Kee baseball team’s Class 1A State Tournament Runner-Up finish highlights 35-10 campaign for 2021, fuels fire for next season’s large returning class
The 2021 Kee baseball campaign proved to be the best season recorded by a Hawk diamond squad in the past decade, as this year’s Kee diamond dwellers not only played to the program’s first State Tournament appearance since the 2011 season but also played to the same season grand finale result as those Hawks from 10 years ago - a Class 1A State Tournament Runner-Up finish, also posting the most wins in a single season since 2011 with this summer’s 35-10 overall record. Although Kee head baseball coach Jim Mauss acknowledges this year’s season result is a great accomplishment, he also sees it as something that should be the norm, rather than the exception.
“I think the run all the way to the State Tournament championship game sets the bar to where Kee High baseball should be on a consistent basis,” Coach Mauss said. “We’ve been winning games the past couple of years but haven’t had the postseason success that we had this year. I think finally having upperclassmen in the line-up and experienced ball players have made a world of difference. We scheduled a 40-game varsity schedule and 28-game JV schedule with only 23 kids and it has played a huge role in this year’s success and hopefully contributes to future years’ successes as well.”
That road to a 35-10 season mark included Class 1A District Tournament and Substate Tournament Championships, as well as a 16-2 record in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that claimed the Hawks’ first UIC Championship since the 2016 season, Kee having finished as the UIC runner-up by just a game or two each of the past four seasons. This year’s UIC title was shared with a South Winneshiek squad that has edged the Hawks for that UIC crown in each of the last three seasons, which also does not completely satisfy what the head Hawk - and his charges - expect from the Kee baseball program.
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