Sports

The Kee baseball team wrapped up its 2016 regular season schedule in undefeated fashion, posting a pair of victories in its final week of regular season play to head into postseason play riding a three-game winning streak. The Hawks opened their final  week of regulation play with a 13-3 handling of Janesville in six innings in a Tuesday, July 5 game played on the Upper Iowa University field in Fayette before wrapping up the week and their regular season slate with a 7-3 victory at Riceville Thursday, July 7.

Finishing the regular season with a 23-14 overall record and wrapping up an Upper Iowa Conference season championship with a 14-2 mark, the Hawks were slated to begin Class 1A district tournament play at home Tuesday, July 12 against Wapsie Valley.

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The Waukon baseball team wrapped up its regular season on a losing note but began its postseason with a dramatic win to keep its 2016 season rolling. The Indians brought their regular season to completion with three final home losses in Northeast Iowa Conference play, falling to Class 2A third-rated New Hampton Tuesday, July 5 by scores of 16-0 in four innings and 14-0 in five frames before doing likewise to Crestwood by a 12-3 final result. The Indians waited until the final inning of their Class 2A district tournament opener to finally pull out a 1-0 victory over Sumner-Fredericksburg at home Saturday, July 9, that victory being the first postseason win for the Indians since the 2011 season and this being the first year the Indians have not played in the Class 3A tournament bracket.

What started with a display of power eroded into more of a one-sided result that ultimately brought an end to the 2016 season for the Waukon softball team. The Indian diamond dwellers traveled to Dyersville to match up with the 12th-rated Trailblazers of Beckman Catholic in a Class 3A Region 6 first-round tournament match-up Wednesday, July 6, returning home with an 11-1 defeat in five innings that closed out the Tribe’s summer campaign.

The Indians were limited to just three hits in the contest by Beckman freshman Sydney Steffen, who also drove in six of the Trailblazers’ 11 runs on the night in a three-for-three plate effort that included a two-run homerun and two run-scoring doubles. Steffen also got strong support from her teammates, who helped knock around a total of 13 hits on the night and also played nearly flawless defense to set the Indians down in order in the middle three of the game’s five innings.

The Waukon softball team wrapped up its regular season with three final home games this past week, falling in all three to complete their regular season with a 7-19 overall record. That mark includes a 3-12 result that places the softball Tribe one game ahead of Decorah in fifth place in the final six-team Northeast Iowa Conference standings, with Oelwein being unable to field a varsity softball team again this season. Those final three regular season losses came to New Hampton in a home doubleheader Tuesday, June 28, 8-3 and 14-1 in three innings, and a final home loss, 7-1, to Crestwood Thursday, June 30.

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The Waukon baseball team will get its postseason tournament underway this Saturday, July 9 at home, competing in the Class 2A District 6 bracket after dropping from the Class 3A ranks for this season. The Indians will play host to Sumner-Fredericksburg in the 7 p.m. match-up of a scheduled District 6 opening-round doubleheader that will also feature South Winneshiek vs. MFL/MarMac at 5 p.m.

The winner of the Tribe’s first-round game will advance on to the district semifinals Tuesday, July 12 at and against Class 2A third-rated New Hampton, beginning at 7 p.m. The district semifinals winner will advance on to the District 6 championship game to be played Saturday, July 16 at 7 p.m. at New Hampton, with that opponent being either South Winneshiek, MFL/MarMac or North Fayette Valley.

The Waukon baseball team posted a single win in its four-game slate this past week. Opening the week with losses of 6-0 and 16-1 in four innings at Decorah Tuesday, June 28, the Indians then tallied their only win of the week, a 10-9 home victory over Postville that was shortened to just five innings due to stormy weather. The baseball Tribe wrapped up the week with a 1-0 loss at home to Oelwein Friday, July 1.

Now holding a 6-18 season record, 2-13 in the Northeast Iowa Conference, the Indians were slated to wrap up their regular season and begin their postseason this week. The Tribe will host two final home dates that are scheduled to include a doubleheader with New Hampton Tuesday, July 5 before a Thursday, July 7 date with Crestwood.

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by Val Meyer

The Kee softball team reigns supreme over the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) for the third consecutive season, but for the first time in those three title runs the Hawks have accomplished that feat in dominant, undefeated fashion, outscoring their UIC opponents by a combined run tally of 181-6. Posting an unblemished 18-0 record in UIC play, and compiling a 33-6 regular season record heading into postseason play this week, the Lady Hawks have posted shut-outs in 14 of those 18 Upper Iowa Conference games.

Half of those runs allowed in UIC play actually came this past week, as the Hawks completed their undefeated season with two final back-to-back doubleheader sweeps on the road. Kee first fought off Turkey Valley by scores of 6-2 and 6-1 Monday, June 27, but returned to shut-out fashion in completing its undefeated UIC season with mercy-rule wins of 11-0 and 12-0 at South Winneshiek Thursday, June 30.

The Kee baseball team will get Class 1A postseason tournament play underway Tuesday, July 12 at home, playing the second game of a scheduled tournament doubleheader that evening. The Hawks will take on Wapsie Valley at 7 p.m. that Tuesday, following the 5 p.m. contest between Starmont and Edgewood-Colesburg. The two winning teams from those first-round contests will advance on to a Thursday, July 14 district semifinals match-up to be played at 5 p.m. at Jesup as the first game of another District 7 doubleheader.

The Kee baseball team went to the very end of its competition schedule this week to avoid its first winless week of the season, needing an extra inning to do so. The Hawks suffered their first losses in Upper Iowa Conference play to start the week, dropping a doubleheader at North Fayette Valley Monday, June 27 by scores of 12-2 and 15-5, both in six innings. Kee also surrendered another doubleheader sweep at Crestwood, 10-1 and 10-3, Thursday, June 30 before snapping its longest losing streak of the season with a 3-2 victory at home over Denver in eight innings Friday, July 1.

The Waukon baseball team had its week get off to a rough start, but turned it around to a nearly complete reversal of fortune to close out the week with a pair of wins in their six-game slate. The Indians began the week with a pair of home losses to defending Class 3A State Tournament champion Waverly-Shell Rock, 17-0 in four innings and 10-2 before also falling at home to Central Elkader/Clayton Ridge by a score of 22-7 in a game rescheduled from late May. The Tribe’s late-week turn-around began with a 2-1 triumph in nine innings at Charles City Friday, June 24 and nearly continued to completion at its own Jeff Houg Tournament Saturday, June 25, where the Tribe opened with a 4-0 win over South Winneshiek before being denied the tournament title with a 7-5 loss to Waterloo Columbus.