Boujee Crew Outclasses Cats

Sea Kittens (1-2) made another valiant late-game rally but it was too little too late in a 14-8 loss to Bat and Boujee (3-1) July 30 at Bowman Park.

A week after returning to action with an offensive display of defense, this week the Cats’ gloves backed starting pitcher David “Zen Master” Rowe with a solid effort, keeping the team in the game while the offense was held in check by the Boujee side.  Kitten shortstop Braden “Gas” Furness provided the game’s first highlight, ranging to his left to keep a hard grounder out of center field, ending a first-inning bases loaded rally by B&B with his flick to second basewoman Liz Hellrung, who was filling in from Hot Pitches this night.

Furness opened the Sea Kittens’ first inning with a single, and following David “The Ringer” Engeldinger’s second double of the summer season Furness scampered home on an RBI groundout from Erin “Mama Cat” O’Brien.  Rowe doubled the Kitten lead with a knock, and two batters later the Cats had their own bases -loaded rally going but also failed to capitalize.

The teams exchanged zeroes in the second, with Bat and Boujee aided by a stellar 8-6-2 putout at the plate, and then B&B broke through for four two-out runs behind solid hitting in the top of the third inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Sea Kittens could not answer in the bottom half of the inning while the Boujee bats stayed hot and stretched their advantage to 10-2 with a 6-run fourth.  There was little the Cats could do to stem the tide other than pick up the ball and try again after hit after hit after hit.

The timing of the home team’s offensive Cat-nap couldn’t have been worse.  Down went the Sea Kittens with another goose egg in the bottom of the inning, and Boujee plated three more for a 13-2 edge.

Time limit was announced as the bottom of the sixth inning began, Kittens now down 14-3.  The imminent end seemed to finally stir the Cats’ lumber from its slumber and six of the first seven Sea Kitten batters reached safely.  A highly questionable… no, it was simply wrong… call on a foul tip off the bat of O’Brien cost the Cats an unfortunate out, as the foul barely cleared her belly button, much less her head.  Still the Kits persevered.  Rowe singled home a run and Stephen “Slash” Grutzik worked a run-scoring walk to bring the Cats within six with the bases still loaded,  Man-Aaron Jossart on deck, Matt “Train” Amrhein lurking in the hole with his whoopin’ stick and possibly a chance to bat as the tying run.  But for all the late-game heroics the 2026 Sea Kittens have brought, this was not one of those nights and the Boujee third baseman gobbled up a hot shot and stepped to the bag to end the game.

Salmon Snacks

• Miranda and Liz for filling in for us- Liz pulled off the sidelines with blood still streaming down her leg from an earlier game!
• Braden was 4-4 with 3 runs scored in the leadoff spot
• Braden also made a nice grab at SS to end the first inning with the bases loaded
• Stephen for going 3-3 with a walk in his return to action!
• Kendra does not get a snack this week.  See this snack?  We just gave it to Liz. 😉
• Zen Master Rowe picked up his first 3-hit game of 2026
• Joe to keep helping with lingering concussion symptoms

 

 

 

Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game

You didn’t have to see it to believe it- and should have turned off your TV- after Braden made a slick pick at short to strand B&B with the bases loaded in the top of the first

Next Up

Sea Kittens tangle with league front-runners da Hittas (3-0) at 6:30 PM August 6 on Bowman Park Field 1.  Hittas are winners of 39 of their past 42 games in Thursday night play- but Sea Kittens have often played close-  Hittas have twice rallied in their last at-bats to sneak past the Cats in that span.  Five of the teams’ past seven matchups have been decided by four runs or fewer.

Roster notes and transactions

Sea Kittens face a daunting task this week with David “The Ringer” Engeldinger,  Matt “Train” Amrhein, and Zen Master Rowe missing this week’s contest.  Aaron “aa-Lo” Lomax and a PTBL will step in to shore up the Kittens’ outfield.

Game Notes

• The Sea Kittens offense continues its mid-summer funk with its 4th consecutive game scoring fewer than 10 runs- the longest such streak since six in a row in 2021.
• Three consecutive scoreless innings of offense in back-to-back games is a first since 2023.
  • The last time the Cats went scoreless in 3 consecutive innings in three consecutive games was August, 2011!
• The Kittens’ defense was solid this week, and prior to this loss that Cats had been 42-11 all-time when holding an opponent scoreless in both the first and second inning of a game.
• Late -inning wake-up continue to be the hallmark of the 2026 Sea Kittens.  Too little too late this time, but in 2026 Sea Kittens runs-per-inning:

Inning	Games	Runs	Runs/inning
1st	11	16	1.45
2nd	11	19	1.73
3rd	11	17	1.55
4th	11	10	0.91
5th	10	14	1.40
6th	10	33	3.30
7th	3	7	2.33

• For context, in 99 MSSC games between 2021-2025 Sea Kittens averaged 2.9 runs in the first inning, and 2.01 across all other innings.