Kits in Splitsville

Sea Kittens’  Summer season finally got rolling last week on a hot, still, sticky night at Bowman Park.   Playing for only the second time in a month, the Cats (2-1) played a double-header as the visiting team against two tough opponents in Da Hittas (2-1) and Bat & Boujee (1-2), all while roasting slowly on the sun-baked third-base bleachers.  In the end Sea Kittens wilted in the heat but managed a split on the night, which at the halfway point of the season puts the team in a first-place tie.

Sea Kittens 9, Da Hittas 5

In the first game of the night, Sea Kittens nicked Da Hittas for two runs in the first inning, but the home team struck back quickly, scoring twice and loading the bases with one out.  But shortstop  Dan DynamOele fielded a hot grounder in the hole and started a huge inning-ending double play, feeding Casey Spangler at third, who then sent a dart to Roadrunner Jami Hauer for the inning’s final out.  Bounced by the momentum-shift, the Cats broke through for four in the  top to second to grab an early 6-2 advantage.   man-Aaron Jossart singled to lead off, and Josh “Rusty” Weber sent him to third with a double.  Laura Red Shoes Hewitt delivered the first RBI of the inning with a productive ground out, which  Zen Master David Rowe followed with a run-scoring double.  Stephen Grutzik finished the  Cats’ scoring with a clutch two-out, two-run single.

The games sailed through the next few innings, with the Cats pushing across single tallies in the third and fifth innings, and Da Hittas notching two in the bottom of the third.  Moving to the bottom of the fifth inning, Sea Kittens enjoyed an 8-4 advantage, but knew all too well that such a lead is never safe against this rival.  Sure enough, Da Hittas set up shop, and had the bases loaded with two out when once again Oele made a rally-killing play.  Moving deep into the hole at SS, Oele fired a tumbling off-balance- and offline- throw to Grutzik at first.  The Cats’  first baseman moved off the bag towards right field to snag the throw and then made a headlong dive, stretching to smack the base with his glove a half-step ahead of the hustling Runna.

From there, the Cats held on, and walked away sweaty but smiling with a solid 9-5 victory.

Bat & Boujee 15, Sea Kittens 9

After being given a few minutes to cool off before starting game two, Sea Kittens once again drew first blood in the top of the first inning, parlaying three hits into two runs again the always-steady Bat & Boujee.  Once again Sea Kittens enjoyed a highlight-reel play to end the bottom of the first inning, this time started by the Puma, Alex Latzka, who fielded a sinking liner in center field and caught a B&B straying too far from first base after the catch.  Once again, it was Stretch Gutzik’s extenda-body that completed the play, this time with splits to hold the bag for the inning-ending out.

 

After a quite second, Rowe opened the Cats third with a double., bringing Marcy Messina to the plate,  Messina fouled a ball off into the miniscule foul territory at Bowman Park, where Latzka scramble to get out of the way of the ball, the oncoming pitcher, third baseman, and catcher, but his efforts put him in the path of the latter, who barreled into the Sea Kitten on-deck hitter.  Thankfully both players were uninjured, but let this permanent record show that Umpire Dave made a completely shit interference call on what was an uncatchable ball and a player who made legitimate effort to be out of the way on a field with little room to move.   the call cost Messina her at-bat, but fired up Latzka for an RBI triple.  Stretch followed with a double, and with two out in the inning Oele knocked home a run and Joe Hennessy added another Sea Kitten triple to drive the Cats’ advantage to 6-0.

In the storied- and sometimes sordid- history of the Sea Kittens, it might *feel* like no lead is ever safe, but 6 runs has been… usually.  Like once every three years, a 6-run Kitten lead evaporates.  Alas, this steamy July night was one of those nights.  The Boujee crew dinked and blooped their way to four runs in the bottom of the third to cut the Sea Kitten advantage to 6-4.  The Cats answered back for three in the top of the fourth to go up 9-5, but in the bottom of the inning B&B’s bats lit up, spaying sharp hits around the diamond  and plating seven runs before the dust settled.

Down 11-9 after the long inning, Sea Kittens had nothing left in the tank and went down hitless for the final two innings while their Boujee-man haunted them for four more insurance runs in the sixth and coasted to the finish.

 

Salmon Snacks

• Casey for subbing for us!
• Dan, Casey & Jami turning a slick 6-5-4 double play – possibly (likely?)- the first such DP in Kitten history
• Stephen’s Olympic-worthy gymnastics at first base 
• Stephen & Alex for turning an 8-3 double play in game two
• Josh & Laura for a 9-2 putout at home in the second game
• Stephen for a 6-hit night- with 3 runs scored and 6 RBI
• Joe for a nice night on the mound in game 1
• Alex for his bruised bottom and reputation for getting bowled over and then getting called for interference 

 

 

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 Stephen, Dan & Erin for their fancy 5-6-3 putout at first base last week-  that one caromed from Stephen’s glove to Dan, who fired and off-balance strike to nab the batter at first.

Next Up

Sea Kittens (2-1) have their first home game of the summer season August 1, a 7:30 PM game against Hot Pitches (2-1) on Bowman Field 1, in a rematch of the 2024 Spring League championship game.

Game Notes

• Laura recorder her 400th career plate appearance for Sea Kittens!

The Sea Kittens’ Boujee-man:

• Over the Cats’ last 12 games, they are 9-0-1 against everybody not named “Bat & Boujee,” against whom they’re 0-2 in that span
• This was only the 5th time the Sea Kittens have lost a game in which they led by 6 or more runs at any point
• The Cats had played 54 consecutive innings without allowing a team to score more than 3 runs… B &B did it in three straight innings
• The game marked the seventh straight time SK scored fewer than 10 runs against Bat & Boujee