Nothing to be gained against Jülich
That’s how one could summarize the recent game day for the Senators Softball Ladies against the Jülich Duchess. Rain during the week, sunshine on game day. Unfortunately, on the 12th game day of the Softball Landesliga, it didn’t shine for the women from Düsseldorf.
“We should have been warned,” Head Coach Frank Mohr tells us, visibly frustrated after the game. “This was a bitter defeat. Anyone who saw the game in Jülich should have expected this to be a tough match.”
The game in Jülich had been extremely close, with the better outcome for the Senators, but today, the team seemed surprised and overwhelmed.
“Of course, I look at the results of the other games. I analyze all the scoresheets, so I know that the standings mean nothing. We should avoid being misled by that. Jülich is a very good team.”
And so it was the Duchess who took the lead, going ahead 4-2 after two innings. Everything was still within reach, the coaches must have thought at that point. But after another weak offensive inning from the Senators, the game seemed already decided. 3-10 after four innings and 4-14 after five sealed the well-deserved defeat.
“No, we never underestimate an opponent. That would be highly disrespectful, and that word isn’t in our vocabulary,” the Head Coach replied when asked if the game had perhaps been taken lightly.
“I can’t look into the heads of my players, but I think our mindset wasn’t right that day. We had a top team and simply should have performed better.”
Meanwhile, everything seemed to be clicking for the Ladies from Jülich. They connected with almost every pitch and put enormous pressure on the defense.
“Our pitchers did their job. They’re supposed to throw strikes, not balls. The field is responsible for the outs. Today, we failed to make the necessary plays.”
However, things didn’t go well at the plate either, but the Head Coach offers a plausible explanation for that, always focused on finding something positive, even in a defeat.
“This year, we haven’t found the flow we need to bring stability to our game. We’ve barely been able to train over the last three weeks, and our schedule has been an absolute disaster. We’ll need to reflect on that in the off-season.”
While he acknowledges that other teams are facing similar issues, he doesn’t want to simply leave it at that.
“Every team has a different structure and different needs. We pay close attention to ensuring that things run smoothly and structured, that we analyze situations and take the time to address them. It’s clear that when we can play a few games in a row, we consistently improve and become hard to beat. This year, that hasn’t happened, and yet we still have a balanced record.”
“We have everything: passion, team spirit, technique, and the right mindset. We just haven’t been able to bring it together consistently.”
With that, the off-season, which will begin after the final game of the season against the Neunkirchen Nightmares at the end of September, will bring a lot of work for the coaches.
“We already have plenty of ideas, but first, we still have two games to play. The games against Ennepetal in Düsseldorf and in Neunkirchen will demand everything from us, and we’re already looking forward to that.”
