Harmony Sea Kittens (10-1) claimed the MSCR Monroe League Championship with a decisive 18-10 victory over Swingin’ Eagles (6-5) at Goodman Park Wednesday night. The title is the second for Los Gatitos del Mar and fittingly crowns the winningest team in franchise history. Once again Harmony Sea Kittens are the cream of the lower-level Wednesday Night East Side Madison Co-ed Recreational crop!
Sea Kittens lost the pre-game coin flip- apparently tails occasionally fails- and were relegated to the visitor’s bench, which a small but boisterous fan base filled in behind. The Polish Puma- Alex Latzka- wasted no time in getting the crowd riled, cranking a pitch deep to right-field and whirling around the bases for a lead-off inside-the-park home run. Dan DynamOele doubled and the red-hot Roadrunner- Jami Hauer, who finished the season with 10 hits in her last 12 at-bats- knocked him home to give Sea Kittens a 2-0 first-inning advantage. Latzka also got the Cats’ defense going in the bottom half of the inning, ranging far to catch a ball in right-center to open the game, and Zen Master Rowe followed with his first of nine strikeouts. A first-inning single was the Eagles’ only hit in the game’s first three innings.
Eagles do silly things as DynamOele`s third-inning homer ascends to orbit
After stalling with a runner in scoring position in the second, Harmony’s offense blew the game open in the third, posting a snowman- a big, fat, intimidating snowman- in the inning en route to a 10-0 lead. Latzka opened the frame with a double and move to third on a Mama Cat O’Brien single, and DynamOele followed with a booming home run to left. The
Sea Kitten rowdies cheered the team lustily. Kitten Karlin “Clutch” Younger (foreground), out with a shoulder injury all summer, may be cleared to DH in fall league games..
Kitten machine started purring. Hauer singled, Joe Hennessy short-hopped the fence for a double, and that pair raced home on a Sweet Thing Harkins double (thankfully Hauer finished several strides ahead of Hennessy). Rowe, All-day Kendra Haight, and Boom Boom Magyera collected two-out RBI, absolutely thrilling the easily entertained fans- who continued to get more than they bargained for in the next two innings.
Playing the game at Goodman (280′ fences) rather than Olbrich Park (248′), where both teams had played all of their summer league games, Sea Kittens used its impressive team speed to take advantage of the spacious dimensions, banging as many doubles-nine- as singles in the game and adding a triple and two inside-the-park homers to the extra-base hit tally.
With Oele on second base after his team-record 13th double of the season and two out in the fourth, Hennessy sent a laser down the left field line. The Eagles’ left fielder dove valiantly, only to have the ball tick off the end of his glove and continue to the corner. Seeing the prone fielder, Hennessy switched on aging afterburners rounding second and recorded the Cats’ second inside-the-park homer of the night. “That’ll remind me of softball at Christmas,” Hennessy said afterwards, referencing the expected aftermath of such a dash on his legs (which feel surprisingly good at time of writing).
From first pitch to last, Zen Master hit his targets all night
Now trailing 12-0, the Eagles finally punched through two runs against Rowe and the Sea Kitten defense in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Cats responded in kind, this time with Haight throwing fans into a tizzy with an RBI triple to left and Magyera plating her with a sac fly that would’ve been gone at Olbrich.
I am pleased with myself. -All-day Haight, after her fifth-inning triple
With the outcome seeming inevitable, Eagles
Heron of Ill Omen (artist’s rendering)
started to bounce back late, pulling within 14-5 entering the seventh inning. With one run in, two out, and Rowe and Red Shoes Hewitt on the bases, Latzka gave the crowd one last cheap thrill, wheeling around the bases for his second inside-the-park job of the game and an 18-5 Sea Kitten lead.
After a quick first out in the bottom of the seventh and needing only two more to seal the deal, a Great Blue Heron of Ill Omen flew over the field, unsettling the Sea Kittens playing so vulnerably below. “remember, we’re Kittens, not f**h…” but the unnerved Cats swatted and tossed the ball around the diamond spectacularly, turning in a “Sea Kitten Inning” that reached the point of some wondering, “how many runs have they (Eagles) scored?” Finally, with five runs home and runners on first and second, Rowe induced a grounder that found a glove cleanly, and DynamOele carried it safely to third base for the game’s final out.
Game Notes
Alex’s 7th-inning home run was the 100th homer in team history (MSCR & Harmony Tournament games combined)
Kendra’s 5th-inning triple was also the 100th in team history
Joe’s 3rd-inning double was the 400th Sea Kitten double
Brad’s run in the 3rd was # 1,500 all-time (146 games played)
Uh, Kyle’s sac fly was the 39th…
The Sea Kittens’ all-time team on-base percentage is 0.499- just shy of the half-of-the-time mark!
