Sports

Another busy week of eight games for the Kee softball team saw the Lady Hawks win six of those eight games, giving life to another Upper Iowa Conference winning streak with two more sweeps of league opponents before splitting four games at a weekend tournament. The Kee softballers first posted wins of 4-2 and 11-1 in six innings over MFL/MarMac at home Monday, June 24 before doing likewise Wednesday, June 26 with West Central at home as well, 12-2 and 13-1, both in just five innings. The Hawks then played four games in the annual Don Bosco Tournament, splitting two games both Friday, June 28 - a 12-5 loss to Class 2A ninth-rated East Marshall before defeating Don Bosco, 9-8, in a 10-inning marathon - and Saturday, June 29 - a 14-3 loss to Class 3A fifth-rated Waterloo Columbus followed by a 13-3 win over West Marshall.

The Kee baseball team traveled near the end of each spectrum of success this past week and also ended up on each end of the win-loss spectrum in doing so. The Hawks first swept an Upper Iowa Conference pair at winless Postville Monday, June 24 by equal scores of 12-1 in five and seven innings before battling Class 2A fifth-rated New Hampton to just a 4-3 defeat Wednesday, June 26.

The Hawks were also supposed to play a non-conference doubleheader at home against Crestwood Thursday, June 27. That home twinbill was called off due to rainy weather and is not scheduled to be made up.

In what turned out to be its only competition of the week, the Waukon softball team traveled to New Hampton Tuesday, June 25 for its final road doubleheader of the 2019 season against a Class 3A 12th-rated Chickasaw team sitting in second place in the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings and hosting its final NEIC contest of the summer. The Tribe diamond dwellers battled the single-digit loss Chickasaws closely in game one before having that game yanked away, 4-3, with a walk-off solo homerun, but was then limited to just four hits in falling by a 9-2 result in game two.

The Waukon baseball team was able to pick up a convincing win this past week in the middle of a final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) stretch against teams on each end of the NEIC spectrum. The Indians opened the week suffering a home doubleheader sweep at the hands of Class 2A fifth-rated New Hampton Tuesday, June 25 by scores of 17-4 and 12-0 in five innings before rolling to an 18-3 win at home in just four innings over Starmont Wednesday, June 26. The baseball Tribe then came up just shy once again in a third consecutive one-run ballgame against Crestwood, falling by a 2-1 result for a second time at Cresco Friday, June 28.

A Thursday, June 27 non-conference road date at Postville was also scheduled for this past week. That ballgame was postponed by stormy weather and has been rescheduled for Friday, July 5.

The Waukon baseball team battled through a week without a win, falling to four Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) opponents during weekday competition before suffering that same fate to a non-conference pair in the Tribe’s own weekend home invitational tournament. The Indians opened the week with a 10-0 loss at Waverly-Shell Rock in six innings Monday, June 17 before falling in a NEIC doubleheader at Oelwein Wednesday, June 19 by scores of 11-7 and 8-0. A home NEIC loss to Decorah Friday, 11-0 in five innings, gave way to another two-game sweep at home in the Tribe’s own annual Jeff Houg Tournament, the Waukon boys first falling to Class 1A eighth-rated South Winneshiek by an 11-0 count in five innings before battling to a 15-6 loss to Kee in the tournament finale.

The Waukon softball team had a full week of eight games get better as the week progressed, the Lady Indians ultimately splitting those eight contests to pick up another pair of Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) wins before playing to a runner-up finish at the Decorah Tournament over the weekend. The softball Tribe opened the week with a 13-0 loss in just three innings to Class 4A third-rated Charles City Monday, June 17 before being swept at Decorah Wednesday, June 19 by scores of 3-2 and 14-10. The Indians began their turn for the better with a NEIC doubleheader sweep of Oelwein at home, 4-3 and 11-4, Thursday, June 20 before winning two of three games at the Decorah Tournament Saturday, June 22 to finish as the tournament runner-up, defeating Turkey Valley, 10-0, and Kee, 7-6, before falling to that same Decorah team for a third time in the past week, 8-5, in the tournament championship game.

The Kee softball team played to a 6-3 record in a full week of games this past week, first playing six games in three nights before playing three games in a single-day Saturday tournament. Most notable within that busy week was the extension of the Lady Hawks’ win streak spanning four seasons of Upper Iowa Conference games to 70 consecutive games before that streak was finally snapped by the last team to beat them in UIC play midway through the 2015 season.

The Kee baseball team won five of six games this past week, sweeping a pair of weekday doubleheaders before splitting a weekend tournament pair. The Hawks opened their week with two wins at home over North Fayette Valley, 5-2 and 5-0, Monday, June 17 before doing the same in a non-conference twinbill against Clarke of Osceola played at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo Wednesday, June 19. Kee then split two games at the Jeff Houg Tournament hosted by Waukon Saturday, June 22, first falling to South Winneshiek by a third straight one-run decision, 8-7, before defeating the hosts, 15-6.

The Waukon baseball team played to a winning record for the week for the first time this season, winning three of five games played on four consecutive nights. The Indians opened the week with a 13-1 dismantling of Clayton Ridge on the road in five innings Tuesday, June 11 before splitting a Northeast Iowa Conference home doubleheader with Crestwood Wednesday, June 12, suffering just a 2-1 loss before pulling out a 10-9 triumph in the nightcap. The baseball Tribe then recorded a 13-4 win over Osage at home Thursday, June 13 before finishing up the week with a 17-4 loss in five innings at home to Charles City.

The Waukon baseball team will host its annual Jeff Houg Tournament this Saturday, June 22, originally planning to host three other teams in a four-game bracketed tournament but having the team from Tripoli pull out of the tournament this past week. So, the tournament is currently slated to be played in round-robin format as of the Tuesday morning print deadline for this issue.

The tournament is scheduled to begin with a 10 a.m. match-up between the Indians and South Winneshiek, with Kee and South Winneshiek then slated to play at 12:30 p.m. The tournament will then wrap up with Kee and Waukon scheduled to play a 3 p.m. ballgame.