Winnacunnet softball star pitcher Maddy Eaton reaches 500-strikeout milestone

HAMPTON — Winnacunnet High School senior Maddy Eaton remembers her first varsity strikeout — which came in her first varsity start her freshman season at home against Dover.

"I had runners on first and second, and then I got my (first) strikeout," Eaton said. "I think it was on a high fastball, and it started from there."

What started that April 2021 afternoon was a dominant high school pitching career that will continue next year at Saint Michael's College, a Division II program in Colchester, Vermont.

Three years and 499 strikeouts after that first punchout, Eaton, a Seabrook resident, hit the 500-strikeout milestone in Saturday's 6-1 win over Division II Oyster River. Eaton struck out five over seven innings in the game, her second one was No. 500.

"It's really cool," Winnacunnet head coach Bill Edwards said of Eaton. "I'm not sure how often kids get to do that, but it's really cool for her. I've (coached) her for three years, and about 450 or so of those strikeouts have been with us together. It's really cool to kind of do that and see it the whole way through."

Eaton said it was nice sharing the moment with teammates, as well as family members and friends who were at the game with signs ready for the milestone.

"They're all amazing, and they all celebrated with me," Eaton said. "It was really nice to have everyone congratulate me. All of our parents had signs and they were all screaming. We had pizza (after the game), and took pictures as a team, and took photos with my family and friends."

Batterymate charged up to share milestone with Eaton

Eaton's primary catcher the past two years has been sophomore Maeva Shapiro, who called Eaton's 500 milestone "amazing."

"I was really happy to be here for it," Shapiro said. "I love her so much, she's awesome and it's definitely a huge accomplishment for her. I'm super proud of her. She comes through when she needs to, she makes good plays, she pitches amazingly, and she's always there for her team, so we try to help her out.

"Catching (Eaton) is definitely great," Shapiro continued. "She keeps it hype all of the time, always confident. She puts her pitches where they need to be and gets us out of hard situations at times."

Eaton has several highlight games this season

Eaton's other highlight games this season came against Spaulding (11 strikeouts, 13-0 win), Goffstown (11 strikeouts, 7-2 win), Bishop Guertin (eight strikeouts, 10-1 win), Merrimack (nine strikeouts, 8-2 win), Alvirne (eight strikeouts, 11-0 win) and Portsmouth (seven strikeouts, 13-0 win).

"I think she does a good job sequencing with the pitch calling," Edwards said on opposing batters' struggles against Eaton. "(Shapiro) does a good job behind the plate moving the ball and framing the ball, so I think it all works. We talk between innings about what's working, what's not, and what we're feeling. There's a lot of communication to make sure we're putting ourselves in the best position to be as successful as we can."

Eaton calls herself a 'greedy' pitcher

Eaton, who had 150 strikeouts and a 1.40 ERA last year en route to the Division I championship game, considers herself a strikeout pitcher.

"I always like to either end an inning on a strikeout," Eaton said. "I really don't like to give up a lot of hits. I'm kind of greedy, I love strikeouts."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Winnacunnet softball: Maddy Eaton hits 500 strikeouts