A real nail-biter

After a slight hiccup on the previous game day against the league leaders from Jülich/Krefeld, the ladies of the Düsseldorf Senators had to regroup their strengths on Sunday, August 13th, 2023 and set everything to zero. With the Yaks from Verl/Gütersloh, another top team came to the Benrather Südallee.

The first game against the Yaks was a close one, which the ladies from Verl/Gütersloh were able to win by one run in the end, and so the coaches expected the same for this very day.

“The anticipation for this game was huge,” said the head coach immediately after the game. “And I think the numerous spectators got their money’s worth.”

Everyone was having fun and, like last week, everyone went into the game with courage from the start. Behind another great performance from our starter Renée, the Senators pulled away 9-2 by the end of the fourth inning.

“We’ve rarely seen our team appear so focused,” explained assistant coach Patrick Mohr. “We held out with everything we had until the end.”

Which was also necessary, because the Yaks could not be shaken off. In the 5th inning, the starting Pitcher was relieved of her duties in the circle by Katja. After some difficulties in her first inning of relief, she came back out better and stronger and secured the Senator’s narrow lead until the beginning of the seventh inning.

“That’s what pitchers do, right?“ said Frank Mohr. “It’s their job to give us the opportunity to win a game and they both proved that once again.”

Of course we don’t want to ignore the other factors in the game, because the defense stood like a wall and one highlight play after the other was conjured up on the diamond.

“The diving catch of our shortstop probably took everyone’s breath away. That was a five-star play and you rarely, if ever, see it in our league.”

It remained exciting and so it was 10:9 for our ladies going into the seventh inning.

“No matter how difficult her start into the game was, she showed her class in the sixth and seventh innings.”

We’re talking about the ladies’ relief pitcher, who only allowed one hit in two innings and ended the game with a strikeout.

“That was a very important moment for her and our team as well. It is not easy to handle that kind of pressure, when everything is focused on you and your next pitch. Of course we practice such moments and Courtney Olivas Workouts helped us with that, but in game situations are always different.“

The strikeout ended an entertaining and exciting game after two hours and seven minutes and left a deserved winner in the Senators.

“I want to give the Yaks a big compliment and say thank you for two of the best games this season. The spectators saw some great softball and there are always two teams involved.”