Kee baseball team has postseason run and 2017 campaign brought to a close with 10-6 Substate loss to postseason Cinderella Hudson


Kee baseball senior catcher Danny Brennan puts down a bunt in the Hawks’ 10-6 Class 1A Substate 3 loss to Hudson at Waverly Tuesday, July 18. Brennan was one for three with a sacrifice in his final game in a Hawk uniform. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.

Cinderella was dressed as a Pirate for this year’s ball (tournament), as the Hudson Pirates entered Class 1A postseason play with a losing record of 14-16, but played their way all the way to the Class 1A State Tournament with four straight postseason victories. Unfortunately for the Kee baseball Hawks, they were the last team on Hudson’s postseason dance card, suffering a 10-6 defeat Tuesday, July 18 in the Class 1A Substate 3 championship game played at Hertl Field on the Wartburg College campus in Waverly.

Scoring all of their runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the Pirates only out-hit the Hawks by a 10-7 count and actually issued three more free passes and struck out two more times themselves. But Hudson took better advantage of its scoring opportunities, stranding just four baserunners and only two of them as far as second base. Meanwhile, Kee stranded seven baserunners that included four who were in scoring position in different innings and two left on third base, including one in the final frame left over from a bases-loaded situation with just one out in the Hawks’ final comeback attempt that came up short.

The Hawks’ Substate 3 loss wraps up their season record at 25-11 overall, including their 13-3 Upper Iowa Conference mark. With the win, Hudson advanced to the Class 1A State Tournament for the first time since 2002, where the Pirates were immediately eliminated from the season grand finale by third-rated Martensdale-St. Mary’s, 7-4, in the opening round of the tournament Saturday, July 22.

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