It wasn’t an easy season. Addison DeRoche just made it look like one.

After a phenomenal freshman year, DeRoche was superb again as a sophomore, dominating SMAA hitters and improving as a batter while leading Cheverus to the Class A South final. She went 12-1 with a 0.43 ERA, striking out 177 batters in 81 innings and pitching two seven-inning no-hitters. She also hit .533, hammered seven home runs, drove in 30 runs and posted a 1.794 OPS.

For her performance, and for guiding Cheverus to an undefeated regular season and the Class A South final, DeRoche is the Varsity Maine Softball Player of the Year for the second straight season. Kennebunk’s Julia Pike, the winner of the Miss Maine Softball award, was also considered, as was Windham ace Kennedy Kimball.

“She’s softball 24/7,” Cheverus coach John Eisenhart said. “She’s just so determined. She’s continuing to get better because she continues to work at it. And she’s not done yet.”

DeRoche was also named the Gatorade Maine Player of the Year for the second straight spring, and the SMAA Pitcher of the Year again. With the accolades continuing to roll in, and with opposing hitters still looking for answers against her, it would seem from the outside that DeRoche was in cruise control all spring.

Ask her, however, and it was a different story.

“This spring was definitely one of the hardest seasons I’ve had, just mentally and physically,” she said. “It was a lot, but I think I did my best to try to thrive instead of just survive. … I’m just trying to be the best I can be where my feet are and be my best for my teammates.”

Everything got a little tougher. There was the grind of a travel schedule with her Mojo Lewis club team, which takes her to tournaments and showcases around the country. There was the weight of her college future, which is becoming more and more of a pressing topic as offers come in and deadlines approach.

DeRoche, who is being courted by championship-contending NCAA programs, can commit as early as Sept. 1.

“I didn’t always feel my best pitching in the spring, and I really tried to work through it and tried to feel my spin better,” she said. “But when you don’t feel your best, it kind of messes with you.”

Eisenhart saw some of the strain, like when DeRoche would get down after allowing a walk or hit.

“Early in the season, she wanted to be perfect,” he said. “We tried to rally around her and say, ‘Hey, you don’t have to be perfect. You just competing and making pitches, it’s going to be good enough.'”

It was. DeRoche was again a force, holding batters to a .067 average. She reached double-digit strikeouts in every game except the opener against Thornton Academy, when the first 13 batters, aware of her dominance, tried to bunt. DeRoche still fanned eight and pitched a five-inning no-hitter.

All the while, she broadened her pitch repertoire, showing more change-ups and dropballs after relying on her lethal riseball last year.

“She really wants to compete in the SEC, and that’s what the college coaches down there want her to work on,” said South Portland coach Drew DiMauro, who coached DeRoche with his New England Elite team.

DeRoche also worked on setting up batters, rather than relying on velocity and movement to blow them away.

“I worked counts more, too, (and on) spotting pitches,” she said. “Reading the batter and seeing what they could hit and what I should throw. … Being not such a robot, and visualizing the pitch I’m about to throw.”

She also improved as a hitter, the result of work with Cheverus assistant Danica Gleason and John Sangillo in Massachusetts to tweak her swing plane and make her bat more direct to the ball.

“I just wanted to make more of an impact for my team,” she said. “Stay level and on top of the ball, I worked on that a lot. Trying to barrel up the ball.”

As a result, her batting average rose 64 points over last season.

“She’s got an incredible fire in the belly,” Eisenhart said. “She’s a fiery competitor. She can dial it up and dial it in, and it’s what makes her so great.”