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Two years ago, Darcey Gardiner was facing a dilemma.

The new Windham softball coach had a standout catcher, Jaydn Kimball, who was going to be sidelined for much of the year with a hip injury, and no established backup. The more she saw Stella Jarvais, however, and the sophomore’s combination of athleticism and softball IQ, the more she figured she had her answer.

“She is a player who I want to touch the ball every time it’s thrown,” Gardiner said. “To put her in that location, to have literally another coach on the field with the team, it’s such an advantage.”

Two years later, Windham is playing for the Class A championship for the second time in three years, a matchup with North champion Edward Little awaiting at 4 p.m. Saturday. At the heart of the Eagles’ operation is the battery that was set in place with that move: Jarvais, the defensive linchpin behind the plate, paired with Kennedy Kimball, the dominant senior ace.

“I always tell people she’s like my other half, the other side of my brain,” Kimball said. “Everyone’s always like, ‘Why don’t you ever shake Stella off?’ I never really need to. She’s always reading my mind.”

Windham isn’t alone. Medomak Valley sports its own powerful pitcher-catcher combination, with Arianna Sproul and her team-leading .552 batting average backstopping for Sydney Nicholls, the sophomore standout with a 0.27 ERA, 208 strikeouts and a string of playoff gems to her name.

“It’s quite a luxury,” said Panthers coach Richard Vannah, whose team will play North champ Hermon in the Class B final at 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Maine in Orono. “They work very well together. You could see it right from the get-go. Arianna’s comfortable, Sidney’s comfortable with her, and it just seems to click.”

The production is similar, but the dynamic is different. At Windham, Jarvais is the rare high school catcher that runs the game, calling both the pitches to throw and where to throw them. It’s a set-up that the Eagles started in the second half of 2023, when they wanted a better rhythm on the field and less time looking to the dugout for pitch calls, and realized that Jarvais, whose father Kregg caught at UMaine, could handle the responsibility.

“Me and my dad have always talked about calling pitches,” said Jarvais, who played shortstop as a freshman. “I liked it better. It’s more of a groove, we can get into a little habit. Being able to speed the game up more for the batter … I think that’s important, too.”

It puts an emphasis on rapport and communication, however, and Kimball and Jarvais are always in harmony. They make sure of it, by going over game plans as if they’re studying for an exam in school the next day, and then tweaking them in the dugout during a game to adjust for an umpire’s strike zone or the opponent’s adjustments.

“We practice pitch-calling, we practice counts, certain batters,” Jarvais said. “Kennedy and I spend hours studying batters and what they’re like in previous games that they played.”

The relationship has flourished. Kimball has compiled a 0.46 ERA in 76 1/3 innings.

“She’s so good at hitting her spots,” Jarvais said. “Even just being able to throw a fastball high, and not rely on her spins and her speed. Being able to spot her pitches, it’s incredible.”

Kimball said Jarvais, the two-time SMAA Defensive Player of the Year, has an ability to remember hitters’ tendencies, as well as a knack for coaching Kimball through an outing.

“She helps me not be so hard on myself,” she said. “Sometimes she’ll say, ‘That pitch moved great,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, it ended too much on the plate.’ She’s helped me realize that maybe it ended up too much on the plate, but that batter still went and swung and missed at it. It still had good enough spin, or whatever.”

It’s different at Medomak Valley, where Vannah calls pitches, and pitcher-catcher strategy sessions are far less frequent.

“We’re two very different kind of people,” Sproul said. “I try to take more charge of the field, and she’s very laid back and in the game. She does not hear anything the dugouts say. She’s in her own space. We could cheer her on, she’s not going to hear it. … So I kind of let her do her thing, and it works.”

Sproul plays year-round with New England Elite, and began catching there last summer and fall. When this season began, she told Vannah that she wanted to switch positions from center field.

“I like that I can see everything, and I have more control of the game,” she said. “It’s just where I’m more comfortable. I feel more relaxed there than anywhere else.”

She learned she didn’t have to coach up her sophomore battery mate, a daughter of University of Southern Maine Hall of Famer Katie Mainville-Nicholls.

“She just came in and was amazing,” Sproul said. “I think it really is just her mindset. Nothing bothers her. At least, she doesn’t show that she gets nervous. She came into it, she was ready and she came in hot from the start.”

It’s been a successful partnership, and the two players have found the same wavelength.

“She’s always just kind of been more quiet and to herself. But that’s how she likes it. We try to keep it like that,” Sproul said. “I know she knows what to do, and she knows I know what to do. … I have trust in her, she has trust in me.”