It’ll be a hot minute before Seamour can write about last night’s game- Spoiler: IT WAS AWESOME. And without saying more than that, it caused him to dig through the ol’ emails to see if there was a write up of a particular game in 2012. Voila- enjoy.
Some of you were there, but if you were you may be too old to remember it clearly. Still the only game in Kitten history where two women tripled- woe to that fraction of a step between Erin’s triple and her shot at an inside-the-park homer on a 248′ field. Some fun facts, 13 years later:
- Still the biggest late-inning (end of 4th or later) comeback in Sea Kitten history… or is it???
- Only nine women have tripled in the Cats’ 271 games. Of those, FOUR were on the field last night- but one, Casey Spangler, was on the other side, snagging grounder & ripping hits. Current Cats Erin, Jami, and Kendra are all on the list of Kits with trips (along with Gretchen G-Mama Hansen, Hadley “Boomer” Boehm, Helen “Boo Rabbit” Bradley, Julia Hart, and Stephanie Jolitz)
- Kendra was the most recent woman to triple, September 7, 2023
- And isn’t it quaint? We used to try to record “errors.”
Game write-ups things used to be sent as a email to the team- here it is, as was captured in the moment (with a couple of typos cleaned up).
On Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 01:25:29 PM CDT, Joe Hennessy wrote:
Sea Kittens Rally with a Roar
On another hot, windy, dusty night in the Olbrich Desert, the Sea Kittens (6-1) picked themselves up after an early knock-down punch at the hands of the Royals (3-4) and slugged their way to a 14-13 victory.
Los Gatitos jumped to a quick 3-run lead behind a combination of hits, walks and Royals miscues, but suffered yips of their own in the bottom of the first frame and fell behind 4-3. Sharp Royals hitting and a handful of crucial Kitten errors over the next two innings put the Harmony squad at a 13-4 disadvantage, and murmurs started amongst the spectators that the game was getting out-of-hand, and that the Sea Kittens squad didn’t look themselves. But these 2012 Kittens have proved resilient, and didn’t let the big deficit faze them or cut into their fun on this night.
Kristen Johnson reached first on a throwing error by the Royals’ otherwise sure-handed third baseman to lead off the third inning, and advanced to second on a Jon Hansen single to left. Boomer Boehm forced Johnson at third, but Joe Hennessy lofted a fly ball into center that the night’s high wind carried beyond the fielder’s reach, driving in one on the play. Josh Ghena followed with a loud triple, and the Kittens had shaved three runs off the Royals’ lead.
With some defensive adjustments and a little more focus, the Kittens kept the Royals off the board in the 4th, and followed their big fourth with and even bigger fifth inning. Gretchen Hansen and Dave Rowe lead off the inning with back-to-back singles to center, advancing to second and third on a miscue after Rowe’s hit. Erin O’Brien stepped in and socked another single to center, plating two, and raced to third when Aaron Jossart delivered yet another base hit. One out later O’Brien trotted home on a Jon Hansen single, and Boehm walked to load the bases for Hennessy, who delivered a single to right, driving in two more runs and bringing the Kits within 1, 13-12. Next batter, Tom Cichosz stepped in for Ghena and sent a frozen rope to center field that the Royals’ center fielder picked off at his knees, and caught Boehm well off third to end the inning.
After another quick inning in the field, the Kits got back down to the business of hitting again. A one-out double by Kyle Magyera brought Gretchen “G-mama” Hansen to the plate, and she promptly lashed a triple into right-center field to score Magyera and tie the ballgame. Rowe followed that with a pop up to short left field, but upon seeing the shortstop turn his back to the infield to make the catch, G-mama alertly tagged up and skated home with the go-ahead run. Crazy Legs O’Brien stepped up again and launched a line drive to right field that hit the hard outfield ground and rocketed to the fence. Sent home by the third base coach, O’Brien was nipped at the plate by two pin-perfect Royals’ throws in her attempt to stretch the hit into a home run. While the inning ended there, the adrenaline of the rally further energized the Kittens’ defense. The team held the Royals scoreless again in the 6th and 7th, as Rowe (3-0) stayed steady and unrattled in escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and a 1-out double in the seventh to bring home the ballgame.
Next up for the Harmony Sea Kittens are Villa Tap Batmen and Robins (1-6), who have suffered three 1-run losses this season but beat the Kittens 10-6 in their only previous matchup, July 20, 2011, on a 97*, windy evening on which Harmony fell behind 8-0 in the second and 10-0 in the fifth.
Harmony Sea Kittens 3 0 1 3 5 2 0 – 14
Royals 4 5 4 0 0 0 0 – 13
6/20/2012
|
Player
|
AB
|
R
|
H
|
BI
|
|
Josh
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
|
Tom (ph)
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Heidi
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
Kyle
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
|
Gretchen
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
Dave
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
|
Erin
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
|
Aaron
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
|
Kristen
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Jon
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
|
Hadley
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|
Joe
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
2B-Dave (3), Joe (2), Kyle (3); 3B- Kyle (2),
Josh (1), Gretchen (2), Erin (2); HR- none;
BB- Erin (3), Hadley (2); SF-Dave (1);
DP- 1 (Dave-Hadley).
Dave 7.0 IP, 13 RA
Salmon snacks:
- Girl power in the middle of the order- Erin and Gretchen a combined 4-7, 4 runs scored, 3 RBI, 2 triples and a walk. And looking good doing it all. All 4 hits came in the 5th and 6th. Totally saved our bacon.
- Dave for just staying focused on pitching, positive, and confident even while things were chaotic for a while (and that goes for everyone- we were still having fun while we were getting our butts kicked, just not as much fun as we had when we came back)
- Jon for not wasting the babysitter’s time- 2-4, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI
- Josh was 3-3 with a triple, run scored and 2 RBI in the leadoff spot
- Kyle with a double, triple, and two runs scored
- Joe for not trying to kill the ball with the bases load and just taking an outside pitch to right field (mmmmm… salmon)
- Welcome back Kristen- not even showing much rust after a 3-week layoff. G’day, as they say!
- And one for Tom, who really creamed the ball in his only AB, and got nothing to show for it. Dang.
Game notes:
- Sea Kittens are 8-1 all-time in 1-run games
- Sea Kittens have set a new team record for triples in a season (13), eclipsing the old record of 9
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