Three weeks after Sea Kittens and The Avengers battled to a 9-9 season-opening draw, the two teams met once more on yet another idyllic summer softball evening. In a reversal from the first meeting, this time the Cats played the game at nearly full strength while The Avengers (2-2-1) played admirably with a very short-handed eight-person side. Sea Kittens (2-1-1) swung the bat well and capitalized on some early-game miscues and raced to a 26-6 victory to move into sole possession of second place in the Madison Sport and Social Club Thursday night upper division standings, with a pair of games against Hot Pitches (0-3) remaining in the regular season.
The visiting Sea Kittens jumped to a 4-0 first-inning lead by rapping five two-out hits, including consecutive doubles from Joe Hennessy, Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer, Stephen “Slash” Grutzik, and Alex “Puma” Latzka, but The Avengers answered in the bottom of the inning with their own three-run two-out rally off Hennessy, who was making his second start of the Summer season.
The Cats kept stringing together hits in the top of the second, opening the frame with four straight, the big blow coming on a long triple from Aaron Lomax, his first as a Sea Kitten and first of two in the game. Staked to an 8-3 advantage, the Sea Kitten defense went to work in the bottom of the inning, with shortstop Dan DynamOele showing that he’s not just a bat-wielding brute on a pair of fine defensive plays to help hold The Avengers scoreless.
Aa-Lo finally starts to unlock the magic in his shiny new wand with a 4-hit night, including a double and two triples.
Los Gatitos again opened the third inning with three straight hits, adding a run to their tally, but the rally looked to stall after a pair of outs. But then things got wild. While the Cats did not take advantage of The Avengers’ lack of a second baseperson, the squad suddenly could not miss open grass, and strung together 10 consecutive hits to blow the game open. When the dust finally settled and the third out was finally recorded, Sea Kittens sat on an 18-3 advantage, and never looked back.
With Fingers Don’t Lose (4-0) firmly atop the standings, Sea Kittens and Avengers will all but certainly meet again in the opening round of the Thursday night playoffs; all onlookers are hoping both sides are playing near full-strength for that one.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Kittens | 4 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 26 |
| Da Hittas | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
Sea Kittens
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron “Aa-Lo” Lomax | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chill Hil Dugan | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan DynamOele | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Hennessy | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex The Puma Latzka | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephen “Slash” Grutzik | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red Shoes Hewitt | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zen Master Rowe | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mama Cat O’Brien | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet Thing Harkins | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 51 | 26 | 32 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
Da Hittas
| AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Salmon Snacks
- Aaron’s bat awoke and he went 4-5 with two triples and a double
- Aaron, Joe, Alex & Stephen each had 4 RBI
- Stephen & Alex each had 5 hits
- Jami for getting on base 4 times, and scoring a team-high 4 runs
- Dan for his slick game at SS, including two 6-5 combos with Stephen to tag runners at 3rd
- Erin & Alex for their game-ending double play
Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game
You didn’t have to see it to believe it. Vote here for the Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game! Congrats to Jami, who won last week’s for The Game Changing Double Play that Could’ve Been.
What's your pick for the Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game?
- Alex & Erin combing for an 8-3 double play to end the game (100%, 4 Votes)
- Dan's nice face-saving scoop of a hot shot to end the 2nd inning (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 4
Next Up
Game Notes
- Sea Kittens’ 26 runs matched the 5th-highest output ever in team history.
- It was the 10th time a Sea Kittens team scored 20 or more runs.
- At least one Sea Kitten has drawn a walk in 16 consecutive games, tying the the record set between May 31 and September 20, 2017.
- The team’s 32 hits were the 4th-most ever in a game, and the most since August 20, 2017 against harmony Relics, in that year’s Harmony Tournament opener.
- The Cats’ 10-run 3rd inning was the 16th time in club history that a SK team has posted 10 or more in a single inning.
- Sea Kittens 3 triples were the most since September 25, 2019. It was the 11th time a Sea Kittens dashed for three triples in a game. Many, many moons ago the Cats raced for 4 triples in a game- May 16 and June 20, 2012, game numbers 35 & 40.
- The team’s 7 doubles were the most since September 18, 2019.
- Overall, the Cats’ 10 extra-base hits matched the 6th-most in team history, and were the most since August 29, 2018, a span of 52 games.
- Brad made his 250th career plate appearance.
- Stephen and Alex recorded the 14th & 15th times a Sea Kitten rapped 5 or more hits in a game. It’s the third time in team history two players did it in the same game- and the second time this duo has done so in the past 7 games!
- Jami’s 4 runs scored was the 40th time a player has done so- a giant tie for #2 on the all-time list. Only four times has an individual Sea Kitten ever scored 5 runs in a game. Jami joined Erin as the only women to have scored 4 in a game twice.
- Joe has 3 triples in a season for the first time since Summer, 2013.
- Jami’s games-played streak is at 44.