Sports

The 2023 Kee softball team returned enough players with varsity letterwinning experience to more than fill a nine-player line-up, as all but two eighth graders on this season’s squad brought some veteran varsity experience to this summer’s campaign that ended up at a 15-18 season record. Having more than half of those letterwinners return with just a single year of high school softball experience as freshmen this year, and having that overall young squad play a stringent non-conference schedule that accounted for 14 of this season’s losses, kept the Lady Hawks hovering near an average result in the win-loss column for another season, but the effort they put forth this summer soared far above average and gives veteran Kee softball coach Liz Hill something to look forward to continuing to build upon.

The Waukon High School football coaching staff is hosting its 2023 Waukon Indian Football Camp Monday through Friday, July 31-August 4. The camp, run by the Waukon coaching staff, is a non-contact camp aimed at teaching fundamental instruction in offensive/defensive techniques necessary for the execution of Waukon’s system of play.

Participants should plan to attend camp in shorts and a t-shirt, and should bring football cleats as well as shoes appropriate for the gym. Camp will take place behind Waukon High School on the practice football fields. In the event of lightning or inclement weather, the camp will be held indoors.

The high school camp is for students entering grades 9 through 12 this fall and will be held from 4:30-8 p.m. each evening. Friday, August 4 will last later because it will involve equipment check-out for the season.

There will be  a cross country camp Monday through Thursday, July 31-August 3 for boys and girls entering grades 7-12 in the Allamakee Community School District this fall. As always, there is no fee for the camp, which will start at 4 p.m. each day for girls and at 6 p.m. each day for boys. Both the girls and boys camps will be held at the cross country course behind Waukon High School.

Boys and girls entering seventh grade will need to have their completed athletic physical form turned in to the middle school office, or they must bring them to camp, before they will be allowed to participate. All other grades can use their physical exam from the last school year for camp. Participants should bring a completed registration form to the first day of camp, July 31.

A major league effort of nine innings of baseball unfortunately resulted in the end of the 2023 Waukon baseball season in the diamond Tribe’s Class 2A District Tournament semifinals match-up Wednesday, July 5 played at New Hampton against MFL/MarMac. The Indians had just lost to those same Bulldogs one week earlier, 3-1, to wrap up their regular season. Finding themselves in a 6-1 hole in their postseason rematch, the Waukon boys rallied to a 6-6 knot in the seventh frame to force extra innings, ultimately having the game snatched away in the ninth frame for a 7-6 loss to end their season.

The Waukon softball team had its 2023 season brought to a close this past week in regional tournament play, but not before taking an initial step down that postseason path to end up with a split of two Class 3A Region 7 games. The Indians opened their regional tournament schedule with a dramatic, 7-6 win pulled out on the last play of their Thursday, July 6 regional opener at home against Crestwood. Their reward was a regional semifinal match-up with Class 3A’s third-rated team, the Golden Eagles of Dubuque Wahlert, who brought the diamond Tribe’s 2023 campaign to a close with a 12-0 defeat in three innings in Dubuque Saturday, July 8.

For the fourth time this season, the Kee baseball team was facing off against a South Winneshiek team that has been its greatest rival in recent years, with this fourth match-up having much more riding on it than their previous three regular season contests when the two teams took to the field Wednesday, July 5 in Calmar in the Class 1A District 6 semifinals. That rivalry of recent years has produced some classic baseball battles between the two clubs, with this semifinals match-up further adding to that mix as the Hawks gave the host Warriors yet another close battle but ended up surrendering their fourth end result this season by three runs or less, this time by a 4-1 final score that brought Kee’s 2023 season to a close.

The regular season came to an end and postseason play began for the Kee baseball team this past week, all in victorious fashion as the Hawks wrapped up a runner-up team finish in the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) standings and earned advancement down the Class 1A District Tournament trail with their five wins in six days. Those five Kee wins included a doubleheader sweep of North Fayette Valley at home Monday June 26 by scores of 10-0 in six innings and 9-2, two non-conference wins at the Riverfront Stadium home of the Waterloo Bucks Wednesday, June 28, 8-2 over Iowa Valley and 3-1 in eight innings over Green Mountain-Garwin, and a 6-1 victory over Turkey Vally in the opening round of Class 1A District Tournament play at Calmar Saturday, July 1.

The Kee softball team had its regular season, and ultimately its overall 2023 campaign, brought to a close this past week, playing five final games and having the last three of those end up shy of the win column. The Lady Hawks first took a step toward Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) contention with a sweep of two games at West Central Monday, June 26 by scores of 16-2 in four innings and 11-1 in five frames, but had their UIC title hopes derailed Wednesday, June 28 with a doubleheader loss at South Winneshiek, 3-2 and 8-5. Kee’s diamond dwellers kicked off postseason tournament play at home Friday, June 30 with the same West Central team they started this past week with, but did not experience the same result as earlier in the week, battling the Blue Devils through seven innings of scoreless softball before having their season ended by a 2-0 loss in eight frames.

The Waukon baseball team brought its regular season to a close this past week, playing three final games, all on the road. The Indians first wrapped up their Northeast Iowa Conference season with a doubleheader loss at Charles City by scores of 15-8 and 5-4 in 10 innings Monday, June 26 before bringing their overall regular season to a close with a 3-1 loss at MFL/MarMac in Monona Wednesday, June 28.

The Indians wrapped up their regular season with a 15-18 season record that includes a mark of 8-12 that placed them fifth in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) team standings. They are next scheduled to begin Class 2A District Tournament play Wednesday, July 5 against MFL/MarMac at New Hampton.

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The Waukon softball team wrapped up its regular season this past week, playing four final games in four days. With three of those games being played against Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) foes, the Lady Indians opened the week with a doubleheader loss at Charles City by scores of 7-4 and 5-0 Tuesday, June 27 and ended the week with a 3-2 home loss to Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, June 30. In between that NEIC slide, the diamond Tribe recorded its lone win of the week, a 14-0 triumph in five innings at MFL/MarMac Wednesday, June 28.

The Lady Indians finished their regular season with a 15-14 season record that includes a 6-9 mark that placed them fourth in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings. The Lady Indians are next scheduled to open their Class 3A Regional Tournament Thursday, July 6 at home against Crestwood.