It was an easy day for the Capital City defense.
Olivia Wood made sure of that.
Wood struck out 14 Eldon batters Monday to lead the Lady Cavaliers to a 12-1 win in five innings against the Lady Mustangs at Capital City High School.
"The defense made the plays we needed to make," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said. "It's easy to play defense behind someone who is dealing like Olivia was."
Wood struck out the side in the top of the first, then recorded four strikeouts in the second as Jade Fletcher of Eldon reached on a dropped third strike.
Capital City scored twice in the first and added two more in the second to take a 4-0 lead.
In the first, Lydia Coulson led off with a single, then moved all the way to third on a bunt single by Kelsey O'Day. O'Day then stole second. After a lineout, Kennedy Schanuth grounded out to third to score Coulson. O'Day also scored on the play as she beat the throw home.
"We were going to be super aggressive in this game," Skinner said.
In the second, Jaiden Kaulser led off with a walk and moved to second when Emma Stieferman reached on a fielder's choice.
Eldon didn't hit a ball out of the infield Monday. Savannah Holder had the lone hit for the Lady Mustangs, a bunt that Wood dove to catch, but came up just short in the third inning.
Madeline Oltmann led off that inning for the Mustangs with a walk. After Holder's bunt single, the pair advanced to second and third on a wild pitch before Oltmann scored on another wild pitch to cut Capital City's lead to 4-1.
"(Wood) got a little wild that one inning, but she settled down and was lights out," Skinner said.
Capital City broke the game open in the bottom of the third, sending 12 batters to the plate.
O'Day led off the inning with a single to center. Camryn Sharp then lined the first pitch she saw foul with home-run distance, then straightened it out on pitch No. 2 and homered over the fence in left-center to make it 6-1.
"That was a shot," Skinner said. "She made a little adjustment and got one over the fence. She's got power and shows it in practice all the time."
It was Sharp's third home run of the season.
Later in the inning, Haylie Zahner had a two-run single to score courtesy runner Kambry Pistel and Kausler. Wood followed with a double to score Emma Stieferman, then Coulson plated Zahner on a fielder's choice to make it 10-1.
Capital City scored its final two runs in the fourth. A bunt single by Zahner brought home Pistel, while Kausler scored on an error on the same play.
Wood then closed the game in style, striking out the side in the top of the fifth.
"It makes my job a lot easier when she can do that," Skinner said. "It was another great performance by Olivia."
Holder went the distance to take the loss for Eldon (3-8).
Capital City (11-5) is back in action today at Battle.