Sports

June 23, eight ladies from the Harpers Ferry Fireflies team traveled to Des Moines to partake in the Iowa Senior Games, participating in the free throw shooting contest, Around the World, and in the afternoon they participated in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament under the name of Girls on Fire. In the morning contests, Judy Kelly of Prairie du Chien, WI won a bronze medal in the free throw contest for her age group. Sherry Adney of McGregor won the gold medal for her age group in the free throw contest, and Georgia Jones of McGregor won a gold medal in the free throw contest and a silver medal in the Around the World contest in her age group. In the afternoon event, the Girls on Fire placed first in a hotly-contested 3-on-3 tournament. The three teams placing in the medals each won two games and lost one.

The Kee softball team tied State Tournament all-time records with 23 hits and 18 runs in opening up their Class 1A State Tournament championship defense with an 18-1 victory over Montezuma Monday, July 17 at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. The Hawks scored in just three innings, but did so with five runs in the second, four more in the fifth, and doubled that total with nine in the seventh inning to take a considerable first step toward repeating as Class 1A State Tournament champions. The Hawks will now advance to the Thursday, July 20 Class 1A semifinals, beginning at 7 p.m., and will play Westwood, 11-9 first-round winners over Colfax-Mingo.

Complete details, including photos, of the Hawks' State Tournament run will appear in the July 26 issue of The Standard. You can subscribe to The Standard's print edition or e-edition by clicking here.

The Kee baseball team used some final inning dramatics to earn advancement to the Class 1A Substate 3 championship game with a 5-4 triumph at home over St. Ansgar Saturday, July 15 in District 5 championship play. Tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Danny Brennan scored from third base on a squeeze bunt by sophomore Josh Walleser to plate the winning run and advance the Hawks further down the postseason road. The Hawks will now play Hudson Tuesday, July 18 at Wartburg College baseball field in Waverly, beginning at 7 p.m. Winner of that substate contest will earn the right to play in the Class 1A State Tournament. Full coverage of Kee's district tournament championship run can be found in the July 19 issue of The Standard.

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The Harpers Ferry Fireflies struck gold for the second consecutive year at the Iowa State Granny Basketball Tournament held in Des Moines during the Iowa Senior Games Friday through Sunday, June 23-25. The Fireflies, coached by Bill Nation and assisted by Ron Steege, both of Harpers Ferry, played five games in two days. Saturday, they played in Pool Play to decide who would get a bye in Sunday’s single elimination tournament. The Fireflies defeated the Monroe Mustangs, 63-39, and then played the Lansing Great Dames and beat them, 46-29, to win their pool and advance into championship bracket play. The State Championship was decided during Sunday’s tournament. Harpers Ferry was given a bye for the first round then won its next three games. They defeated the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers by a score of 55-44, followed by a win over the Lady Redbirds from Carlisle, 52-31, to advance to the tournament’s championship game.

The Waukon baseball team played the spectrum this week, ending its regular season with four final losses this past week before beginning postseason tournament play with a victory. That final four-game slide began with a pair of mercy-rule losses at Class 2A top-rated New Hampton by scores of 11-1 and 13-3, both in five innings, Monday, July 3. That trend continued at Crestwood Wednesday, July 5 with a 9-2 loss before the Tribe’s regular season came to a close with a 13-7 defeat at home against South Winneshiek Thursday, July 6 in a rescheduled championship game from the Jeff Houg Tournament that was rained out from June 24. Completion of the regular season gave way to a first-round Indian victory, 8-3, at home Saturday, July 8 over Starmont in the first round of Class 2A District Tournament play.

The Kee baseball team brought its regular season to a close with a split in each of its two final dates on the playing schedule. The Hawks opened their final week of the regular season with a split of a home doubleheader with Maquoketa Valley Monday, July 3, posting a 5-1 victory in game one before suffering a 1-0 defeat in the nightcap. Those splitting ways continued in Kee’s final regular season date played at Luther College in Decorah Thursday, July 6, the Hawks defeating Riceville by a 14-4 result in six innings before falling to West Fork by a final score of 7-2.

The Waukon softball team had its season brought to a close in the opening round of Class 3A Regional Tournament play Wednesday, July 5, taking on a familiar foe in fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad New Hampton. The Indians had fallen to the Chickasaws in all three previous games they played this season, but to varying degrees. Wednesday’s postseason match-up played out to just about all of those same degrees on the way to a 17-5 Indian loss in six innings.

The loss ends the Indians’ season with an overall record of 7-25 that includes a 3-15 mark to end up sixth in the final Northeast Iowa Conference standings. New Hampton went on to fall to seventh-rated Center Point-Urbana Friday, July 7 by a 10-5 final result.

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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.

The Waukon baseball team was dealt some early week losses before recovering to win two of three final games during this past week. One of those early losses had already played out to Waukon’s first Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) victory and win streak of the season in the previous week, but a 7-4 home victory over Charles City from Friday, June 23, instead, was ruled a forfeit loss after this season’s new pitch count rule revealed a miscalculation in the Indian pitching rotation that did not allow enough rest time, wiping that lone NEIC win for the Indians away on a technicality.

The Waukon softball team wrapped up its regular season schedule this past week, getting the week off to a strong start with a doubleheader sweep before having that favor returned two-fold, all six of its games this past week coming in Northeast Iowa Conference play. The Indians began the week with home mercy-rule victories of 14-3 in six innings and 12-2 in five innings over Oelwein Monday, June 26 in a twinbill rescheduled from June 22. The softball Tribe had that fortune reversed in its final two regular season dates, being swept in a doubleheader at New Hampton by scores of 8-7 and 10-0 in five innings Tuesday, June 27 and suffering a similar fate at home against Crestwood by final results of 11-1 and 8-0 Thursday, June 29.