Sports

It was a fateful final week of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play for the Kee baseball team, as the Hawks were dealt an early blow to their hopes of a repeat as UIC season champions but could not get the help to recover from that blow later in the week. That UIC damage was done by a rare home doubleheader loss to North Fayette Valley Monday, June 26 by scores of 6-0 and 8-0 that dropped the Hawks to three UIC losses on the season, just one loss behind Clayton Ridge/Central’s two conference losses on the season that, ironically, were handed to them by Kee.

The Kee softball team turned in some ending results on each end of the spectrum during its final week of the regular season this past week. The Hawks completed a second consecutive undefeated Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) campaign to win their fourth straight UIC season championship, but brought their regular season to a close with just their second loss of the season, completing their best-ever regular season record of 32-2 with an unblemished 18-0 mark in UIC play.

The Waukon baseball team picked up a pair of wins during this busy past week, including the baseball Tribe’s first Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) victory of the season. The Indians opened the week with a 13-0 loss at home to Waverly-Shell Rock in five innings Monday, June 19 before falling in a NEIC doubleheader at Crestwood that began Friday, June 16 but was suspended by rain to Tuesday, June 20, those losses coming by scores of 9-5 and 17-3. The Tribe also fell at home to Starmont in a non-conference contest Wednesday, June 21, 10-8, before picking up that first NEIC win, 7-4, at home over Charles City Friday, June 23. The Indians then pieced together their first win streak of the season by opening their own home Jeff Houg Tournament Saturday, June 24 with a 14-8 victory in eight innings over Kee before having the championship game against South Winneshiek rained out.

The Kee softball team swept through another week of undefeated results, chalking up another pair of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) doubleheader victims to remain undefeated in UIC play at 14-0 before also winning a weekend tournament to climb to a 25-1 season record to help maintain its number-one ranking in Class 1A. The Hawks opened this past week with a sweep at Central Elkader Monday, June 19 by scores of 13-0 in six innings and 14-0 in four innings before doing likewise at North Fayette Valley Tuesday, June 20, 13-0 in three innings and 13-1 in four innings, in a date rescheduled from June 12. Kee then swept through the Decorah Tournament Saturday, June 24, defeating Waukon, 15-0 in four innings, and Osage, 8-1 in six innings, in a preliminary pool round before winning the tournament title with a 13-0 championship game victory over South Winneshiek in five frames.

The Waukon softball team added another game to the win column this past week, winning one game out of a total of seven played this past week. The softball Indians first stumbled through four Northeast Iowa Conference losses, falling at home to Charles City, 12-0 in six innings, Monday, June 19 before falling in a doubleheader at Decorah Wednesday, June 21 by scores of 9-1 and 9-2. A Thursday, June 22 home doubleheader with Oelwein was postponed to Monday, June 26 before the softball Tribe fell at Crestwood, 10-0 in five innings, in a June 12 game rescheduled to Friday, June 23. The softball Tribe then won one of three games at the Decorah Tournament Saturday, falling to Class 1A top-rated Kee, 15-0 in four innings, and to Osage, 10-4, in a preliminary pool round before pulling out a 5-4 victory over Central Elkader in the tournament’s fifth-place game.

The Kee baseball team was finally handed its first Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) loss of the season before finishing third in win a weekend tournament in a week featuring four wins in six games played. The baseball Hawks opened the week with a home sweep of Postville Monday, June 19 by mercy-rule scores of 10-0 and 11-1 in five innings each before suffering that first UIC loss in a split of another home doubleheader postponed from Thursday, June 22 to Friday, June 23. Turkey Valley handed the Hawks that first loss, 10-0, but Kee earned the split with a 4-1 victory as well. Kee also split two games at the annual Jeff Houg Tournament in Waukon Saturday, June 24, falling to Waukon in the tournament opener, 14-8 in eight innings, before blasting Waterloo Columbus, 10-0 in five innings, in the tournament’s consolation game.

The Waukon baseball team ended up on each side of a string of mercy-rule final results this past week, unfortunately ending up on the losing side of that result in two of three contests. The Indians’ week began and ended with weather-impacted contests, a Monday, June 12 game at Oelwein being suspended in the third inning until Thursday, June 15 and a similar situation unfolding in a Friday, June 16 doubleheader at home against Crestwood, where the Tribe was in the third inning of game one with the Cadets when rain suspended that game also. The Cadets were scheduled to return to Waukon Tuesday, June 20 to finish up both the suspended game and the second half of that home twinbill.

The Waukon softball team had an initially busy week lightened up a bit early on in the week before ultimately ending it with a fourth victory of the season in dramatic fashion. The Indians had a Monday, June 12 Northeast Iowa Conference match-up at Crestwood postponed to Friday, June 23 before falling in back-to-back contests, 10-3 at home to North Fayette Valley Tuesday, June 13 and 14-4 in five innings at Waverly-Shell Rock Wednesday, June 14. The week culminated with a 7-6 home triumph over Osage Thursday, June 15 that happened in comeback fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Waukon Indian girls golf coach Kathy McMillan (left in photo) has been named District Coach of the Year for Class 3A District 4 by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association following completion of the 2017 Iowa high school girls golf season. McMillan coached the Indians to an 8-7 season record and advancement to the Class 3A Regional Finals Tournament with a Regional First Round Tournament runner-up finish.

Winning streak of nearly a year comes to an end, but UIC winning streak of two years continues

The Kee softball team entered this past weekend as the lone Iowa high school softball team yet undefeated on the season. Unfortunately, that streak of wins - which stood at 17 games to start this season and actually dated back nearly a full year to a string of 33 consecutive victories since last season’s Decorah Tournament, which is coming up this weekend - came to an end in this past Saturday’s semifinal round of the West Delaware Tournament on the way to the Hawks finishing third in the 16-team event with three wins in four games.