The Capital City Cavaliers baseball team has had to take a few lumps to start summer league play after having its inaugural season canceled before it even began.
But two weeks and eight games in, there are signs of promise for a team of entirely sophomores and freshmen.
In a pair of games against Helias' second varsity squad Thursday night at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex, the Cavaliers put up a pair of late-inning fights, scoring seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings in two losses, 7-6 and 5-3.
"Tonight, our offense is what improved the most," Cavaliers coach Brett Skinner said. "Tuesday, we had one hit all night long, so that was good to see."
The Crusaders scored first in both games thanks to productive at-bats from Nick Jeffries, Kaden Hampson and Sam Schell at the top of the order, plating three runs in the first inning of Game 1 and staking a 4-0 lead after three innings against starter Jaden Chapman.
Capital City hitters struggled their first time through the order in the opening three innings, drawing a walk and a hit batsman. But a leadoff walk from catcher Brock Miles and a wild pitch put a runner at second with none out, and Miles scored on a pair of groundouts.
In the fifth, a hit batsman, walk and single loaded the bases for Colin Flaherty, who singled off of reliever Vinnie Calvaruso to score Jamisen Schwarzer. Ty Wood followed with an RBI groundout to second, Brett Kuebler kept the line moving with a single and Miles hit a two-run double to left to give the Cavaliers the lead.
Helias pulled a run back in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a Nick Heislen double to make it 6-5 Capital City, and the Crusaders threatened again in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with a single and two walks with none out before Ryan Klahr got a pair of strikeouts and a pop-up to the mound to end the inning.
A hit batsman, a single and a balk put two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth with one out for Hampson, who hit a sacrifice fly to center, and Gage Wilde walked Helias off with a bloop single.
In the second game, the Crusaders led 5-0 through two innings thanks to an RBI single from Schell and a two-run single by Logan Wilson.
The Cavaliers answered with a one-out walk in the fourth by Miles and a two-out single off the bat of Ben Turner, who finished the game 3-for-3 with a double and two singles. In the top of the sixth, two straight one-out singles and a balk put Kade Helmick in position to score on a Miles RBI groundout and Kuebler to score on Turner's second single, but Capital City stranded two runners to end the game.
Despite a few errors, the Cavaliers' defense also turned a pair of heads-up double plays, a 7-4 doubling off to kill a hit-and-run in Game 1 and a 1-2-3 double play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth of Game 2.
"It definitely helps when you can back the pitcher up and turn two and all that," Skinner said. "It's good to see some heads-up plays, especially from some young kids, to be thinking and be aware, that's positive. It's hard to teach that."