The El Dorado American Legion Post 81 team took control of the first game of their double-header Monday night early.

El Dorado ended the first inning 9-0 and scored seven more runs in the third inning, bringing the score to 16-0.

“We obviously got off to a very good start with 16 runs in the first three innings,” said Head Coach Rick Smith.

Augusta attempted to make a comeback in the fourth inning, bringing in nine runs, while El Dorado only scored one.

But the game quickly came to an end in the fifth inning, when it was called due to the run rule with a score of 20-12.

El Dorado came into Monday’s game following winning a tournament over the weekend in Winfield.

“We spent all of the pitching in the tournament over the weekend,” Smith said.

In fact, they were using pitchers who didn’t pitch much, as well as some who hadn’t pitched yet this season.

But the hitting was strong coming off of the games in Wellington.

“We were just hitting the ball solid,” said Chris Smith. “They couldn’t fool us with the pitches.”

The second game brought a little more excitement as it went into the eighth inning tied.

The game started off 0-0 at the end of the first inning, followed by El Dorado scoring one run in the second and two in the third innings and holding Augusta scoreless.

The fourth inning provided four more runs for El Dorado and Augusta scored their first run. Each team scored two runs in the fifth before Augusta pulled ahead in the sixth, scoring six runs. This tied things up 9-9 in the top of the sixth. El Dorado scored one run in the bottom of the sixth but could not hold off Augusta in the seventh inning.

Augusta score one more in the top of the seventh to tie the game 10-10 and held El Dorado at 10, sending the game into extra innings.

Augusta was not able to score in the eighth inning, and El Dorado ended up with one on base and one out. An error by Augusta allowed El Dorado to get to third, and one more hit by Jake Currier sent that runner home to win the game.

El Dorado will again face Augusta Wednesday evening as they travel back to Augusta. When the played Augusta on the road earlier in the season they won that double-header and will try to repeat.

The team has two more home games Thursday evening as they take on Winfield to round out their season.

While the first half of the season was interrupted a lot by the rain, it was a good season for the team overall.

“Our goal was to get our kids on the high school team to playing in the summer,” Rick Smith said.

This was the first time in three years they had all of the high school baseball players playing in the summer.

Monday’s team was made up of juniors and seniors, as well as some graduates. The other Legion team consists of the freshmen and sophomores.

Rick Smith hopes this will continue for years to come.

“We just haven’t been able to do that,” he said.

Part of their success this season, Rick Smith attributes to team unity.

“All of our kids are local,” he said. “They enjoy each other and try to have fun.”

He said the parents also are strong supporters.

“The biggest thanks go to the American Legion for letting us play,” he said.

The players have enjoyed the season too.

“I think it will make us better for next year,” said Tyler Barnes, who will be a senior at El Dorado High School.

Editor’s note: For more on the Wellington tournament, see Wednesday’s El Dorado Times.