GOLDEN EFFORT HOLDS SILVER LINING!!! Kee baseball team overcomes two of three early deficits to finish as Class 1A State Tournament Runner-Up
Accepting the hardware for their hard work ... The Kee baseball team’s lone senior this season, right fielder Chris Wagner, leads the rest of the team as the Hawks are presented the Class 1A State Tournament Runner-Up trophy following their 7-5 loss to Council Bluffs St. Albert in the championship game of the Class 1A State Tournament Thursday, July 29. Playing in their first State Tournament since the 2011 season, the fourth-seeded Kee diamond dwellers played to the same runner-up finish as that last Hawk squad to compete in the season grand finale, defeating fifth-seeded New London, 4-3, in the opening quarterfinal round and then top-seeded Remsen-St. Mary’s, 5-3, in a nine-inning semifinals marathon before having a third comeback effort fall just short in that 7-5 championship loss. View and find out how to purchase this photo and more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.
The Kee baseball team capped off one of its most successful seasons in the past decade by taking the program back to every high school baseball team’s ultimate destination this past week, as the diamond Hawks played their way to the Class 1A State Tournament for the first time since the 2011 season.
But playing their way back to that season grand finale for an Iowa high school baseball second-best 20th time and for the first time in 10 seasons was simply not enough for the 2021 baseball Hawks, as this season’s junior-dominated squad not only ended the program’s longest State Tournament appearance drought, but also battled its way right back to where the last Kee State Tournament squad had been and where no other Iowa high school baseball team has been more often. Unranked all season and seeded fourth in this year’s eight-team Class 1A State Tournament bracket, Kee’s 33-9 diamond dwellers stopped some hearts and broke some others on the way to extending the program’s state of Iowa record to now 17 State Championship game appearances before ultimately ending up as the Class 1A State Runner-Up for an Iowa high school baseball record eighth time in program history.
With the Class 1A State Tournament being played at Merchants Park in Carroll this year, the road to adding another chapter to Kee baseball’s storied State Tournament history began with a 4-3 opening-round victory Monday, July 26 over fifth-seeded and seventh-rated New London. The Hawks then further opened some eyes by pulling off a 5-3 semifinals upset in a marathon nine innings Wednesday, July 28 over the Class 1A field’s top-seeded team, a third-rated Remsen-St. Mary’s squad that was making its sixth consecutive State Tournament appearance and held a previous undefeated State Tournament history over the Hawks.
With that milestone semifinals win advancing Kee to its record-extending 17th State Tournament championship game, the Hawks had to try and orchestrate their third consecutive comeback effort of the season grand finale against the tournament’s second-seeded and Class 1A’s fourth-rated Council Bluffs St. Albert Thursday, July 29. Facing a 7-1 deficit heading into the sixth inning, Kee’s diamond squad posted a four-run rally but could get no closer in falling by a 7-5 final result that secured Kee baseball’s state-best eighth State Tournament Runner-Up finish.
The thrilling postseason journey for this season’s baseball Hawks wrapped up a 35-10 overall season record, marking the most wins for Kee baseball since that same State Runner-Up squad from the 2011 season. That overall mark includes a 16-2 result in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that placed the Hawks in a tie with South Winneshiek for this season’s best UIC record.
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