ASHLAND - The Southern Boone Eagles were happy to be back on the baseball field.
The Capital City Cavaliers were happy just to play a game, because their program hadn't played one before, exhibition or regular season.
"We had 12 days of practice before we got shut down and we practiced yesterday. Other than that, we haven't gotten to play a game," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said between games of Tuesday's doubleheader, which Southern Boone swept 10-1 and 16-1.
"We weren't in a Jamboree. We had one scrimmage, so we had not seen live arms in a long time."
But in their very first inning, the Cavaliers grabbed an early lead against the Eagles. Taggert Bodenstab reached on a dropped third strike, then advanced to third base on a single by Brett Kuebler.
Bodenstab scored later in the inning on what appeared to be a perfectly executed double steal to put Capital City ahead 1-0.
"Actually, that was a hit-and-run," Skinner confessed. "It was a swing-and-miss, but it worked out with them throwing down to second, and we were able to get a run across."
Southern Boone left-hander Ethan Osbourne struck out four batters in the first inning and fanned two more in the second. But he got all the run support he needed in the bottom of the first, when the Eagles batted around the order and scored six runs.
"It was good to answer back," Southern Boone coach Brian Ash said. "We had some hard-hit balls and we were gifted a couple of errors. We just took it from there."
Osbourne and Bodenstab, also a left-hander, pitched the first two innings. Carter Salter replaced Osbourne on the mound and retired all nine batters he faced on just 27 pitches.
Bodenstab finished with four strikeouts for the Cavaliers, before Preston Pinet came in to pitch the last two innings.
"He's going to be really good for us," Skinner said of Bodenstab. "You can tell he hasn't thrown much over the last couple of months. If we can get his offspeed pitches figured out and stay low in the zone, he's going to be really effective."
There were also some big defensive plays in the teams' first games of the season.
Capital City ended the first inning with a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play, as catcher Jaden Chapman caught Southern Boone's Chase Schupp trying to steal third base.
"We've got a long way to go, but that was good to see and we can build upon that," Skinner said.
Southern Boone's Nik Post made a diving stop on a ball hit up the middle to rob Jamisen Schwarzer of a hit to end the top of the fourth.
"He's such a good athlete," Ash said of Post. "To make that play, get to his feet and then throw somebody out like that, that was super impressive."
Southern Boone finished with five hits, the biggest being a two-run home run by Hayden Steelman in the bottom of the fourth to stretch the lead to 10-1.
However, it wasn't a typical home run. No one was there to greet Steelman at home plate, nor were there first-bumps or high-fives, as players were observing social distancing during this coronavirus pandemic.
"You can't really go up and start hugging people," Ash said.
Also as a part of social distancing, fans were not allowed to sit in the grandstand behind home plate at Southern Boone. Instead, they watched the games near their vehicles behind the third-base dugout. The games were also streamed on Facebook Live.
This summer league, which features several Mid-Missouri baseball teams, has gained more recognition this year due to the cancellation of the high school baseball season due to COVID-19 concerns. Doubleheaders are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next five weeks.
"This whole league started back in about 2005," said Ash, who has previously coach at Jefferson City and Blair Oaks. "Bob Coons at Jefferson City, Andy Jackson at Kirksville and Chris Wyrick at Helias decided we wanted to form some kind of league to where we keep our high school kids playing together."
The league also gives graduating seniors one more chance to play with their teams. With only freshmen and sophomores this season, Capital City didn't have to face this problem.
"It's good for them, because they can see what it's going to take for them to get to that level," Skinner said. "It's a good ball club, and we're better for playing teams like (Southern Boone)."
Ash extended an invitation for Southern Boone's seniors to play with the team this summer, but he said they all declined.
"This is more of a preparation for what we're looking for in 2021," he said.
In Game 2, Bryson Holtmeyer had a pair of singles to lead the Cavaliers and Kuebler added a single.
Capital City will play Helias at 6 p.m. Thursday at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. Southern Boone will host Hickman on Thursday.