Zone 1 AA legion baseball tournament is down to three teams as Doniphan County eliminated Hiawatha Tuesday night (July 23rd) and Sabetha put themselves in prime position to earn a trip to state beating Seneca to move one win shy of the state tournament.

First up it was a battle to stay alive in postseason play as Doniphan County and Hiawatha looked to put scoreless losses in the first round behind them and keep their season alive. Scoreless through three and a half, Doniphan County finally broke through to plate a run in the bottom of the fourth then added three more in the fifth to lead 4-0 going into the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth Doniphan County made it 5-0, before Phoenix Keller set Hiawatha home with a three-run homer to end the game in walk-off fashion giving Doniphan County the 8-0 win.

Keller added another hit on the night and earned McDonald's "Player of the Game" honors on KNZA/KMZA with his performance, while Colton Munger and Colton Masters joined him with multi-hit games for Doniphan County. Nathan Gaarder got it done on the mound for Doniphan County going the distance pitching all six innings for the win giving up just four hits while striking out eight and working out of two bases loaded jams, as Hiawatha spoiled opportunities in the first and third leaving the base pads loaded.

For Hiawatha they saw their season come to a close with the loss finishing 8-25 on the season. Doniphan County picked up their 20th victory of the season improving to 20-14 on the season and kept their season alive to play tonight (Wednesday July 24th) awaiting the loser of the Sabetha and Seneca nightcap winner's bracket game.

In the nightcap, it proved ultimately to be another one-sided game like the others thus far in the tournament, despite the final as Sabetha topped Seneca 7-4. Sabetha lead 7-0 going into the bottom of the seventh with pitcher, Graham Howard carrying a no-hit shutout into the final frame, but Seneca wouldn't go quietly coming up with their first offense of the game registering four hits with a few free passes to try and mount a comeback but ultimately fall short only getting four runs. Seneca had the game tying run at the plate but a groundout to shortstop ended the game.

Howard lead the charge for Sabetha dealing all night picking up the win on the mound, despite giving up four runs and four hits all the seventh inning. His dominate pitching earned him McDonald's "Player of the Game" honors on KNZA/KMZA. His counterpart, Alex Hermesch for Seneca started the game and went five and two-thirds giving up five runs on six hits, taking the loss.

Offensively, Kyle Stallbuamer lead the way for Sabetha with a 2-4 night, while Talyor Bauman notched a double and two runs scored and Keegan Schuman added a hit and pair of RBI. As Sabetha spread their scoring throughout the game with a run in the second, and two-runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh.

With the loss Seneca fell to 25-4 on the season and falls to the loser bracket in Zone to take on Doniphan County tonight at Somerset Park at 7:00pm in an elimination game. While, Sabetha with the win improves to 35-11 and it puts them one win shy of a bid to the AA legion baseball state tournament in Pratt. Sabetha will have Wednesday night off and play the winner of Doniphan County versus Seneca on Thursday night at 6:00pm.

Updated Zone 1 AA Tournament Bracket -- click here
NEK League Legion Standings -- click here