Sports

The Waukon baseball team put together its best week of baseball so far this season, splitting a four-game schedule and picking up its first Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) win of the season. The Indians opened the week with opposite fortune in a home NEIC doubleheader with Charles City, falling to the Comets by scores of 8-5 in eight innings and 6-4 Tuesday, June 7, but reversed that result in their final two games of the week by posting a 9-4 non-conference win at Turkey Valley Wednesday, June 8 and an 8-3 NEIC triumph at home over Decorah Friday, June 10.

The Waukon softball team battled through a somewhat frustrating early part of this past week before finally getting results to flow more in its favor later in the week. The Indian diamond dwellers dropped a pair of one-run losses to start the week, 4-3 in eight innings at Decorah Monday, June 6 and 7-6 in 11 frames at South Winneshiek Tuesday, June 7, before finally getting one of those one-run results to fall in their favor, 8-7, at New Hampton Thursday, June 9. The softball Tribe then won one of three games at the annual Anamosa Tournament Saturday, June 11, falling by a 6-1 result to Dyersville Beckman to open the tournament before bouncing back with a 16-1 rout of Midland-Wyoming and then closing out the tournament with a 4-1 loss to East Buchanan.

For the second consecutive week, the Kee baseball team came up just a single game shy of being undefeated for the week, as the Hawks pieced together another 5-1 result during a six-game slate. Four of those victories helped keep the Hawks undefeated in Upper Iowa Conference play through, now, eight consecutive games, including home sweeps of Starmont by scores of 5-3 and 4-0 Monday, June 6 and of South Winneshiek by results of 4-3 and 4-1 Thursday, June 9. The Hawks finished the week with a split of a spontaneously-scheduled doubleheader at St. Ansgar Saturday, June 11, falling by a score of 10-5 before posting a 10-1 victory, after relocating two games originally scheduled for a rain-soaked Charles City field.

by Val Meyer

The Kee softball team remained perfect in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play with another pair of doubleheader sweeps this past week, but sandwiched those victories around a loss to another top 15-ranked squad from a larger class. The Hawks recorded UIC sweeps at home, 10-0 and 13-2 - both in six innings - over Starmont Monday, June 6 and 10-0 and 11-0 - both in five innings - over West Central Thursday, June 9. In between those two rolling efforts, the Hawks suffered just their third loss of the season, a 4-2 home defeat to Class 3A 12th-rated Crestwood Tuesday, June 7.

by Val Meyer

The Kee baseball team played another full schedule of games in this second week of the 2016 season, coming up one game shy of an undefeated week - that game being the final one of a six-game slate this past week. The Hawks opened the week - and their Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) season - with an undefeated sweep of four consecutive UIC games, including a doubleheader at Edgewood-Colesburg that spanned two different nights and included victories of 2-1 Tuesday, May 31 and 14-3 in five innings Wednesday, June 1. A second UIC twinbill sweep saw the Hawks pull out a pair of one-run victories over Clayton Ridge at home, 4-3 and 3-2 in eight innings, Thursday, June 2. The Hawks wrapped up the week with a 12-0 triumph in five innings at Waukon Friday, June 3 before suffering their first loss of the week, 10-9, at home against Riceville Saturday, June 4.

The Waukon softball team book-ended a busy latter half of the week with some success, winning two of what amounted to just four full games played this past week. The Indians opened the week with a 9-6 victory in nine innings at MFL/MarMac Wednesday, June 1 before being swept in a Northeast Iowa Conference home doubleheader, 14-2 in five innings and 12-1 in six innings, with Charles City Thursday, June 2. The Indians then wrapped up the week with a 3-2 win in eight innings over Class 3A 14th-rated Iowa Falls-Alden in the only full game they played at the Jerry Newton Classic hosted by Charles City, also leading Belmond-Klemme, 6-1, in the second inning before rain put an end to that event Saturday, June 4.

The Waukon baseball team picked up its first win of the season in a week that resulted in just three games played due to some weather interference. That win came in a big way, 18-4 in five innings, over MFL/MarMac Wednesday, June 1, but was sandwiched by a pair of scoreless losses, 15-0 in four innings at Class 3A defending State Champion Waverly-Shell Rock Tuesday, May 31 and 12-0 in five innings to Kee at home Friday, June 3. That Waverly-Shell Rock date was supposed to be a doubleheader, but stormy weather only allowed one game and forced postponement of the other to a June 20 home date for the Indians with the highly-regarded Go-Hawks.

The Waukon baseball team got its 2016 season off to a winless start, including one loss to Mother Nature with the Tribe’s Friday, May 27 home game with Central Elkader/Clayton Ridge being postponed to June 21 due to rainy weather. Prior to that week-ending postponement, the baseball Indians had similar misfortune in the two games they did get to play, falling at home to North Fayette Valley, 17-0, in six innings Tuesday, May 24 and doing likewise on the road, 7-3, at South Winneshiek Thursday, May 23.
The Indians were next slated to open their Northeast Iowa Conference schedule at the home of Class 3A State  Tournament champion Waverly-Shell Rock Tuesday, May 31 before returning to a non-conference slate at home for the rest of the week, hosting MFL/MarMac Wednesday, June 1 and Kee Friday, June 3. The baseball Tribe will then host Charles City Tuesday, June 7 before playing at Turkey Valley Wednesday, June 8.

by Val Meyer

As the Kee softball team starts up another season, the squad is ecstatic to see what the upcoming season has in store. Last year, the Hawks had an outstanding season, winning 29 games and only losing 10. The final loss was the regional finals game against Bellevue-Marquette Catholic High School, a game in which the Hawks fell to the Mohawks, 2-1, to end up just one step shy of back-to-back State softball appearances.

“The final game of the 2015 season was definitely a hard pill to swallow,” Kee softball coach Liz Hill said. “But it has motivated the returning players to work hard in the off-season to make a State appearance this year.”