Sea Kittens (3-0) opened the September segment of its 2022 schedule Thursday night with a tightly-contested 13-8 win over Hot Pitches (2-1). The Cats remain one of only two unbeaten teams in Madison Sport & Social Club Thursday night Fall league play, once again joining Fingers Don’t Lose (3-0) atop the standings. The latter squad has now moved to 19-0 in 2022.
With regulars Slash Grutzik, Roadrunner Hauer, and Alex the Puma absent, Bradley Sweet Thing Harkins, Aaron Aa-Lo Lomax, and Dan DynamOele stepped up offensively for Los Gatitos del Mer, and Laura “Red Shoes” Hewitt made several key plays at second base to help celebrate her birthday with a Sea Kitten win.
Neither team mustered much early offense on this warm late-summer evening, with Hot Pitches working home a single run in the first inning and the Cats answering with two in the second, compliments of a home run from Joe Hennessy- a sky high fly that just cleared the left-centerfield fence. Both teams’ pitchers and defenses worked around baserunners in the early going.
Aa-Lo Lomax bashes a single off the fence. After a sacrifice fly and this hit, he connected in his next at-bat for a 3-run homer to break open the game for Sea Kittens.
The Cats posted a crooked number in the third inning after Sweet Thing, Chill Hil Dugan and DynamOele opened the inning with hits. Aa-Lo lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home the Kittens’ second run of the frame to put Sea Kittens up 4-1. Mitch Trow added a run-scoring single and Taytay Peltier brought home the teams’ fourth run with a bases-loaded groundout.
Hot Pitches dug into the Cats’ 6-1 advantage with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Sea Kittens answered in kind in the top of the fourth and held an 8-3 lead at the game’s midway point.
After setting down the Kittens 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth inning, Hot Pitches opened the bottom of the inning on fire, spraying hits around the field. Red Shoes helped save the day, sticking with a tall pop towards second base and hanging on for a birthday snow-cone catch to finally retire one of the HP batters. The Pitches batted around in the inning, but Hennessy induced a foul out to end the frame before the trouble-making top of the HP order could hit again.
Clinging to an 8-6 lead with momentum seeming to have shifted, Sea Kittens quickly flipped the script. Bryan Maitland laced a double to open the inning and moved to third on Sweet Things’ fourth hit of the game. Dugan brought home a run with a hard line drive single, DynamOele doubled home Harkins, and then Aa-Lo launched a game-breaking blast to center, a 3-run homer- the first of his Sea Kitten career.
Much more comfortable and confident with a 13-6 advantage, the Cats coolly sashayed home with the victory.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Kittens | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 13 |
| Hot Pitches | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Sea Kittens
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Shoes Hewitt | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet Thing Harkins | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chill Hil Dugan | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan DynamOele | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron “Aa-Lo” Lomax | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mama Cat O’Brien | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mitchell Trow | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Hennessy | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| TayTay Peltier | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryan Maitland | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 39 | 13 | 19 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
Hot Pitches
| 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
- Laura for her birthday game!
- Mitchell and Bryan for subbing!
- Aaron for the game-sealing home run & 5 RBI- his first Sea Kitten homer
- Brad & Dan each had 4 hits.
- Erin & Taylor for the play at home that was really an out even if the ump said otherwise.
- Hilary for 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI & a solid game in LF. Even if Aaron got in her way.
- Joe & Erin for the bunch of squibbers they handled successfully
- Alex & Jami because stupid Covid
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! Gretchen & Taylor tied last week- Gretchen for her first SK game in seven years and Taylor for her first softball game ever. Equally great things about last week’s game!
What's Your Pick for Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game?
- Aaron for his game-sealing home run in the 6th (0%, 0 Votes)
- Laura for her (birthday) snow cone catch in the 6th (100%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 8
Next Up
Sea Kittens (3-0) will be visitors to Beer View Mirrors (2-1) Thursday, September 8 in an 8:30 PM game on Bowman Field 2. This BVM squad is revamped- only three players return from the group that was 1-6 in summer play- and sits in a 5-way tie for third place in the league. A 16-7 loss at the hands of juggernauts Fingers Don’t Lose accounts for the lone blemish on BVM’s record. Zen Master Rowe will get the start for the Cats, who will be closer to having a full roster than at any other point in recent weeks.
Game Notes
- Sea Kittens matched the most wins in a calendar year in team history. The Cats sit at 14-3-1 for 2022; the 2016 team went 14-5 in MSCR & Harmony Tournament play, and the 2018 team went 14-4 in MSCR & Harmony games.
- Sea Kittens didn’t score in the first inning but won, bringing the team’s record to 21-35 in such games.
- The Cats have recorded a sacrifice fly in three straight games- a testament to good baserunning! Have another Salmon Snack for that.
- Sea Kittens hit 7 doubles, matching the team’s season high, and matching the most in a game since the team hit 8 in September 2019.
- Pitching-wise, Joe has allowed fewer than 10 runs in eight straight starts, tied for second-most all-time. Dave had a run of 11 such starts in 2015-2016.