The Capital City Lady Cavaliers checked a couple of boxes Saturday in the Lady Jays Softball Classic.
Beat Jefferson City, check.
Beat Helias, check.
For one day anyway, Capital City could claim a mythical city title.
"We're going to go home and feel pretty good about this," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said after the Lady Cavaliers topped Helias 8-5 in the Classic's fifth-place game after topping Jefferson City 5-4 earlier in the day at Binder Park. "The girls came ready to play today and when they do that, good things happen."
In the other dugout, Helias coach Chris Wyrick agreed.
"We struggled being ready to play," he said. "You dig yourself a 2-0 hole early, you're having to battle back and that's difficult."
The Lady Cavaliers took that 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Lydia Coulson led off with a bloop single to right. One out later, Camryn Sharp singled before advancing to second and third on wild pitches.
Kennedy Schanuth hit a grounder that resulted in an error as Coulson and Sharp both came home to score.
Helias got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first. Liv Bloomer led off with an infield single, stole second, then advanced to third and home on a pair of wild pitches.
The Lady Crusaders then took the lead with three runs in the second. Mallorey Rogers hit a two-out double to left to score Cori Verslues and Bloomer, who both walked. Paige Schaffer then singled to score courtesy runner Karoline Klebba to make it 4-2.
"They still had more energy than we had, even though we were ahead," Wyrick said. "When we're locked in and ready to play. We can be a good team. When we're not, we're not a very good team.
"If your mind isn't in the game, your body is not going to follow."
Capital City got one of those runs back in the third when Kelsey O'Day led off with a home run to left-center.
"She's got some sneaky power," Skinner said. "She's been swinging it well, I'm not surprised."
O'Day might have been. She slowed down going toward second, thinking it was a ground-rule double.
"I told her, 'Keep coming, keep coming,'" Skinner said.
Capital City took the lead for good in its half of the fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs to take an 8-4 lead.
The biggest blows of the inning were among the shortest as Schanuth and Jaiden Kausler laid down consecutive bunts Helias was unable to turn into outs that drove in runners from third.
"Jeff City beat us a week ago using that same stuff, so we went back to practice and got after it, both offensively and defensively, we wanted to do the same thing," Skinner said. "We were able to execute, it really turned the momentum over to us."
Helias got the final run of the game in the sixth when Molly Berkey scored on a single by Bloomer.
Olivia Wood went the distance to get the win for Capital City. She allowed six hits and four walks while striking out four.
"Olivia battled," Skinner said. "She's slowly coming back to 100 percent after being injured during the summer. She's huge for us to have."
Rogers took the loss for Helias, working the first five innings. She allowed six runs (three earned) on eight hits while striking out two. Berkey pitched the final two innings, giving up one hit while recording four strikeouts.
The win capped a 3-1 weekend in the Classic for Capital City.
"You look at all 16 teams, it was stacked," Skinner said. "To finish 3-1, we'll defnintely take that."
It will be a busy week with four games on the schedule for Capital City (10-5). starting Monday at home against Eldon.
Helias is now 11-5.
"It's better than being 5-11, but at the same time, we're giving teams too much and when they try to give us stuff, we're not taking advantage of it," Wyrick said. "They gave us a chance to score more than five runs and make the game interesting, but we went into a shell. We lost our aggressiveness."
The Lady Crusaders went 5-2 last week.
"It was a good week," Wyrick said. "I told them if the games we lose are games where we are aggressive, where we throw strikes, where we play good defense, I can handle that. I can handle losing those type of games.
"But today wasn't the kind of loss you can build off of. We can learn from it, but hopefully we can come back next week and play better."
Helias is back in action Tuesday at Southern Boone before hosting Battle on Wednesday.
"If somebody is watching you for the first time, what do you want that first impression of you to be?" Wyrick said. "If somebody is watching you for the last time, what is the last impression you want to make on them as a player?
"We don't play that way all the time. Sometimes it looks like we're playing just to get through games."
III
Capital City advanced earlier Saturday with a 5-4 win against Jefferson City.
Coulson went the distance to get the win, scattering eight hits and two walks while striking out seven. Coulson, Sharp, Kenuth and Kausler all drove in one run.
Helias defeated Hickman 4-3 in its first game Saturday with Ella Meyer driving in two runs on a single in the bottom of the sixth.
Payton Dudenhoeffer and Rogers had two hits each in a six-hit Helias attack. Meyer finished with three RBI, while Morris drove in the other run.
Alexa Rehmeier was the winning pitcher, tossing a five-hitter. She walked two and struck out eight.