Kee baseball team earns first Substate berth in five seasons with sweep of three district tournament opponents, two of them by single run in late innings
Kee baseball senior right fielder Evan Whalen chases down a fly ball in the Hawks’ 9-2 home win over Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, July 11. Photo by Jordyn Burroughs. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on The Standard’s website, www.waukonstandard.com.
Postseason tournament play is supposed to be the most exciting time of the season, and the Kee baseball team took that excitement level even higher as the Hawks played to a Class 1A District 5 championship and substate berth with three consecutive victories at home this past week, including a pair of one-run triumphs earned in dramatic late-inning fashion in their final two district tournament games. The baseball Hawks opened their postseason tournament road with a 9-2 win over Nashua-Plainfield at home Tuesday, July 11 before pulling out one of those one-run triumphs, 9-8, over Turkey Valley with a five-run sixth inning Thursday, July 13. Kee then clinched its first substate berth since the 2012 season with even further dramatics, scoring the game-winning run on the last play of a 5-4 victory over St. Ansgar Saturday, July 15.
The Hawks’ district championship run improved their season record to 25-10 overall record, including their 13-3 Upper Iowa Conference mark. The baseball Hawks were next scheduled to play for the Class 1A Substate 3 championship Tuesday, July 18 against Hudson, beginning at 7 p.m. Further details of that Hawk opportunity for a State Tournament berth and potential season grand finale pathway are printed in a shaded box elsewhere on this same Sports page in the print edition and e-edition of The Standard.
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