Fulton junior Zoe Kunau picked quite the moment to launch her first career home run.

With her team trailing Orangeville by one run in a Class 1A Eastland Sectional semifinal matchup, the Steamers’ slap-hitter decided to shoot for the fences.

It paid off.

Kunau’s two-run blast sent Fulton to a 5-4 walk-off win and into Friday’s sectional final against Dakota.

While the Broncos were meeting in the circle after Belle Curley’s one-out triple, Kunau and coach Derek Germann had a chat at third base. Her homer came on a 3-0 count.

“He was like, ‘what are you gonna do?’, and as a slapper, I’m contact, I don’t really swing away a lot,” she said. “As a joke I said, ‘I’m just gonna hit the ball as hard as I can.’

“So I just barreled it, inside pitch, I wasn’t going to let her walk me.”

Only needing a single or sacrifice to tie the game, Fulton’s career hits leader decided to go deep.

“Zoe just checked the box on something that she’s been working on for the last two years of trying to hit a ball over the fence,” Germann said. “What a great kid, what a great moment and what a great outcome for us.”

The dramatic finish came in a game that fourth-seeded Fulton (21-10) trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.

Curley’s RBI double got Fulton on the board in the bottom half, while Fulton’s defense and pitcher Jessa Read settled in to help the comeback.

Madison Bolton and Kerby Germann had RBIs in the fifth inning to make it 4-3.

Read pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to help set up Fulton’s rally.

“Wow,” Curley said. “The whole game, it was going their way, and then we pulled through. Our dugout got louder and we pulled through for each other. That was crazy, it was a lot of adrenaline, that’s for sure.”

The comeback followed a shaky start by the Steamers, which trailed 1-0 in the first inning. In the second, Orangeville’s Aubrey Fryer laid down an RBI bunt single, reached second on the throw home and came all the way around to score on a throwing error.

It was 4-0 before Fulton started to pick its way back.

Read pitched a complete game with two strikeouts, one walk while scattering eight hits.

It was Fulton’s second walk-off win this postseason. The magic continued for the Steamers after earning back-to-back regional titles for the first time. The Broncos had won seven straight regional titles.

Fulton lost 11-6 to the Broncos (29-6) to open the season.

“Coming into this game, we all knew we had it in us,” Kunau said. “Being able to change on the field is just a great feeling.”

After trailing in the game, only having one hit and not playing sharp defense, the Steamers just needed to take a deep breath.

“We just needed to settle down,” Kunau said. “We knew second time through the lineup we were going to be able to hit that pitcher.”

Curley and Kunau each had three of Fulton’s nine hits. Curley was a home run short of the cycle.

Curley said she knew Kunau’s hit was gone when it left the bat. The team’s leaders helped lead Fulton’s comeback.

“We’re always on each other,” she said. “If we’re getting down, we know we have to stay up to win, and that’s what we did.”

Fulton has never won a sectional title.

“We’re just hoping to go even further,” Curley said.

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Fulton’s Zoe Kunau celebrates her two-run walk off homer to defeat Orangeville Tuesday, May 26, 2026, at the Eastland Class 1A softball sectional quarterfinal. (Alex T. Paschal)