Kits Fit to be Tied

Sea Kittens (1-0-1) faced their first of two new opponents in Madison Sport & Social Club Thursday night Vilas League action and found themselves locked in a memorable 60-minutes softball  battle with Avg@Best (1-0-1) that ended with little resolved other than how much fun a close, well-played rec softball game can be.

The early moments of the game were decidedly un-fun from the Cats’ perspective, as Avg@Best pounded the Kittens for six first-inning runs- the highlight? of which was a baserunning pickle that both began and ended with a ball bouncing off a player’s head.  These things happen at times, when a routine ball to shortstop becomes anything but.   With A@B runners on first and second, Sea Kitten starting pitcher Joe Hennessy induced a ground ball to shortstop.  Dan DynamOele’s toss to second attempted to occupy the same place in space and time as the incoming A@B runner’s noggin, which inconvenienced Roadrunner Jami Hauer in her attempt to catch the ball.  It caromed away a bit, but some unidentified Sea Kitten had the presence of mind to back up the play, see the A@B leadoff runner headed to wards home and chuck to Sunshine Curtis.  The runner stopped just short of the commit line, headed back to third, and found the runner from second already there.  Curtis tossed to third to get one of the two out, but the dastardly dasher headed back towards home, and this time the incoming ball attempted to occupy the same point in space-time as Curtis’ head.  Both runners scored, and it looked both very Kitten-esque and like one of *those* nights.

But no!  Not these Kittens, not this night.  Three straight one-out singles followed by a run-scoring grounder and a two-out, two-run double from Oele cut the Cats’ deficit in half in the bottom of the first.  Man-Aaron Jossart ripped a hit, and the Cats trailed 6-4 at the end on one inning.

Avg@Best went back to work in the top of the second, tacking two runs on to their advantage, but this time Oele & Hauer snuffed the rally, turning a grounder into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, with Erin Mama Cat O’Brien finishing the job.  Back-to back doubles from Zen Master David Rowe and Josh “Rusty” Weber brought Sea Kittens back within three runs, and Stephen “Slash” Grutzik added an RBI single to make it 8-6, but again Sea Kittens left two runners on base.

Dan DynamOele collects  a two-out 4th inning RBI.

The Kitten defense went into even harder lockdown mode in the third inning, this time with Hauer picking & flicking a grounder to Oele to start a pretty 4-6-3 twin killing.  Hennessy grabbed a laser shot up the middle to end the inning before A@B added anything to their lead. Oele opened the bottom of the third inning with a double and skittered to third on a hit from Jossart.  One out later Hennessy brought Oele home, and Jossart soon followed with the Cats’ 8th and equalizing run on a fielder choice from Curtis.

The A@B offense got back on its feet in the top of the fourth, jumping back to a two-run lead, but the Kittens answered in kind, highlighted by a booming triple from Weber and RBI knocks from Hauer and Oele.

The fifth inning saw more A@B fireworks, with a leadoff walk coming back to haunt Hennessy in the form of a two-run homer.  Several more hits lead to another pair of runs, and suddenly the Cats found themselves down 14-10 with time a-ticking on the game’s 60-minute time cap.

All-Day Kendra Haight opened the Sea Kitten fifth with a double, but found herself still standing there two batters- and two outs- later.  But Rowe was not ready to go easily into that good night, and poked a single to center to score Haight and cut the A@B lead to 14-11. The next five Sea Kittens followed suit- not without a bit of controversy and even more dust around a pair of close plays at second base. But when that dust settled, Rowe, Weber, and Hauer had all scored- thanks to a two-run single from Grutzik and a clutch game-tying hit from Alex “Puma” Latzka- and the Kittens had loaded the bases for Oele.  But the softball gods decided that the drama of this contest need not be resolved this sublime night.  The Mighty Oele rolled one deep into the 5-6 hole, but the Avg@Best pitcher made a decidedly above-average and heads-up play, racing to third to cover the base in time to nip the Puma barreling in from second and preserve the 14-14 tie.

 

Salmon Snacks

• Jami for her next-level second-basing in 2024.  Not in the SK annals (until now), but she was in the middle of a 6-4-3 double play in Wednesday’s Bottomfeeders game. Then in last night’s game she was in the middle of a 6-4-3 and then started a 4-6-3 the next inning!  Not to mention taking another grounder at 2B in the 4th, seeing that the chance to get the out at 2nd wasn’t there, and calmly taking the out at first instead.
• Jami, Erin, & Dan for turning two double plays.
• Took 3 hits to get a snack last night- but 5 players did that! Josh, Jami, Stephen, Alex, and Dan.
• OK- Kendra, Man-Aaron, and Dave each had only 3 at-bats, and got 2 hits each.  Snack up!
• In the bottom of the 5th and final inning, down by four runs and with two out, Dave, Josh, Jami, Stephen, Alex, & Erin all reached base to secure the tie for the Cats.
• Katie, because Kittens who get bonked on the head get a Salmon Snack.
• Joe for his snag of a wicked liner up the middle to end the 3rd inning.

 

 

 

 

Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game

You didn’t have to see it to believe it. Vote here for the Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game!    Congrats to Kendra, Erin, and Laura for winning the week 1 Great Fillet for their 7-3-2 putout of the Speedy Logan at home plate is the first inning of last week’s victory.

Next Up

On May 9, 2024 Sea Kittens (1-0-1) will face another stiff test in their first matchup with Vilas League rivals Bat & Boujee (2-0). It’s a friendly rivalry, and B&B may not even be aware it exists, but oh, it’s a rivalry.  The teams have split six previous MSSC meetings, with B&B out-scoring the Cats 55-50 in those games, having held the Sea Kitten offense to under 10 runs in the past 5 matchups.  The Boujee crew’s offense has been high-flying this far in 2024, posting more than 25 runs in each of its first two games.   The  2023 Fall League matchup between the two squads was cancelled because of rain, so this will be the first time the teams have met since Bat & Boujee walked off the Sea Kittens with an 8-7 victory in the 2023 Summer League Championship.

Game Notes

• It’s still hard to figure out if a tie is good or bad- this one, if anything, was really fun.
  • When SK have allowed 6 or more 1st-inning runs, they’re now 3-9-1 all-time
  • When allowing 14 or more runs, 6-42-1
  • On the other hand, when scoring 14 or more, the team is 75-6-1 in its history
• The archives are tedious to search, but the last time Sea Kittens turned two double plays in a game was August 4, 2021- 62 games ago! Dan & Erin combined for a 6-3 and Zoe & Erin teamed up for a 5-3.