Perhaps a mite sleepy with an 8:45 PM start time, Sea Kittens (2-0) toyed with Steal Your Base (0-2) before methodically picking their familiar prey apart for a 13-4 win at Olbrich Park June 2. The win was the Cats’ eighth straight over SYB and puts the squad in an early tie at the top of the MSCR Kenosha League standings.
While Sea Kittens did hit enough to put up double-digit runs for the second week in a row, the story of this contest was pitching and occasional infield defense. Zen Master Rowe continued his string of unbeaten summer performances on Field #3, mesmerizing the Basers with a kaleidoscope of pitches and tallying seven strikeouts. Only 5 balls reached the outfield of SYB bats, and two of those were shallow popups (both of which fell for hits); the rest were harmless groundballs to Kitten infielders with which said infielders sometimes did surprising things, creating excitement for players on both teams.
*DING* The game began with a ring, as Kitten leadoff man-Aaron Jossart yanked a foul ball off the light standard halfway down the left-field line and did a funky little dance to celebrate. He subsequently flied out to deep left-center.
After that literal early noise, the game’s early innings passed quickly and quietly with a paucity of runs. The Hennessy-O’Brien duo combined to tally one for the Cats in the first and Hauer-Latzka did the same in the second, but at the end of three full innings the Sea Kitten advantage stood at only 2-1.
Joe the Coffeecat sparked a little sumthin-sumthin’ for Sea Kittens in the fourth, opening the inning with a line-drive home run into Starkweather Creek (well, the drainage ditch tributary thereof). O’Brien and Dan Dynam-Oele followed with hits, and one out later Boom Boom Magyera brought home Oele with a sacrifice fly. Hauer and Latzka delivered again with two out, Latzka’s hit bringing Kristin “Hollywood” Brown home after she rolled through a stop sign at third base. It was the first run scored of Brown’s Sea Kitten career. With a little help from their friends Sea Kittens, SYB got two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, and the book closed on the fourth with a 5-3 Cat advantage.
The Zen Master aided his own cause with a trademark hustle double to open the Kitten fifth, and the Cats sprinkled enough hits through the inning to tally four more runs. Two-out knocks from Oele, Brown, and Magyera capped the rally.
Now with a comfortable 9-3 advantage the Sea Kitten defense settled and cruised through the games’ final two innings while the offense scored a couple more runs, before
*DONG* Alex “Puma” Latzka spun a foul ball high off the foul pole halfway down the right field line and delighted all with a reprisal of the Jossart Jig with two out in the top of the seventh. This would be all over Tik Tok if the camera had actually been rolling. It was the final bell for Steal Your Base, who went quietly in the bottom of the frame to end the game.
OffendersEagles
| 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 |
Offenders
| 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
- Kristin for making her first Sea Kitten hit and running through her fist Sea Kitten stop sign
- Hilary for subbing and recording the only outfield put-out
- Joe for his first HR of the season
- Alex for a 3-3 game with a triple & 3 RBI
- Erin for her second straight 3-hit game
- Jami for enduring dazzlingly unpredictable play from other members of the infield
- Dave for shutting down SYB, again
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 Zen Master Rowe for winning the 2021 Week 1 Great Fillet with a record 10 votes (of a record 17 votes cast!)
What's You Choice for Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Week?
- Aaron & Alex's double-dinger dances (The Jossart Jig?) after clanking foul balls off poles in both LF and RF I am so sorry there is no video of either! (92%, 11 Votes)
- Kristin's aggro baserunning through the stop sign at third base in the 4th inning (8%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 12
Next Up
Sea Kittens (2-0) next play June 16 in a 7:35 showdown with Olbrich Offenders (1-1). The Offenders lost a close opener to Driftless Renovations, and then topped Swingin’ Eagles 13-12. Perhaps the Cats’ 14-12 win over that same Eagles squad suggests an evenly matched game approaches? Tune in, and find out!Game Notes
- Sea Kittens are now 8-2 vs Steal Your Base, having won 8 straight games against the Basers, but after winning the first 6 in that streak by 12 or more runs, SYB has lost the last two by 3 and 9 runs, respectively
- Last week, Jami scored the 1,000th Summer League Run is SK history!
- Sea Kittens are 17-11 all-time on Olbrich #3 in Summer League games. It’s their happiest place. Overall, Cats are 20-13 on Field #3
- As starting pitcher, Dave is now 10-0 in Summer games on Olbrich #3!
- Dave’s 7 strikeouts were most in a game since he struck out 9 free-Swingin’ Eagles in the 2018 Summer League Championship game.
- Kyle’s 8th career sacrifice fly (in 357 plate appearances) is second only to Joe’s 10 (558 PA) in SK history
- Sea Kittens have gone 3-0 only twice in its history- in 2012, en route to an 7-4 season and its first title; and in 2019, en route to a 4-6 finish