Kee baseball team takes another step down postseason trail with 10-0 win over Turkey Valley, has season ended in another classic battle with South Winn, 3-1
One hit, 7 K’s in five shut-out innings ... Kee baseball senior pitcher Cam Lind delivers a pitch in the Hawks’ 10-0 home win over Turkey Valley in the Class 1A District 8 semifinal round of tournament play Tuesday, July 9. Lind allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out seven batters in five innings of scoreless mound work in the victory, also collecting a pair of singles in three at-bats to both drive in and score a run. Photo by Danielle Potter. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.
The Kee baseball team had its 2024 season brought to a close this past week, both by an all too common foe in recent years yet in a very rare and unfortunate manner. After playing its way to the Class 1A District Championship game for a third time in the past four seasons with a 10-0 mercy-rule win in six innings at home over Turkey Valley Tuesday, July 9 in the district semifinals, the baseball Hawks were matched up for the fifth time in the past six seasons with fellow Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) top contender South Winneshiek in a postseason battle that has also turned out to be a stepping stone for eventual State Tournament qualification for one of the two squads in each of the four postseason match-ups prior to this season.
The unfortunate part of that recent streak of postseason match-ups between the two squads is that South Winneshiek has won three of the last four - including the two most recent in the past two seasons. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the host Warriors played to a 3-1 lead through the middle of six innings before storms rolled through the area and forced initial suspension of the latest postseason match-up between the two squads, Saturday, July 13 in the Class 1A District 8 Championship game played in Calmar.
Perhaps most unfortunate, however, is the fact that administrative and game officials further determined the field in Calmar was unplayable following the stormy weather, leaving that 3-1 Kee deficit as the game’s final score in a game deemed an official end result at that sixth-inning point, having met the criteria for an official game result of five required innings established by the National Federation of State High School Associations and ultimately ending the Hawks’ 2024 campaign one final inning short of being able to try and formulate a final comeback effort.
That abrupt end to the Hawks’ 2024 campaign left their regular season record at 26-11 overall and includes a 13-5 mark in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that placed them third in this season’s final UIC team standings. With its win over Kee, South Winneshiek advanced to its fifth Class 1A Substate Championship game in the past six seasons, matching up with Don Bosco Tuesday, July 16 at Charles City for the right to play in this season’s Class 1A State Tournament.
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