Kee baseball team wins district tournament opener, 7-3, over Starmont, falls in district semifinals to Wapsie Valley by a single run, 5-4, to have season ended


Round-trip ticket to “tie land” ... Kee baseball junior pitcher Josh Walleser (at right) is greeted at home by teammates after blasting a two-run homerun in the bottom of the third inning of the Hawks’ 5-4 Class 1A District 7 Tournament loss to Wapsie Valley Thursday, July 12 in Calmar. Walleser’s team-leading sixth round-tripper of the season helped complete a Hawk comeback from an early 4-0 deficit and tie the game at 4-4. Walleser also belted a double for a team-high two hits in three at-bats in the contest, driving in a team-high two runs while also scoring one. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.

The Kee baseball team rode a bit of a postseason rollercoaster this past week, allowing its two Class 1A District 7 opponents faced to jump to an early lead before climbing back into contention in each postseason tournament game. The first of those comebacks continued to climb all the way to a 7-3 Hawk victory over Starmont at home in the quarterfinal round of District 7 play Tuesday, July 10, but the Kee baseballers’ climb back in their Thursday, July 12 district semifinals match-up played at the South Winneshiek High School baseball field in Calmar against Wapsie Valley could only pull the Hawks even with those Warriors before a final single-run descent in the late innings brought Kee’s 2018 season to a close with a 5-4 defeat.

The Hawks ended their season with a final 17-12 overall record that includes a final Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) mark of 12-2 that ended up placing them second in the final UIC standings behind the only league team to beat them this year, South Winneshiek. Wapsie Valley went on to also defeat Upper Iowa Conference champion South Winneshiek in the District 7 championship game Saturday, July 14, 7-3, with Wapsie Valley now poised to play for a trip to the Class 1A State Tournament in a Tuesday, July 17 Substate 4 contest to be played at Manchester against District 8 champion, third-ranked North Linn.

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