By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A number of key moments go into each championship season. And Nicole Kamin’s during last season’s Division 2 Softball Semifinals may have been the most key in Escanaba finishing its repeat title run.

Kamin, then a sophomore, sent a sixth-inning pitch over the center field fence at Secchia Stadium on June 13, 2019, pushing the Eskymos ahead of North Branch 2-1 on the way to winning an inning later by the same score.

The blast set up teammate Gabi Salo to finish her one-hit pitching performance in the top of the seventh inning. Escanaba went on to defeat Stevensville Lakeshore 7-3 two days later in the Division 2 Final.

Kamin, batting second for the Eskymos in the Semifinal, had struck out and then grounded out in her first two at bats of the game.

“The nerves were kicking in for sure,” Kamin said that day. “I just went up there and swung it. It’s just amazing, honestly. Such a big game like this, to bring us to a championship game. It’s awesome.”

Click for coverage of that Semifinal from Second Half and watch Kamin’s homer below from the NFHS Network.