Recap
We get by with a little help from our friends
Unsure how the softball gods would respond to their pregame sacrificial offering, Sea Kittens trotted onto Olbrich Field #2 looking to end a 15-game losing streak that had covered much of the past calendar year. Standing across the diamond were the upstart Caribou Bou Crew, enjoying a successful season in which it had captured the MSCR Buffalo League first-half title and were sent up to Denver League for its final five games. Remarkably short-handed for the contest, Sea kittens called upon fall roster invitee Tiffany Virag and signed three players from the Infrared Sox and Baltimore Factorioles to one-game contracts: Jenna Ryon, Mike Wood, and Josh Weber.
Bou Crew struck first, tagging Sea Kitten starter David Zen Master Rowe for two first-inning runs, and when Rowe opened the Harmony half of the inning with a pop up to pitcher, it seemed that the gods had dismissed the Kittens’ cries as inadequate or disapproved of its use of ringers, even if they came from a league a notch below the Denver League. But perhaps the palliative smoke had simply not yet reached the Great Diamond Beyond. Mama Cat O’Brien singled, Joe Hennessy reached on a miscue by the Crew’s third baseman, and Virag walked to load the bases.
Boom Boom Magyera knocked a hit to halve the Cats’ deficit, and Heidibadger Nelson singled to bring home the tying run. Another boot on the Bou hot corner lead to a third Harmony run, and Meghan MeWe Williams singled to give Harmony a 4-2 edge. When O’Brien and Hennessy drove home runs in the bottom the second to increase Sea Kittens’ advantage to 6-2, it was a familiar position for the squad- positive and positively uncomfortable. Thrice in its past four games Harmony had blown leads at least that large.
Bou Crew chipped home a run in the third and shut down Los Gatitos in the bottom of the inning, who returned the goose egg in the top of the fourth to send the game to the halfway mark 6-3 Sea Kittens.
And then it began. Perhaps unfamiliar with how Sea Kittens had been rolling for the past 11 months, Wood, Ryon, and Weber collected consecutive hits to open the Harmony fourth with bases loaded and none out. Rowe singled home a run, O’Brien walked to bring home another, and the Cats started to sniff Caribou blood. Hennessy lofted his second sacrifice fly of the game to bring home Weber. Virag walked again to re-load the bases, and Magyera stroked a 2-run single to extend the Kitten lead to 11-3. Nelson kept the hit parade going with an RBI knock of her own, and with two down the Factoriole trio banged consecutive singles for the second time in the frame and brought the Sea Kitten fourth-inning tally to 10.
With a 16-3 lead and nine outs to play, Sea Kittens began to dare to believe, and promptly allowed three runs to bring them back to their skittish senses. But the offense stayed in gear, tallying four more runs to extend the advantage to 20-6, and even a four-run seventh from the Bou Crew didn’t induce Sea Kitten tremors. Sea Kittens ended The Schneid.
Game Notes
- The win was the Sea Kittens’ first since July 17, 2013, an 11-6 win over Stone’s Pub.
- It was the last MSCR summer league game Harmony played on Olbrich #2, which had its fences shortened to 225′ for high school & women’s fast-pitch play after the Fall, 2014 season. All-time Sea Kittens were 10-9 on Olbrich #2
- Tom Kutz was playing the 7th game of his Sea Kitten career, and it was the first win he experienced
- Jazzy Leda Nath was absent for the game, and missed the experience. Her entire Sea Kitten career to this point had coincided with The Schneid, and at wasn’t until the 2014 Harmony Tourney opener that she played with a winning Sea Kitten side!
- Red Shoes Hewitt- long before the Red Shoes- was also absent. Her career had spanned 14 winless games. She too wouldn’t experience Kitten joy until the 2014 Harmony Tourney 24 days later.
- Sea Kittens scored 20+ runs for only the third time in their Summer League history- the first time since June 5, 2013 when they defeated Factorioles 21-1
- Joe set a Sea Kitten record with 3 sacrifice flies in a single game. It also matched the Sea kitten record for sacrifice flies in a season!
Salmon Snacks
When you win for the first time in almost a year, the bag is torn open, but special kudos:
- Thanks, Factorioles, who collectively went 9-12 with 7 runs scored and 6 RBI, and collected the Cats’ only two extra-base hits of the game!
- Dave (twice) and Josh for being ready and tagging up on Joe’s sac flies
- Kyle for notching two big RBI hits
- Erin for a 4-4 game with a walk and 3 runs scored
- Surely somebody made a defensive play or two that helped us avoid a Sea Kitten Inning, but no record of such play exists
Sea Kittens