Tigers Claw the Statesmen: Oakville 18, Webster 6

In any season there will be ups and downs. This is especially true on the JV level. Today was a down day.

Not just because we lost. Not just because we lost badly. Not just because we played poorly. While all of those were true (and it must be noted that Oakville was better than we were), what made this game particularly disappointing (we coaches are disappointed FOR the girls, not IN them) was that we were not ready to put our best game on the field. 

The coaching staff had an inkling that that we might be facing a rude awakening. We didn’t really display the kind of energy that has become the Statesman Standard even in yesterday’s victory, and the result was a 7-run first inning mauling by the Tigers that essentially ended the game before we even got to bat. On a positive note, we finally discovered a sense of urgency in the third inning and answered with 5 runs of our own to extend the game to at least 5 innings. 

It’s relatively easy to be loud and energetic when you’re winning (and we’ve done a lot of that the past couple or three years); it’s more of a challenge when you’re not. I’m happy the players requested their own “players only” meeting after our post game to deal with the concerns noted. The key to success is growth, and we look forward to making progress toward that goal in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow doesn’t get any easier, as we travel down I-44 to Eureka to face the Wildcats. I’m looking forward to seeing the fire return to the Statesmen tomorrow and Saturday against Poplar Bluff. The card reader from Amazon didn’t make it when promised, so you’ll have to wait for an update (I’ll notify you) for pictures and just settle for the box score.
These just in. Because the time is 11:30 p.m., no captions, just pix, courtesy of players on the bench and our managers, Jack Korte and Zoe Weik.