Zen Master Rowe finishes his warm-up tosses before making his first Opening Day start.
May 24, 2017
Delayed a week by rain, Harmony Sea Kittens (0-1 in MSCR LaCrosse League play) opened its 2017 summer season on a dank, decidedly unsummer-like evening at Goodman Park Wednesday. Squaring off with We Got the Runs (2-0), Harmony couldn’t spark a sustained rally on the damp diamond and fell 8-5.
After Mags Magyera opened the Sea Kitten season with a ringing single to left, the next three Cats went down in order, only the first of many Sea Kittens who were unable to make solid contact against the WGR pitcher. Zen Master Rowe, making his first career opening – day start for the Kits, retired the first two WGR batters, but Harmony couldn’t record out number three before surrendering two runs.
Sea Kittens struck back in the second, with Sweet Thing Harkins delivering a clutch two-out single to plate Heidibadger Nelson and Rowe, but WGR again staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning and reasserted a 2-run lead. From there, WGR never looked back. Six times the Kits opened an inning with a base hit, but only once in the contest did Los Gatitios manage back-to-back hits. “We just didn’t hit the ball,” sadly mewed several forlorn kittens repeatedly after the game.
While the Sea Kitten defense was reasonably steady, its opponents’ was almost flawless,
Seamour Sea Kitten makes his grand entrance at Opening Day!
and twice turned double plays to erase Sea Kitten baserunners. Entering the bottom of the sixth, the Cats still seemed to have a chance in the contest, trailing only 6-3, but couldn’t hold the ground that inning and fell behind by 5. Another lead-off hit in the seventh momentarily stirred hope, but the Cats’ bats went quietly into the night.
Harmony Sea Kittens
0
2
1
0
0
0
1
–
4
We Got the Runs
2
2
0
2
0
2
x
–
8
BATTING
AB
R
H
RBI
Kyle
Magyera
3
0
1
0
Jess
Schultz
3
0
1
0
Dan
Oele
3
1
2
1
Erin
O’Brien
3
0
0
0
Joe
Hennessy
3
0
3
1
Heidi
Nelson
3
1
0
0
Dave
Rowe
3
1
1
0
Karlin
Younger
2
0
1
0
Brad
Harkins
2
0
1
2
Leda
Nath
2
0
0
0
Josh
Dilley
2
0
1
0
Laura
Hewitt
1
1
0
0
TOTALS
30
4
11
4
2B- Dave (1), Joe (1); 3B- none; HR- none. BB- none; SF- none.
May 24, 2017; 6:15 PM game, Goodman 1. Temp: 57*, damp, chilly.
Wind NNE 5. Time: 0:55; Attendance: 10. Scoring- J Potter.
Game notes
The loss was the first opening-day loss for Sea Kittens since a 17-6 loss to Grant Thornton in 2014. All time Sea Kittens are now 4-4 on opening day.
Twice in 2016 Sea Kittens scored 5 runs or fewer- once in an early 9-5 summer-season loss to Infield Flies, and again in a 4-3 fall-league win against KL Engineering
Salmon Snacks
Josh for making his Sea Kitten debut!
Laura for valiantly keeping a ball in the infield, sacrificing limb to do so (OW!), and also for a little display of smart, aggressive baserunning in scoring the Kittens’ third run of the night, dashing home from second on a single
Heidi for a nice snag on a low pop up
Brad for a busy, flawless game in right-center field
Erin & Dan for combining on a pretty 5-3 put out late in the game
