Sports

The Waukon baseball team had its 2021 campaign brought to a close this past week with a split of two Class 2A District 8 Tournament games, but not before venturing farther than any diamond Tribe has in postseason play since 2011, when the Indians made their last State Tournament bid, and providing Waukon baseball fans with some thrilling memories and hope along the way. After posting a 10-0 first-round district triumph over a winless Postville squad more than a week ago, this year’s postseason surge continued against two much stronger squads in games played at Jesup, the baseball Tribe first waging war against Waterloo Columbus (21-12) Tuesday, July 13 to pull out a 9-7 triumph in 11 innings before then battling eighth-rated Jesup (25-3) right to the very end of just a 3-2 loss at the home of the highly-regarded J-Hawks Saturday, July 17 to have the 2021 diamond season brought to an end.

The Kee baseball team’s postseason path would end up crossing this past week with a pair of teams the Hawks had fallen to in back-to-back games nearly three weeks earlier. Fortunately, Kee’s diamond dwellers would avenge both of those regular season losses with a pair of two-run triumphs at home that have now pushed the Hawks to their first District Championship and Substate berth since the 2017 season.

Waukon Park & Recreation is excited to be offering a tennis program for the first time this summer, teaming up with instructor Aaron Gentes to provide this opportunity. The program is for girls and boys ages seven to 17.

Participants will gain a better understanding of the sport along with learning basic tennis technique and form. The classes will be divided by age groups as follows:

• 7-8 year olds (5-5:50 p.m.)
• 9-10 year olds (6-6:50 p.m.)
• 11-17 year olds (7-7:50 p.m.)

The tennis program will be held Monday evenings at the times listed above, taking place at the Waukon Tennis Courts (across from the Wellness Center) starting July 26 and running for five weeks. Program dates are July 26, August 2, August 9, August 16 and August 23. In the event of rain, a make-up date will be determined at that time.

The Waukon baseball team both ended its regular season and opened its postseason this past week, both of those games ending in 10-0 results in five innings and the diamond Tribe ending up on each end of that results spectrum. The Indians brought their regular season to a close with a 10-0 loss to West Delaware in five innings Tuesday, July 6 in a game played at the Mt. Mercy University baseball field in Cedar Rapids but reversed that fortune in opening Class 2A District 8 Tournament play with a 10-0 home win in five innings over Postville Saturday, July 10.

The Waukon softball team had its 2021 season brought to a close after splitting its first two Class 3A Region 6 Tournament games this past week, but not before giving its fans all the thrills involved with a pair of one-run final results in those two games. The Indians began their postseason journey hosting fellow Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) squad New Hampton Tuesday, July 6, the Tribe continuing a season-long history of high-scoring, one-run battles with the Chickasaws by pulling out a 10-9 victory at home in the opening round of Class 3A Region 6 competition.

The Kee baseball team put together another undefeated week on the field this past week, but this latest series of final result success held much more meaning than any of the Hawks’ couple other unblemished weeks of competition this season. This past week’s four wins began with a final Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) sweep that clinched a share of Kee’s first Upper Iowa Conference season championship since the 2016 season and ended with a successful first step down the Hawks’ postseason tournament road.

The Kee softball team both started and ended its Class 1A postseason tournament trail this past week with two games played that each ended with final scores of 4-3. The Lady Hawks ended up being on each side of those 4-3 results to have their 2021 softball campaign brought to a close in the semifinal round of Class 1A regional tournament play.

The first of those 4-3 final results came in Kee’s first regional tournament game Wednesday, July 7 at home against Edgewood-Colesburg, with the Hawks rebounding from a 3-2 deficit to score the game’s winning run on the final play of the contest for a 4-3 Lady Hawk victory. That win in the quarterfinal round advanced Kee to the regional tournament semifinals at North Butler Friday, July 9, where the Hawks battled back from a 3-0 deficit but ultimately came out on the other end of another 4-3 result to have their season brought to a close.

The Kee baseball team got back on a more winning track this past week, playing to a 5-1 result in six games played. Those five wins began with completion of another pair of season sweeps over two Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) foes, including a Monday, June 28 home doubleheader sweep of North Fayette Valley by scores of 8-2 and 10-2 and a 6-0 win over Turkey Valley at home Thursday, July 1. The Hawks then split a non-conference road doubleheader at Alburnett Friday, July 2, winning game one by a 3-1 result before falling by a 5-1 count in the nightcap, with the Kee boys then wrapping up their week with a 6-0 win at Waukon Saturday, July 3.

An undefeated final week of the regular season for the Kee softball team landed the Lady Hawks atop the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) once again, after finishes just outside that realm in each of the last two seasons. That final sweep included wins of 13-0 and 15-6 at South Winneshiek Monday, June 28 before a similar result at home over North Fayette Valley Wednesday, June 30 resulting in victorious Kee battles of 10-7 and 4-3.

The Waukon softball team brought its regular season schedule to a close with two final games this past week, playing to a split of those final two contests. The positive end of that split was a 6-0 non-conference win at Central Elkader Monday, June 28 before the diamond Tribe’s 2021 regular season was brought to a close with a 9-2 loss at home to Class 3A 11th-rated Crestwood Thursday, July 1 in a final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) contest. That split of the week’s ballgames wrapped up the softball Tribe’s regular season record at an 11-18 overall season result that includes a 3-15 NEIC mark that places the diamond Tribe in seventh place in the seven-team final NEIC standings.