The 5-run Eagle 7th made them the first team to score 10 or more runs against the 2018 Kits, and ended a string of 12 consecutive games in which SK had held opponents in single digits
The 7th also bumped up the Cats’ runs allowed total to 65, two more than the record 63 posted by the 2016 team
Dave ended his season with 11 consecutive hits, and Joe ended his with 10 straight
Sea Kittens currently own a team-record 8-game winning streak
The win extends a stretch in which the squad has won 18 of 21 games- but during which it had lost the Harmony Tournament final and MSCR Winona Fall League championship in 2017.
Salmon Snacks
All around!!! Congrats on a great & fun season, Sea Kittens!
Brad and Heidi, for playing admirably despite being under the weather
Kendra for subbing- and doubling and tripling!
Katherine and Aaron and Jess for being big parts of getting us to this game, even if they couldn’t be there
Everybody for the 7th inning, which reminded us that at the core we are still Sea Kittens, capable of much mischief
Joe for the div-nope- slide and subsequent kick-save in left, unintentionally stopping a ball from skipping to the fence. Softball hacky-sack with Brad!
Dave & Joe for 4-4 games
Jami, Alex, & Dan for adding three more apiece
Laura for her fun banter behind the plate
That remote-control airplane for totally districting everybody for the first few innings
The 2018 Sea Kittens hit like no Sea Kittens had ever hit before and eclipsed six records established by the 2016 team and narrowly missed five other marks.
49 doubles obliterated the record of 36
18 homers in 2018, topping 16 in ’16
136 RBI edged the 2016 squad’s 133
79 extra base hits >>> 61 in 2016
The 2018 Sea Kittens’ 0.545 batting average was the highest summer league BA in team history (0.533 in summer 2016; the fall ’16 team hit 0.567)
The Cats’ 2018 slugging percentage was 0.879- more than 0.100 better than any previous summer team and ahead of the fall ’16 crew’s 0.857
142 runs scored was two shy of the team record 144, as were the 65 runs allowed just two more than the team record 63
This summer’s team was the second to collect more than 200 hits- 207- just a bit behind 2016’s 213
12 triples this summer was the most since the Cats legged out 15 in 2013
Individual Glories- 2018
Jami and Dan set team records for hits in a season. Jami collected three to push her season total to 16, topping the mark held by Erin (2012 & 2015) and Gretchen (2012). Erin ended up with 15 again in 2018. Dan’s three hits upped his season total to 30, one better than the 29 Mercury Stevens notched in 2016.
Jami ended with a 0.500 batting average, tied for #2 on the Cats’ all-time list. She joins Erin as the only SK women to hit 0.500 or better in a season
Dan hit a summer league record 0.857, outpacing Andy’s 0.829 mark in 2016. Overall it’s the third-highest batting average a Sea Kitten has ever posted
While Erin conceded one record, she tied one of the team’s oldest marks with 12 runs scored, matching Gretchen’s 2012 total. She also established a summer record for doubles (3) and matched her summer league mark of 4 extra-base hits.
Dan’s Ruthian season also included records for runs scored (25, topping Joe’s 22 in 2016); doubles (13, besting Andy’s 12), and 19 extra-base hits (beating his own mark of 18)
Alex matched Joe’s 2013 record of 4 triples, and her curried much favor with softball gods by digging for home on his two round-trippers
Dave’s 25 strikeouts pitching this season topped Tommy Tom Tom Seahorse Shabidu Cichosz Jr.’s record of 24 set in 2013, when records for such things were first kept.
Not records, but…
Dan & Joe ended with 6 HR each, good for a tie at #2 on the all-time list
Joe’s 30 RBI were just shy of Dan’s record 33, and his 8 doubles were a career best
Dan (0.857), Joe (0.824) and Dave (0.810) posted the #1, #3, and #4 summer-league batting averages among men, and Jami posted the #2 mark among women. Erin’s 0.417 is #11.
Brad finished one hit shy of joining the 0.700 club (0.688 BA), but he set career highs in everything- 688/679/1.061 BA/OBP/SLG, 16 runs, 22 hits, 4 doubles , 3 triples and a homer- plus 12 RBI- were all personal bests, as was one sacrifice fly.
Laura’s 7 runs were a personal best and make her only the 9th individual woman to score 7 or more times in a summer. Her 5 RBI- also a personal best
Dave’s 0.810 batting average buried his rookie year high-water mark- 0.655 in 2011, and his 8 doubles set a new career high, topping 6 in 2012
Jess became just he 3rd woman to hit 2 or more doubles in a season, and her 8 RBI were one shy of the team summer record and good for a tied for #5 all-time
Alex & Jami set high bars for their first full summer of Sea Kitten play!
Kyle’s 2 HR = summer league personal best
Heidi & Jess each finished just one hit shy of posting batting averages north of 0.400
