Kee softball team has State return quest ended by 2-1 regional finals loss


Kee softball senior first baseman Molly Walleser unloads on this pitch for a single in the top of the seventh inning that ignited the Hawks’ comeback hopes in their 2-1 loss in Class 1A regional championship play against seventh-rated Bellevue Marquette Monday, July 13 at Farley. Walleser collected two singles in three at-bats to lead Kee’s offense in her final game in a Kee softball uniform. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link.

The Kee softball team had its 2015 season brought to a close just short of its quest for a return trip to the Class 1A State Tournament, venturing down that postseason trail to win two of three games to come up only a single run short of another shot at a State Championship berth. The Lady Hawks first made their way through some familiar territory with back-to-back regional tournament wins at home over fellow Upper Iowa Conference teams Central Elkader, 10-1 Wednesday, July 8 in quarterfinal action, and 7-6 over Turkey Valley in the regional semifinals Friday, July 10.
But it took a team with now three State Tournament qualifications in the last four seasons to finally derail Kee’s plans for this season’s return, and it took that seasoned team until the final innings of the Region 3 championship game to get it done, as Kee’s season was brought to a close by a 2-1 loss to seventh-rated Bellevue Marquette Monday, July 13. The Lady Hawks were not the only team from last season’s Class 1A State Championship game denied a return trip to this season’s State Tournament, however, as top-rated and two-time defending Class 1A State Champion Akron-Westfield also had its season brought to an abrupt close by a 2-1 final margin on a walk-off homerun by first-time State qualifier, ninth-rated River Valley, Monday night as well, guaranteeing two fresh faces in the battle for Class 1A supremacy this season.
Instead, the Lady Hawks had what amounted to a final 17-game winning streak, and their 2015 campaign, brought to an end at a 29-11 overall record that included a 17-1 Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) mark that earned the Hawks another UIC season title.

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