Senators pick up two important W’s against Bonn

The weather was beautiful on July 23rd, for the 2nd Bundesliga game of the Senators against the Bonn Capitals. Two exciting games with a constant exchange of leads was to be ahead for a nice crowd at Senators Field.

The first game started started off hot tied at one after the 1st inning including a fantastic double play through a flyout by Anton DeAngelis in left field and a following throw to Lukas Kirchhoff at 1st base to double up the opposing runner.. After the Capitals took the lead by one run in the 2nd Inning the score was kept the same until the beginning of the 6th thanks to an excellent performance by the defense and pitching on both sides. In the 6th, the Bonn Capitals were held in check by 2 quick outs (P6, F9) to Julius Hilger and Robin Thorenz, as well as a good rundown between 1st and 2nd base, which kept the capitals runners on their toes. On the other hand, the offensive of the Senators could score 3 runs, to take a  2:4 lead going into the seventh inning of game one. Neither team allowed any runs in the last three innings, with the Senators ultimately winning, what was to be the first of two nail-biters, 2:4.

The motivated senators pounced on the Capitals early in game number two with double off the fence from Lukas Kirchhoff, who brought in 2 runners, increased the score to 4:0 in the 2nd inning. The Senators were able to keep their lead except for an additional run by the opponents in the 4th inning.

In the 5th inning however, the visitors mercilessly capitalized on the senators lack of focus on defense and took a 5:4 lead.

It remained exciting until the last inning, when Bonn scored another run and increased their margin to a 2-run lead. Under enormous pressure, the Senators went to bat and showed that they can keep their cool under such circumstances. Robin Thorenz brought in the decisive runner for a 7:6 lead with his walk off single to Centerfield, in order to be able to decide the second game for the Senators as well.

Javier Liere Paz did a great job on the mound and in the outfield, scoring a total of 6 out of 19 flyouts.

Now a derby with old teammates was coming up.
The hosts started with a 0:3 lead after the first inning, which the Senators evened up in the third inning. Both teams showed significantly less than they could and the Senators took the lead by a small margin in the fifth inning. They were able to keep this lead because of the few hits from the Wuppertal side against pitcher Finn Jakoby. In the eighth inning, the visitors closed the game with two more points and the win was safely brought home by closer Robin Thorenz.

Game 2:

After the exciting first game, the Senators prepared for the second game and hoped for a similarly positive result. Max Ortmann was the starting pitcher for Wuppertal and Javier Liere Paz for Düsseldorf. The game started with few runs and a score of 1:2 in the fourth inning for the team from Wuppertal.

Then the Senators started an incredible 8-run inning in which almost every one of the 9 players hit in a run. Pitchers Wolfgang Thorenz and Lucas Tolkmitt continued to do an excellent job and only allowed 3 more runs, while the Senators offense showed their strength and scored 6 more runs to end the game 15:5.

The players were very happy with the result and left the field with smiles on their faces and motivated for the rest of the season.

Strong fight and a lot of heart

With just 10 players, two of whom were injured, head coach Frank Mohr threw his “last line-up” into the game against the ladies of the Bonn Capitals.

“A week ago it wasn’t even clear whether we could play at all. A season like this is a challenge for all teams, and we’re no exception.” However, he doesn’t want this to be seen as an excuse for the team’s loss.

“Even with only seven of us we would have given everything.”

Against the unbeaten division leaders it was Play Ball at 4:00 p.m. and everything was ready for the last home game of a shortened but no less exhausting season.

Already in the first inning the young team from Bonn showed what they were capable of and emerged with a clear 9-0 lead. After that, however, there was no getting past the starter and, above all, a well-positioned defense. Reneé, who pitched 5 complete innings (season best), went into left field at the beginning of the 6 innings and made room for Sarah, who had come fresh of her excellent comeback against the Cologne Cardinals.

At this point the score was 11: 5 and it was almost noticeable that the Senators Ladies had not written off the game for a long time. But instead of another race to catch up, things turned out differently, because Sarah sustained an injury with the first pitch.

“Even though we have gained players, there are currently still no alternatives. So the girls are repeatedly forced to play in positions that they don’t like. ”

Even if Sarah bit her teeth, you had to quickly realize that it wouldn’t work that way. The next change was due and again it was time to rebuild the team. Vanessa should pitch the inning and thus the game to the end, because the ladies did not manage to avert the defeat in the end.

