When Medomak Valley High School sophomore pitcher Sidney Nicholls collected a 1-0 shutout win over Hermon to win the State Class B softball championships on Saturday, June 21, it was an extra special day for the Nicholls family.
Twenty-five years ago, Sidney’s mother Katie (Mainville) Nicholls, who was also a sophomore at the time, was on the mound to lead Erskine Academy to the 2000 state title.
“It is a crazy thing, it has come full circle,” Katie Nicholls said. She pitched in three state title games for the Eagles, winning one and losing two, 2-1 to Maranacook and 1-0 to Greely during her junior and senior years.
Sidney Nicholls said she knew her mother played in a state title game, but didn’t know she had won it as sophomore. Sidney Nicholls said she felt little pressure trying to follow her mother’s footsteps.
“There was no pressure,” she said. “I was just focusing on winning.”
Katie Nicholls began working on pitching with her daughter when Sidney was 6 or 7 years old.
“In the beginning, she forced me to pitch a little bit, but I’m glad she did because it is fun,” Sidney Nicholls said.
Katie Nicholls went on to pitch at the University of Southern Maine, in Gorham, where Sidney Nicholls collected a 5-0 shutout win over undefeated York to lead Medomak Valley to a South Class B Regional championship and earn a berth in the state title game.
Katie had not been back to USM’s field since graduating.
Having her daughter win on her home collegiate field was extra special, she said.
During her playing days, Katie Nicholls was selected to the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association All-Region team. She made All-Little East Conference honors in 2003, 2004, and 2006 and was selected to the First Team in 2004 and 2006. She did not pitch her junior year due to an injury.
While at USM, Katie Nicholls pitched 441.1 innings. She has USM’s top career earned run average, 1.14, and she held her opponents to a .180 batting average. She still holds the school record in strikeouts and winning percentage and is second all time in career strikeouts at USM with 502, and fourth in innings pitched.
She still holds USM’s record for single season earned run average with a 0.53 in 2004, and set the single game strikeout record 16, which she did twice during the 2004 season.
“I did pretty well,” Katie Nicholls said of her collegiate career.
She was inducted into the USM Hall of Fame in 2016. At her induction ceremony, she was called one of the most dominate pitchers in Little East Conference softball history.
Katie Nicholls had a nasty rise ball that rode to the plate looking perfect, before breaking high.
“Sidney has a rise ball, which is way better than mine ever was.” Nicholls said. Sidney also has a fast ball, curve ball, and change up in her arsenal of pitches. She is currently working on a drop pitch.
“She works hard,” Sydney’s proud mother said.
During games, MVHS coach Richard Vannah calls her pitches.
“She never shakes him off,” Katie Nicholls said. Of their pitching styles, an energetic Katie Nicholls said, “Everyone said I was cool, calm and collected. I was more calm on the outside, but inside I was dying. Sidney offers this coolness and calmness that is pretty rare. I am so proud of her. My Sidney is a different animal. When Richard (Vannah) says nothing bothers her, I believe it. Her 18U team coach Pat Wheeler has a nickname for her, the Terminator.”
Sidney was named after her grandfather Sidney Mainville, who died a year after Katie Nicholls graduated from college. Mother and daughter pitching careers came full circle with their state title wins, but also with how they got there.
“How I won as a sophomore like her, I never would have done any of it without my father,” Katie Nicholls said.
Katie Nicholls, who grew up in Whitefield, was pushed by her father to get better. She played baseball and softball. He took her to play on travel teams. Her brother Joshua was four years older and also pushed her to excel.
Like her father before her, Katie Nicholls pushed her daughter to pitch from an early age, which has created a special bond between them. “I am just very proud of her,” Nicholls said, adding later, “My father would be so proud of Sidney.”
