Cony High School softball coach Rocky Gaslin knew he getting a good player this season in freshman Arika Brochu. He just didn’t know how good.
“I had a good sense,” Gaslin said. “She’s played a lot of softball coming up through. But she’s gone further than I thought.”
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Brochu came advertised as a pitcher and she’s done well in that role, alternating on the mound, often in the same game, with junior Sonja Morse. Pitch or not, she’ll be in the lineup tonight when the unbeaten Rams face Brewer for the Eastern Maine Class A championship.
By the numbers, Brochu’s season has been a great one for any player, let alone a freshman. She went 8-0 on the mound without giving up an earned run. In 35 innings this season she’s allowed three walks while striking out 49.
“She’s very accurate,” Cony catcher Nicole Rugan said. “I don’t ever have to worry about her hitting spots that I ask her to hit.”
When she’s not pitching, Brochu plays center field, although Gaslin said she could play any position and excel. She made a couple of nice running catches in Saturday’s win against Oxford Hills, including one off her shoe tops that prevented a big inning by the Vikings. But it’s Brochu’s hitting that has been a major surprise for the Rams this season. Batting leadoff, she hit an even .500 during the regular season with four home runs.
It helped she had a growth spurt coming into her freshman year.
“I’ve always been small compared to my teammates,” said Brochu, who is 5-foot-5 and weighs 120 pounds.
Brochu was also the only freshman who stared for the field hockey team last fall, but softball has always been her sport, one she began playing at age 5 and pitching by 7. It helped that her older sister Alyssa, a senior and the team’s starting second baseman, played youth softball at an early age.
“I’d always go to her games,” Brochu said.
Morse, who is 10-0 this season on the mound, often starts games with Brochu ready in relief. It makes sense since Morse takes longer to warm up.
“It’s great for me,” Brochu said. “I don’t mind not pitching because I love playing in the field. I think me and Sonja both work really well together. We know we both have each other’s back.”
When Morse struggled with her control in last week’s quarterfinal against Hampden, Brochu picked her up by pitching four scoreless innings and striking out seven.
“She throws a rise, drop, change and fastball,” Rugan said. “Definitely for third strikes her rise ball tends to help us a lot.”
Brochu made a seamless transition to high school varsity, helped by the fact she’s talented and athletic. She scored the first two goals of the field hockey season for the Rams in the Drive Out Cancer Challenge in a 2-1 win against Gardiner.
“You don’t look at her and say ‘oh, she’s a freshman,’ ” Rugan said. “She fits in very well.”
Like many of her teammates, the bigger the stage the more Brochu enjoys it.
“She might be a freshman but she doesn’t play like a freshman,” Gaslin said. “Softball-wise, she’s a senior.”
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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