Cats Strut in Opener

With fewer than 6 months for rust to build up between its final game in 2021 and first in 2022, the Sea Kittens played like a squad that’s been at it for more than a decade against a opponent that was playing its first-ever game together.  Both of these things were true, and the Cats coasted past Bat Intentions 27-2 on a fine early spring evening at Bowman Park in a mismatch reminiscent of the lame early-season games college football and basketball teams choose to play.  At least in the Kittens’ defense, it was just how their schedule was assigned.

Mama Cat launches the Sea Kittens’ first extra-base hit of 2022.

But the beginning of any contest against an unfamiliar foe is a great unknown- “who are these guys?”  “Are the going to crush us?” “Where’s that pitcher going to pitch me?”  “Do I remember how to do this?  “And for the love of god- wait for the pitch this time…” And other such things race through a batter’s mind as they step into the box.  The first three Sea Kittens batters had a lot of time to think about such things, as the first 9 pitches delivered were unhittable pitches, well off the plate.  With the bases loaded, Dan DynamOele finally took a hack, poking a single to left to open the scoring.  Mama Cat O’Brien followed with a 2-run double over the left fielder’s head, and was followed by two-base hits from Joe Hennessy and Man-Aaron Jossart.  The rout was on almost as soon as the game began, and Zen Master David Rowe punctuated the first-inning outburst with a two-run quadruple- an extraordinarily ambitious jaunt around the bases in the season opener, much less in one’s first at-bat of the year, astonished observers agreed.

Perhaps believing his kids were watching the livestream, Rowe raced the bases for a first-inning quadruple.

The well-seasoned, grizzled veteran he is, Rowe showed no rust upon taking the pitcher’s bump for the first time in five months. Indeed, he found the plate exactly where he left it in October, and dealt strikes all night to the Bat Intention lineup.  Working efficiently, Rowe struck out four and he and his defense did not allow a Bat Intention player to reach second base through the three innings he pitched while the outfield stood quietly and watched the pitcher and infield do its thing.

After a relatively quiet second inning, Sea Kittens salted the game away in the third, opening the frame with nine consecutive hits- including back-to-back triples from Oele and Slash Grutzik and pouring on seven more consecutive hits with two out, ultimately going station-to-station on the bases in an attempt to spare their rivals additional,  unnecessary indignance.

Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth, the game’s final inning as time cap drew near.  Up 27-0, Hennessy came on in mop up relief of Rowe, and despite being a similarly seasoned and grizzled veteran and the plate being exactly where he left it five month ago Hennessy couldn’t find the same area code as the plate, much less the plate itself.  After walking the bases loaded, Hennessy notched a big one-out strikeout, but the Bats had no intention of going quietly into the night, and finally broke through with a solid 2-run single to left.  The Jossart-Sunshine Curtis connection came a kitten whisker away from ending the ballgame with a 7-2 putout, but instead a jubilant Bat Intention bench celebrated its first two runs of the season. One batter later, the game was finalized for the Sea Kitten annals.

Salmon Snacks

• All around, for showing up for another season of Sea Kittens softball
• Dan, for being the first to swing the bat in the first inning… while batting 4th
• Erin for the first extra-base hit of the year
• Joe & Erin went a combined 9-10 with 3 doubles and 7 runs scored
• Jami, for her first-base debut- and promptly making a play. It’s what she does.
• Dave for a fine game on the mound, and Joe for something less fine that led to opponents’ runs
• Stephen for the fine left-handed game at the plate- 3-3 with a double and triple, but mercifully no home run
• Dave for hitting the first quadruple of the year!

Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game

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Game Notes

• The game was the first-ever April Sea Kittens have ever played, and was only 156 days removed from the Fall finale, concluding the team’s shortest off-season ever.
• The game was also the Cats’ first-ever Thursday night contest.  Sea Kittens are 0-5 on Mondays, 5-9 on Tuesdays, 7-9 on Sundays, and 87-67 on Wednesdays… making this the 100th win in team history!
• 27 runs was the Sea Kittens 4th-highest run total ever, and the 25-run margin of victory matched the second-highest ever (30 vs. Beckett Tax & Accounting 5/18/2016, and 25 vs Steal Your Base 8/10/2016).
• The 14-run 3rd inning outburst matched the second-biggest inning the Cats have ever had (14 vs. Steal Your Base in the 2nd inning, October 5, 2016), and was one fewer than the biggest- 15 vs. SYB in the 6th inning July 5, 2017 (a game that was tied until that eventful half-inning).
• It was the 19th time in 190 games Sea Kittens have held an opponent to 2 runs or fewer. The Cats have been held to 2 or fewer 7 times, but none since 2014.
• Erin’s 5-hit game was only the 11th time a player has had 5 or more hits in a game in Sea Kitten history.  It was the second time of her career- she (8/26/2010), Jonny Jon Jon Shabbidu Hansen, Jr. (5/26/2012), and Alex (10/26/2021) share the team record of 6 hits in a single game.
• Amazingly, it was the third consecutive game in which the Cats had a 5-hit performance:  Dave notched 5 in Game 2 of 2021’s playoff triple-header, Alex rapped 6 in the 2021 finale, and Erin opened 2022 with her 5-knock effort.

ICYMI, this was the predominant first-inning action.