entire career. Both are now part of Derosby’s coaching staff. Nicole Chapman is the pitching coach, and she works with a trio who make up the primary pieces of the pitching staff.

“She was the only one for four years, so we know that there are benefits to having just one. But I also think in today’s world kids put a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect, they have a lot of other things in their world, whereas Nicole, she pitched all year long with my father,” Derosby said. “And kids (nowadays) don’t — you know, they put in time, but maybe not that much. And so if we can take off some of the pressure of them having to be perfect every day with doing that — I mean, we have three kids that understand our philosophy, and I think it just allows them to relax, know that their teammate can come in and finish if need be, and that they just don’t have to be perfect all the time.”

The Red Eddies put their strategy into action in last year’s season opener. When starter Chantel Ouellette was getting battered by Hampden Academy, so Hannah Smith came on in relief as EL rallied to victory.

Caroline Hammond, left, Hannah Smith and Chantel Ouellette will share time in the circle for the Edward Little High School softball team this spring. Sun Journal photo by Daryn Slover

Derosby said an important part of the multiple-pitcher strategy being successful is letting the pitchers know that the coaches have the confidence to go back to them. Derosby started Ouellette again two days later, and Ouellette responded with a one-hitter against Camden Hills.

Later in the season, Ouellette relieved Smith and helped the Red Eddies to a win, so both showed their comfort in either situation.

Caroline Hammond didn’t see many innings last year, but Derosby expects her to be a bigger part of the staff this season.

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“I know that Caroline would be OK with pitching. She’d, I think, be OK with not pitching,” Derosby said. “But the other two really want to pitch. I know that they want to be in the circle all the time, and as competitors I think that is exactly what you need to have as an attitude, is that, ‘Why can’t I have the ball seven innings of every game?’ But it just allows us to not have to watch them struggle if we don’t have to watch them struggle.”

Derosby said she had 12 players work on pitching during pitchers and catchers week this preseason, and although some of them might never pitch a varsity inning, it gives the Red Eddies options, now and in the future.

Having two starters has given Collins the flexibility to match up against opponents.

“They both have kind of different pitching styles and different things to offer. So depending on the opponent, you know, it’s a different way of going at that opponent,” Collins said. “Sadie has a little less speed, but she has more movement. They have different pitches, so depending on the kind of batters that they’re going to face. So we know how other teams go about trying to beat us, and their approach that they take to try to beat us. So we take their approach and I look at that and decide which pitcher I think we can counter that attack with, and who I think has the best chance of beating that approach.”

Collins has even used both pitchers in the same game, if one has shown signs of tiring, the opponent has started piling up hits, or just to show a different look and keep the opposing hitters off-balance.

Derosby said she remembers a Cony team that went with a split-game strategy all the way to the state championship game.

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“One started, pitched four innings, the other other one finished for three innings, and it would rotate the next game. And that was their philosophy, and it got them to a state game,” she said.

She also pointed out that perennial Class A powerhouse Scarborough often will have a postseason “ace” who only won eight or nine games during the regular season because they try to employ a deep pitching staff.

“We just have done that for a while because why not? Why not?” Derosby said. “The more the merrier, I say. You don’t have to be perfect, and you can find options.”

With a similar strategy to Oak Hill’s, Skowhegan for the last three years went with a 1-2 punch of No. 1-worthy starters, and it resulted in three straight regional finals and consecutive state title game appearances. The Raiders hope to have that type of success with seniors Waterman and Flaherty this year, especially with senior catcher Abby Nadeau behind the plate.

Collins said she is equally confident in both her pitchers, who are both “very selfless” in splitting time in the circle. They also both play first base, so they switch off at each position.

Each is “willing to give up the spotlight if it means winning the game,” Collins said.

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Ouellette, Smith and Hammond are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and the first to support one another if they have a bad outing, Derosby said. Any competition between them is intended to make each other better.

“They all obviously want to be in the circle all the time, so that’s what they’re working toward, but they know it’s OK if they’re not because their teammate is working just as hard,” Derosby said.

Edward Little and Oak Hill won’t be the only local schools using multiple pitchers this season. Buckfield and Leavitt will look to repeat what they did last year, and Dirigo, Mt. Blue and Spruce Mountain are all set up to send out different options this year as well.

As kids’ options for athletics and entertainment keep growing, so too are softball coaches’ options for who they can count on to toe the rubber.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

 

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