With great morale and fighting spirit, it was shortened to 19: 9 and so in the end there was no reason to hang one’s heads.

“More was just not possible.”, Frank Mohr observed a few moments after the end of the game.
“That was a great achievement, performed with great passion. And when a team like the Capitals is so happy about the victory, we must have done a lot of things right today. ”

As always, our thanks go to everyone involved, the scorers, Umpires and the whole Senators crew. We never tire of mentioning you, because it just doesn’t work without you.

We don’t want to forget the Bonn Capitals, who left the pitch as a deserved winner and surely spent a great softball day with us.

Smiling faces!

Once again the Werther was on our side.

Not only the sun was shining, but also the faces of our young players. Happy to be able to play again, they were able to prove their skills and add two more victories against the Bonn Capitals. (13: 2/14:1)

What we are particularly proud of – apart from the athletic aspect, the children show that they are a TEAM and also convey that to the outside world, as proven by a lot of positive feedback.

This game day was not an easy undertaking for the coaches – 14 children on the lineup and many rookies who were rolling around on the Field and actually wanted to play …

Next Saturday we’re going to Kapellen (syndicate with Solingen), and we hope that we can enable some debutants to play for the first time.

Thanks especially to Olivier, who mastered his first “official” scorer mission with Great success and Musti in combination with the “great” Tim, for the spontaneous umpire mission!

Of course, nothing would work if we didn’t have our motivated parents who help out at every timen. A big thank you from us to you!

Strong appearance in Bonn

In the best baseball weather, the Senators traveled to the Rheinaue in Bonn to see the Capitals for the first of two playdown game days. Anyone who expected less impressive games because of this was quickly proven otherwise.

Even before Play Ball, a look at the lineup cards revealed what an exciting spectacle was to come. National pitcher P. Schmitz started on the Bonn side off the ball and Anton DeAngelis took to the mount for the guests. Within only 1 1/2 hours, the two delivered a well balanced, incredibly exciting pitchers duel, which afterwards only left 3 hits on the scoresheet. With just one hit and 9 strikeouts, the 18-year-old from Düsseldorf kept his teammates in the game until the very last inning.

Even if it was possible to get the ball into play here and there on the offensive, this was rather an exception. With 12 strikeouts, the Düsseldorf team was no match for the exceptional young talent on the bump for the Capitals. The Senators could only record a second hit off of the Reliver, who was put in in the last inning.

The result was a quick but entertaining first game which went 2-1 to the hosts from Bonn.

In the second game, the Senator’s head coach relied on Marius Wilzcek. This rather unusual decision (Marius’ statistics only included Relieve and Save Appearances up to this point) quickly paid off when he followed the example of his teammate from the first game. He also only gave up one hit to the Bonn team and added another 8 strikeouts to his statistics.

The pitching of the capitals did not disappoint either in the second meeting of the day. With N. Lindt, the Senators met an energetic left-hander who, thanks to his pick-off move, not only caused difficulties on the plate for the guests. Nevertheless, the lineup from the state capital was able to get more runners on base than in the previous game, which also led to a tie after an early lead of the Bonn team. However, when the pitcher was swapped in the 6th inning, the Düsseldorf offensive also seemed like new. In a matter of minutes the bases were loaded with just one out. Patrick Mohr, who was able to convince more on the defensive than with his hitting performance throughout the season, sent the first pitch into centerfield and brought the 3rd Base Duguout to life with the following 2-RBI single.

Even if it was not possible to get more runs across, the Senators went into the last inning with this 3-1 lead. Meanwhile, 18U player Leon Stölzel was on the mount, who started many games for the 2nd Bundesliga team of the capital city in 2021. He also mastered the situation late in the game, which was unusual for him, with great success and confidently sent the Senators back to Düsseldorf with a 3-1 win.

We would like to thank the Capitals for a great, exciting baseball day in the Rheinaue and look forward to upcoming games next year.

The unit from Benrath is now looking forward to their next game against the Nightmares from Neunkirchen, who will travel to the Südallee for the last game of the year on september 5th.