2016 Northeast Kansas League Legion Baseball Standings - click here

2016 McDonald's "Players of the Game" on KNZA - click here

2016 Zone Tournament Assignments - click here

2016 AA Zone Tournament Bracket (at Sabetha) - click here
    (Doniphan County, Seneca, Sabetha, Silver Lake, Corning, Marysville, Linn)

2016 A State Tournament Bracket (at Great Bend) - click here (Doniphan County) 

The AA Zone in Sabetha continued with a pair of elimination games on Wednesday, while a State bid was up for grabs in Ottawa in AAA action between two Northeast Kansas League teams. Junior legion State tournament got underway with the Doniphan County juniors in action. 

In Sabetha both Silver Lake and Seneca continued their season for another night laying claim to wins over Corning and Sabetha, respectively. Silver Lake notched a 13-7 win, while Seneca won 12-2 in six innings. The AA Zone continues in Sabetha on Thursday night with Silver Lake versus Seneca in an elimination game, while Marysville and Doniphan County will play each other for the Zone Championship. (Both Thursday night games will be broadcasted on 103.9 KNZA)

The runner-up spot in the AAA Zone at Ottawa was up for grabs between Oskaloosa and Atchison and for the second time in the Zone Oskaloosa beat Atchison winning 13-5 to earn a bid to State for the second straight year. 

The Junior legion State tournament got underway in Great Bend on Wednesday and Doniphan County after a second place finish last year is back at State this season for the third straight year. The host Great Bend stood in front of Doniphan County in the first round and a huge first inning by Great Bend earned them the 14-5 win in five innings. 

Silver Lake and Seneca Stay Alive in Zone Tournament Play

Can't lose mode that was the way all four teams had to play in on Wednesday night in order to stay alive in the postseason and Silver Lake and Seneca each earned another game with wins in the AA Zone tournament in Sabetha. Silver Lake secured a 13-7 win over Corning, while Seneca picked up the 12-2 win in six innings over Sabetha. 

The night started off with both Silver Lake and Corning scoring early as Silver Lake plated three runs in the top of the first with Corning answering with two runs in bottom of the first. Silver Lake pushed the game in their favor heavily in the second by batting around and plating seven runs on three hits, a walk, hit batter and three Corning errors, as the inning was highlighted by a two RBI single by Drake McMillian. That lead grew to 12-2 in the third with two more runs for Silver Lake, but Corning responded with two runs in the bottom of the third as a RBI single by Josh Hasenkamp highlighted the inning. The game moved to the fifth with Corning needing runs to continue the game and avoid the run-rule and Corning accomplished that with three runs on just one hit with three walks, a hit batter and an error. Silver Lake tallied an insurance run in the top of the seventh and while Corning worked the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Silver Lake finished the game off for the 13-7 win. 

McMillian, Reid Walker and Justin Keller led the Silver Lake offense with two hits each, as McMillian had three runs scored and three RBI's, while Keller had three RBI's and two runs scored. Corning in the loss had Braden Deters go 3-4 with an RBI and walk, while Colton Buessing finished 2-4 with run scored and walk. 

In the nightcap Seneca took the early on an RBI single by Cody Rottinghaus in the first inning and didn't look back limiting Sabetha's opportunities throughout the night. The lead ballooned up for Seneca in the top of the third with six runs on four hits, three walks and an error as they batted around. Sabetha scratched their first run across in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Brandon Brownlee but Seneca led 8-1 after three innings. After a scoreless fourth both teams tallied a run in the fifth but the sixth belonged to Seneca as they padded their lead with three runs. A two RBI triple by Dalton Hiltibrand and an RBI single by Tristan Allen highlighted the three run sixth for Seneca to establish a 12-2 lead. Sabetha needing to score in the bottom of the sixth to continue the game work the bases loaded but for the second time in the game left the bases loaded pushing Seneca to the 12-2 six inning win. 

Derek Uphaus picked up the win on the mound for Seneca tossing six innings surrendering two runs on eight hits, three walks and struck out nine. While offensively Hiltibrand went 2-4 with two runs scored, three RBI's and triple, while Allen posted a 2-4 game with a run scored and RBI and Seneca drew nine walks as a team. Sabetha in the loss was led by Brandon Brownlee and Brett Stallbaumer who went 2-4 and 2-3, respectively. 

The wins by Silver Lake and Seneca continue their seasons and they move on in the consolation bracket of the Zone to a matchup against each other on Thursday night at 6:00pm. In the nightcap on Thursday Marysville and Doniphan County will play for the Zone Championship at 8:00pm with winner going to the AA State tournament and loser playing winner of Silver Lake versus Seneca on Friday night for a spot at State. (Both Thursday night games will be broadcasted on 103.9 KNZA)

Oskaloosa Earns Bid To AAA Zone Tournament

A bid to the AAA State tournament was up for grabs on Wednesday between two NEKL teams as Oskaloosa and Atchison faced each other for the sixth time this season. Oskaloosa who lost three of four during the regular season against Atchison had their number in the postseason beating the first round and then with a 13-5 win in six innings to take the consolation championship and bid to State. 

Oskaloosa got on the board early with a five run first inning but Atchison responded quickly in the bottom of the first with four runs of their own. A run in the second and third innings pushes the lead to 7-4 for Oskaloosa and then it moves to 8-4 as another run scratched across in the fifth. Down by four things unraveled for Atchison in the sixth as Oskaloosa tallied five more runs to finish the game 13-5 in six innings. 

The win moves Oskaloosa to the AAA State tournament for the second straight year as they will travel to Great Bend to start the State tournament next Wednesday, July 27th.