Fully packed Wednesday night of legion baseball featured five NEK league teams in action with a pair of double headers and single matchup, as well.

Hiawatha travelled to Holton in a league showdown and looking for retribution from losses earlier this year to Hiawatha; Holton turned the tide and took home a 14-6 win in six innings at their home diamond for their third win of the season. (Holton junior legion also grabbed the win over Hiawatha 11-7)

The other NEK league showdown was a twinbill on the night with Doniphan County hosting Royal Valley a pair of teams looking to snap losing streaks and Doniphan County would do so with an out pouring of runs scoring 35 runs in the double header a 13-5 five inning win and a 22-1 four inning victory.

Lone other NEK league team in action was Sabetha who hosted non-league foe Ozawkie for a double header at Somerset Park. Game one Ozawkie took the early lead and Sabetha could never overcome the early deficit to fall 9-5, but Sabetha responded in the nightcap with a 7-1 win to split the double header on the night.

The five games on the night changed up the league standings with teams moving around as we gear up for the final week of June. (Updated NEK League Legion Standings -- click here) 

30th Annual Leo Tritsch Tournament (in Hiawatha on June 21st-23rd) -- click here

Holton Uses Big Offensive Night to Work Past Hiawatha

The game started off slow but the action picked up in the middle innings with both teams pounding out some hits and capitalizing on free passes and mistakes, but ultimately it was Holton capitalizing the most to grab the 14-6 win in six innings.

Hiawatha took the early lead plating three runs in the top of the third behind four singles, but Holton quickly put things in their favor behind a four run bottom of the third using a few wild pitches, balk, error, pair of walks and pair of hits to take a 4-3 lead.

Leading swiftly changed hands again back to Hiawatha's favor after another three run inning, pushing Hiawatha to a 6-4 lead going into the bottom of the fourth. Holton responded again to take the lead with a five run bottom of the inning to lead it 9-6 and never relinquish the lead after that point, as Zach Porter's two RBI double highlighted the five run inning.

Holton padded the lead with three more in the fifth behind a trio of singles from the top of the order. Blanking Hiawatha in the top of the sixth Holton needed a pair of runs to end the game and Eric McKinsey came to the plate with a man on to blast a two-run homer to push Holton the 14-6 win with the walk-off homer.

McKinsey homer gave him a 3-4 night with three runs scored, three RBI and hit by pitch all earning him "Player of the Game" on KNZA brought to you by McDonald's in Hiawatha and Seneca. He was joined by Derek Haverkamp in the three hit night (3-4), while Porter was 2-3 with pair of runs scored, three RBI and a walk. Jordan Booth added three runs scored on the night in the nine spot, drawing three walks in the win.

In the loss Brendan Steele finished the night 2-4 with a run scored and RBI for Hiawatha, while Dalton Lehmukhl scored a pair of runs going 1-3 with walk.

With the win Holton improves to 3-6 on the season and 2-4 in league action and now turns their attention to two double headers this weekend versus Silver Lake on Saturday (noon & 2:30pm) and on Sunday at Royal Valley (1:00 & 3:00 pm). For Hiawatha they fall to 3-8 with the loss and 2-4 in league play and will next host their annual Tritsch tournament starting tomorrow night at 6:00pm, with Hiawatha playing at 8:00pm against Marysville.

Doniphan County Scores 35 runs in DH with Royal Valley to Swept the Twinbill

Scoring wasn't a problem for the home team in a NEK league double header in Wathena as Doniphan County cruised past Royal Valley for 13-5 and 22-1 victories on the night.

Game one, Royal Valley got the scoring going ealry plating five runs in the first inning to take a grasp of the contest with a early 5-0 lead but Doniphan County wouldn't be held down answering with 13 unanswered runs to grab the 13-5 five inning win.

After the pitching struggled early by Doniphan County, Jeffery Watts came into to pitch four scoreless innings of relief for the win, blanking Royal Valley the rest of the matchup. The offense got it done, too for Doniphan County with Colton Masters blasting a three run homer going 2-4 in the game, while Phoenix Keller added a 2-3 night.

The scoring didn't stop there for Doniphan County as they pounded out 22 runs in game to to take the 22-1 four inning win over Royal Valley for the double header sweep. Masters continued his solid offensive night going 2-3 with four RBI in this contest, while his teammates joined in. Both Colton Munger and Jefferey Watts were perfect from the plate in game two going 4-4 with a homer for Munger and 3-3 with three RBI for Watts. Cody Israel added a 2-4 performance of his own with three RBI's, while Dylan Gabriel picked upthe pitching win pitching just the first two innings of the contest.

With the sweep Doniphan County improved to 5-7 on the season and 2-1 in league action and gears up for a matchup against Seneca tomorrow night at 6:00pm in the Tristch tournament in Hiawatha. Royal Valley with the pair of losses falls to 1-9 on the season and 1-6 in league action and will next play host to Holton in a double header on Sunday (1:00 & 3:00pm).

Sabetha Splits Non-League Double Header with Ozawkie

In the only non-league showdown last night for a NEK league team Sabetha played host Ozawkie for a double header, as the teams split the twinbill with a 9-5 Ozawkie win and 7-1 Sabetha win.

Ozawkie took the early lead in game one pushing out to a 5-0 lead in the second with all five runs unearned. Sabetha having to battle from a deficit the entire game never were able to fully recover from the early 5-0 hole as they tried their best.

Sabetha closed to within three after a two run fourth with a single by Graham Howard highlighting the inning. Ozawkie answered with a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to make it 9-2 before Sabetha scored again. In the bottom of the sixth Howard added another hit to his night with a two RBI single and Thaine Allen added a sacrifice fly to plate three runs for Sabetha as the finals runs scored by Sabetha, sending them to the 9-5 loss.

Game two, Sabetha responded from the loss to earn the split in the double header behind a 7-1 win in a scheduled five inning game. Sabetha jumped out to an early lead plating four in the first to grab the early 4-0 lead and that proved to be all Howard would need to earn the win on the mound.

Howard earned the win pitching all five innings without allowing an earned run, while striking out six and giving up just three hits.

Sabetha added some cushion later in the contest with three more runs, as Taylor Bauman lead the charge offensively with three hits in the win.

With the split Sabetha moves to 13-6 on the season and turns their attention quickly to a showdown across the border with Auburn tonight at 8:00pm (junior legion beforehand at 6:00pm).