Tension right up to the last out
On Sunday, the Senators women’s team showed what it means to fight — right down to the decisive final out.
After last weekend’s losses to the Aachen Greyhounds, the coaches didn’t want to hear anything about “making up for it.” Instead, the game was calmly analyzed and the team worked specifically on their own play during the week.
“After our six-week break, our opponent was simply one game ahead of us. Nothing that gave us any headaches,” said Frank Mohr.
Because Jülich was already the next opponent waiting at the door. In this league, standings and results carry little weight — every team has to be taken seriously — and it was with exactly that mindset that the team went into matchday.
An open slugfest developed right from the start, a game played with visors up, which the many spectators clearly enjoyed.
Enjoyment the coaches could probably only share to a degree, since things got pretty wild. As in the previous week, the Senators found themselves chasing an early deficit, and everything looked like a repeat of the Aachen matchday.
But: “The girls fought their way back fantastically and never gave up at any point after falling behind 7:2. In the last inning, with two outs, we even had the winning run on first base. That was softball at its very finest. That it wasn’t quite enough in the end? So what. That’s the game.”
In the second game, the team then came out firing and early on laid the groundwork for more relaxed faces on the coaching staff. But things got tight once again: in the fourth inning, with the bases loaded and no outs, the coaches had to pull their starter, who had been pitching well up to that point.
Jülich only managed one more run after that. “What our relief pitcher did in that situation, I think you can only really understand if you’ve lived through it yourself. That was absolutely first-class and ultimately secured the win for us.”
Just as the Senators had done before, Jülich fought their way back into the game and had their own chance to equalize, but this time the better end of it stayed with Düsseldorf.
Everyone who was there was rewarded with two extremely thrilling games, each decided by a margin of just a single run. It doesn’t get much closer than that. Neither team gave an inch until the very last out — and it’s exactly these kinds of games that show what makes this fantastic sport so great.
On September 6th, it’s “Play Ball” on the Südallee for the last time this season, before the final two away games in Jülich and Krefeld.
“Against Aachen again, and yes — we’re ready.”
