The 8th of August brought he first hints of autumn to Bowman Park, but Sea Kittens still have their Madison Sport & Social Club Summer Season to complete. The Cats (4-1)- looking to retain control of first place in Thursday night play- squared off against Hot Toddy’s Bad Chads and quickly found themselves with all they could handle on a this breezy, cool summer eve.
Playing the 250th game in Sea Kitten history, the team went into throwback mode- or were those flashbacks- as it kicked, booted, rolled and bounced the softball around the diamond as if it were a great ball of catnip-infused yarn. Every once in a while, it seems, Kittens gotta Kitten. Mixed with some timely big hits from the Todds & Chads and the Cats were in a 4-0 hole before coming to bat.
The Kitten offense answered for two runs in the bottom of the inning via a two-run single up the middle from pitcher Joe Hennessy, but the kitten-ing continued in the second, and HTBC roared to a 7-2 advantage.
With defense not being the strength of the night, the Cats called upon their bats, and the bats answered. After scoring nine runs in each of their last three games, Los Gatitos scored nine in the bottom of the second, including seven with two out. Coming off a two-week absence, Zoe Z-Force Slattery opening the inning with a hit and Man-Aaro Jossart followed with another. With one out, Luke Loken- subbing for the injured Puma, Alex Latzka, singled to load the bases. Rookie Marcy Messina worked a full-count walk to plat the inning’s first run, and Laura Red Shoes Hewitt scored the second on a grounder off the bat of Zen Master David Rowe. Loken played his best Loki trick on the play, eluding a tag long enough to let the run score and keep the Cats out of the double play. The sparkling effort ignited a rally. Stephen “Slash” Grutzik bombed a two-run triple, Mama Cat O’Brien brought him home with a hard single up the middle, and the next five Kits all delivered hits, including the second of the inning from Z-Force and RBI knocks from Roadrunner Hauer, Rusty Weber, and a bomb of a double from Jossart to put Sea Kittens up 11-7.
Loki Loken’s tricksy, tide-turning baserunning play.
The Chads were nonplussed (which, I have learned, has two completely opposite but commonly accepted meanings- “surprised/ confused” and “unperturbed, not disconcerted.”) I digress, but can say with certainty the Chads were nonplussed, no matter what meaning you take, and answered with five runs, a number of which were the two-out variety, and re-took the lead at 12-11.
Loki opened the Cats’ third with a hit and Rowe moved him along with a one-out single. Grutzik dug in, and was walked… intentional or no, he did not see a pitch to hit and strolled to first to load the bases. It is always a mistake to walk a guy intentionally to get to mama Cat. She takes it as the personal affront it is, and promptly ripped a two-run single to put Sea Kittens back in the lead. Hennessy blooped a double to right, and Hauer and Jossart tacked on run-scoring hit to give the Cats a 17-12 edge.
Man-Aaron Jossart puts the exclamation point of the Sea Kittens’ 9-run second-inning outburst.
The Kittens didn’t get through the fourth clean but managed to hold the damage to a single run, and umpire Dave announced “time limit approaching.” The Cats took a patient approach at the plate and put Loki & Messina on base to open the bottom of the inning, but couldn’t collect another hit and so the game went to the fifth.
Again HTBC battled, scoring once and threatening more, but finally the Cats seized the ball and the game and trotted off with an exciting 17-14 win.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Toddy’s Bad Chads | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| Sea Kittens | 2 | 9 | 6 | 0 | x | 17 |
Hot Toddy’s Bad Chads
| 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 |
Sea Kittens
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zen Master Rowe | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephen “Slash” Grutzik | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mama Cat O’Brien | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Hennessy | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 2 |
| Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh “Rusty” Weber | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zoe “Z-Force” Slattery | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Man-Aaron Jossart | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red Shoes Hewitt | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luke Loken | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcy Messina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 33 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 2 |
Salmon Snacks
- Marcy for her first career RBI!
- Five Cats had 3-hit games: Erin, Joe, Zoe, Aaron, & Luke
- Luke for subbing, and for his elusive baserunning to avoid a double play
- Jami for a nice running grab of a bases-loaded popup in shallow right field
- Stephen, Erin, Joe, Josh, Jami, and Aaron all delivered two-out RBI
- Alex, to help heal his ailing back quickly!
Next Up
Sea Kittens must once again face their Boujee-man next week, lining up across from Bat & Boujee at 6:30 PM on Bowman Field 1. A win will give Sea Kittens the #1 seed in Summer League playoffs; a loss will drop them to second or third. The Cats will again be without DynamOele & Latzka, and Hennessy and O’Brien will also be absent. Subs have been arranged subs- including two from Hot Pitches- who will hopefully help Sea Kittens exorcise the demon. In the team’s past 14 games, Sea Kittens are 11-0-1, and 0-2 vs Bat & Boujee. The Cats have dropped 3 straight and 4 of their past 5 against B&B.
Game Notes
- The Cats 17 runs matched their highest scoring out put for 2024- the third time they’ve scored 17.
- The homer-less streak has reached a team-record 12 games.
- Erin scored her 200th career run as a Sea Kitten.