Recap
July 8, 2015
Later remembered as “The Steal Your Base Debacle”
Merrily taking the field and welcoming back all-time home run king Josh Ghena for a cameo in advance of the Magyera nuptials, Harmony Sea Kittens (4-5, 2-3 second half) were promptly knocked for a 10-run loop by Steal Your Base (2-3 second half) before recording three elusive outs. A valiant rally in the bottom of the first put the home team back in the mix briefly, but the Kits couldn’t stop their opponents’ dancing around the bases and ultimately fell in a 21-9 drubbing.
It was not the Cats’ night under the stars. In the harmonic beauty the softball gods impart, a week after drawing 17 bases on balls in a lopsided win, the free-swinging Sea Kittens took nary a one while issuing 10 freebies to the Basers. Things didn’t go better when the visitors did put the ball in play, as the Kittens kicked, flipped, missed, booted and chucked the ball around the diamond with wild abandon, or were sent racing after balls sent through the outfield gaps. “Hey blue,” pitcher TT Seahorse Cichosz joked with the umpire before the game, “you’re going to give me that expanded strike zone, right?” The softball deities chuckled softly at the joke, and turned it around on the beleaguered pitcher.
Even after enduring the first-inning beatdown el Espíritu de los Gatitos was undaunted, and the home team ripped eight consecutive hits to open their half of the inning. Six runs in, the Kits re-loaded the bases with two out, but couldn’t push the rally further.
Entering the second in a Brand-new 10-6 ballgame, Steal Your Base kept up its pressure, scoring three more in the second, third, and fourth innings, while the flash of the Cats’ bats was fleeting and the team’s defensive jitters were not.
At the end of the day Steal Your Base was smile, smile, smiling with a 21-9 win, and all the Sea Kittens could do was hang it up and see what next week brings.
Game Notes:
• Kits have a re-match with the second-half champ South Side Badgers next week, and a change to avenge their earlier 6-4 loss and to finish the summer season at 0.500. 8:30 PM at Olbrich Park.
• The loss dropped the Kittens’ all-time summer record to 24-27… the manager had quietly hoped we’d win the last two and even that mark at 26-26
Salmon Snacks
• Everybody, for taking such delight in playing, even in such a debacle
• Josh, for making the trip back to Wisconsin a day early and collecting two hits in his brief return to the Kittens
• Erin for her return to the basepaths after injuring her hammy 5 weeks ago
• Heidi for a heads-up put-out at the plate, even if the later one squirted away
• Jenna and Alyssa for being last-minute subs
• Jess for scampering over to the diamond to play immediately after finishing a volleyball game
• Laura, for a sweet hit in the 5th that kept us alive for one more batter
• Kyle, for delighting us with another pickle
Squirt bottle
• Kyle, for delighting us with another pickle
• Joe, for delighting us with a mighty swinging strikeout
Record Watch
Here are some summer season single-season marks within striking distance- some close, some longer shots
TEAM
• Kittens have scored 94 runs, trailing only the 2012 squad (130) and 2010 (98)
• 2015 Kits hold the best batting average (0.476) and on-base percentage (0.521) in team history, ahead of the 2012 squad (0.464/0.499). Note that the 2012 group slugged 0.651, while the 2015 Kits are slugging 0.567
• Similar for hits, this year’s group has 152, just behind #2- 154 in 2010 (#1 is 179 for the 2012 bunch)
• The team has drawn 30 walks, trailing the 2013 squad, which collected 35
INDIVIDUAL
***Tom’s 5 walks are a new team record for most walks by a guy in a season*** (several tied at 3)
***Erin has tied her team record for doubles in a season with 2***
• Dave has 21 hits, Kyle 19… the single-season mark is Dave’s at 22 (2012)
• Heidi has 13 hits… Gretchen and Erin have most hits among women in a season with 15 (both in 2012, Erin again in 2014)
• Tom and Heidi each have 5 walks- Hadley and Kristen each walked 6 times in 2012
• Dan and Kyle each have 17 RBI- Joe had 21 in 2012
• Heidi has 9 runs scored- Gretchen had 12 in 2012
• Kyle has 2 sac flies, one back of Joe, who had 3 in 2012 & 2014
• Jon’s batting average sits at 0.800, tied with the record shared by him (2013) & Disco Nick Legler (2010)*… but he only has 16 plate appearances, which may or may not be enough to qualify for the title…
(*Legler’s 2010 batting average was later corrected to 0.714 in a 2018 scorebook review)
• Jon’s on-base percentage is also 0.800, trailing only Nick (0.810* in 2010; *
revised to 0.721 in 2018) and his own 2013 mark (0.808)… he is poised to become the all-time team career summer leader in both categories, distancing himself from Joe & Josh (though there’s always Kornis, who put up a 688/706/969 triple slash in his 34 career summer plate appearances and 701/718/1.075 overall). Might be just enough to get Matt to come to town for 3 or 4 games in the future and stake his claim as the sweetest-swingin’ Sea Kitten. Evah. Well, except maybe for Disco Nick Legler.
Best single-season summer batting averages & on-base percentages among Sea Kitten women, 2010-2014:
BA/OBP
2012 O’Brien, Erin 0.469/0.688
2014 O’Brien, Erin 0.469/0.531
2012 Hansen, Gretchen 0.455/0.576
Sea Kittens 2015:
O’Brien, Erin 0.688/0.722
Hansen, Gretchen 0.500/0.565
Nelson, Heidi 0.464/0.483
vs 
Sea Kittens