Kee High repeats as 1A state softball champion

FORT DODGE — A pair of somber Clarksville fans climbed out the stands. One took the glass-half-full approach:

'At least we got beat by the best team.'

Of that, there is no doubt.

Top-ranked Lansing Kee concluded a dominant postseason run, scoring five times in the third inning and rolling past No. 6 Clarksville, 8-1, for its second consecutive Class 1A championship at the state softball tournament Friday evening at the Rogers Sports Complex.

'Our goal was to take a crack at back-to-back, and we achieved it,' said Kee senior Sydney Strong, one of four Hawks named to the all-tournament team.

Kee finished 38-2 and outscored its six postseason opponents by a combined margin of 66-5, including 33-5 in three games here this week.

Junior pitcher Kendra Cooper was the all-tournament captain. She reached base in all four plate appearances, driving in two runs.

But her best work was in the circle. She pitched a one-hitter and struck out 13.

'I had the team behind me, and I knew I had to hit my spots,' Cooper said.

Clarksville (29-3) was coming off a late-night thriller in the semifinals, in which it collected 24 hits in a 15-12, nine-inning triumph over Sigourney. But the bats cooled drastically against Cooper (21-1).

The game featured a 57-minute rain delay in the second inning, with the game scoreless.

'We've been through delays before,' Cooper said. 'We just had to relax, have fun and be energetic once we came back out.'

Once the teams returned, the Hawks took control.

Kee took a 2-0 lead in the second. After Katie Brennan doubled, Annabelle Dibert and Cooper followed with RBI hits.

Clarksville got within 2-1 in the top of the third, then the Hawks broke it open in the fifth, with the bottom of the order doing most of the damage.

After three consecutive singles (by Courtney Cooper, Chloe Severson and Brennan), Dibert reached on a bases-loaded walk. Then Casey Welsh hit a two-run single for 5-1 lead.

Strong followed with an RBI single, then Cooper drove in another run on a fielder's choice.

Kee was making its third trip to the finals in the last four years. The Hawks were runners-up in 2014, then won the last two titles decisively.

'We had a goal, and we got to see it through,' Kee Coach Elizabeth Hill said.

Brennan and Courtney Cooper joined Kendra Cooper and Strong on the all-tournament team.

LANSING KEE 8, CLARKSVILLE 1

Class 1A State Final, at Fort Dodge

Clarksville 001 000 0 — 1 1 6

Lansing Kee 025 001 x — 8 9 1

Kendra Cooper and Chloe Severson. Kori Wedeking and Bethany Negen. W — Cooper (21-1). L — Wedeking (24-2).

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com