TAKING A CRACK AT BACK-TO-BACK!!! Kee softball team blanks trio of regional opponents to earn return State Tournament trip to defend Class 1A championship
Members of the Kee softball team celebrate with the banner they were awarded after the Hawks earned a return trip to the Class 1A State Softball Tournament with an 11-0 triumph over Calamus-Wheatland Monday, July 10 on their home field in New Albin. Making their fourth trip to the season grand finale in school history, and their third in four years, the Hawks will now begin defense of their 2016 State Championship with a first-round Class 1A State Tournament game Monday, July 17 on Buena Vista University Diamond at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge against Montezuma, beginning at 11 a.m. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more at the “Photo Galleries” link on this website.
One might expect the top-rated team in the state to play to a sweep of its regional tournament opponents and earn a berth in the State Tournament, but the Kee softball team did so in dominating fashion in its three Class 1A Region 5 match-ups, all played at home for the second consecutive season. The Class 1A number-one rated Hawks played to three consecutive regional tournament victories for the third time in the past four seasons, this year outscoring those three opponents by a 33-0 final margin and outhitting those teams by a 29-3 count, the Hawks not allowing those three hits until their final regional tournament game.
Kee opened Class 1A Region 5 play with a 10-0 rout of Central Elkader in five innings Wednesday, July 5 before blasting Starmont by a 12-0 result in just three frames Friday, July 7. The Hawks then wrapped up their second consecutive regional championship with an 11-0 triumph over Calamus-Wheatland in a Monday, July 10 regional finals contest, earning the Hawks the opportunity to defend the Class 1A State Tournament championship they won last season.
That postseason tournament run pushes the Hawks’ overall season record to 35-2, including an unblemished 18-0 mark in UIC play. Kee will now begin defense of its Class 1A State Tournament crown Monday, July 17 at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge as Class 1A’s number-one tournament seed, the Hawks facing off against eighth-seeded Montezuma with a 19-12 season record. Further State Tournament details can be found in a shaded box elsewhere on the same Sports page in the print edition and e-edition of The Standard.
For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.
