Harmony Sea Kittens (4-1, 8-1) wrapped up MSCR Monroe League first-half make-up play with a convincing 18-5 win over Caribou Bou Crew (1-4, 3-6) at Olbrich Park Wednesday night, a week after eking out a 7-6 win over the same team to clinch the league’s second-half title.
After back-to-back games in which Sea Kittens scored only seven runs and on a night when the squad was held scoreless for the first two innings, Roadrunner Hauer and Dan DynamOele reignited the offense with four hits apiece. Backed by outstanding defense, pitcher Joe Hennessy carried a shutout to the bottom of the 6th inning, where only a badly missed call opened the door for the Bou Crew offense to post a handful of runs.
August 1 highlight reel featuring Mama Cat, Polish Puma, Ropes, Roadrunner, and Man-Aaron- and Sweet Thing cruising around the bases.
The early innings reprised the teams’ previous 2018 matchup, in which both starting pitchers stayed around the plate and induced generally weak contact. After exchanging zeroes for two innings, Los Gatos got a spark from the bottom of the batting order in the top of the third inning. Sweet Thing Harkins drilled a triple to left-center, and came home on Hauer’s first hit of the night. KC “Ropes” Curtis reached on a
“Gesture this.” – Ropes Curtis
brilliantly executed swinging bunt, and when the late throw to first sailed down the right field line the Bou Crew learned where Roadrunner gets her name, as the speedy Hauer scored from second. Curtis alertly scampered to second on the play, and the baserunning moxie paid off when Oele followed with a double.
Harmony set Caribou down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning and came back to bat looking to add to its 3-0 lead. And add it did. Mama Cat O’Brien opened the inning with a two-bagger. Polish Puma Latzka blooped an infield double, and Red Shoes Hewitt loaded the bases with a walk, something the Cats began to do once the weather started to get really hot. Harkins let his walking do the talking and brought home two runs on a three-pitch base on balls. Hewitt scampered home on another Bou Crew overthrow trying to catch Hauer, and an out later Curtis smacked her second hit of the night and collected her first run batted in of the season to push Harmony’s lead to 7-0. Hits from DynamOele and Schultzy Oele loaded the bases for Hennessy, who missed clearing them by scant feet, banging a line drive double off the center-field fence to extend the advantage to 10-0. It was not until batters 11-13 in the inning that Caribou was able to record the final two outs it needed to stop the bleeding.
The Kitten defense stayed on task and Hennessy worked around two tow-out hits to post another goose egg in the scorebook, and the Cats’ bats got back at it, sending another 10 batters to the plate in the fifth to score six more runs, highlighted by a worm-burner two-run triple from Man-Aaron Jossart.
Entering the bottom of the sixth inning with an 18-0 advantage, Sea Kittens set out to secure the second shutout in franchise history. Hennessy was greeted by a booming double to right-center, but when the Bou Crew batter tried to extend the hit to a triple, Latzka hit Jossart with a perfect cut off throw and Jossart’s relay to DynamOele mowed down the runner three feet short of third base… but perhaps shrouded by dust or perhaps mildly sympathetic to the lost Caribou cause, Le Bleu didn’t see it that way. The Crew broke through on the next batter, when a throw to first sailed past O’Brien, and with the opening, staged a mini-rally. The home fans still left in attendance were treated to consolation fireworks by virtue of a two-out, three-run homer to right to cap the Caribou scoring.
Game Notes
The victory set a record for Sea Kitten wins in a single season! The 2012 (7-4) and 2016 (7-3) squads each won seven games.
Sea Kittens won for only the 6th time in team history when being held scoreless in the first two innings. The team is 6-16 when that has happened. Eighteen runs is the most the Cats have ever managed after being held scoreless for two.
Jami became the 6th Sea Kitten woman to go 4-4 in a game, and just the 8th to record 4 hits
With 103 runs scored, the 2018 squad is the 3rd Sea Kitten team to score 100 or more runs in a summer season, joining the 2012 & 2016 teams
The Cats have held 12 consecutive opponents under 10 runs, a franchise record
Sea Kitten Women with 4-4 games
Mama Cat O’Brien (8/26/2010- 6-6; 7/23/2014- 4-4; 9/13/2017- 4-4)
Heidibadger Nelson (8/17/2014- 4-4)
Red Shoes Hewitt (6/7/2017- 4-4)
Emily Schmitz (sub; 8/20/2014- 4-4)
Diana Guzman-Colon (sub; 10/5/2016- 4-4)
Roadrunner Hauer (8/1/2018- 4-4)
…..
Schultzy Oele (5/18/2016- 4-5) and Gretchen G-bomb Hansen (5/16/2012- 4-6) also collected 4 hits in a game, in more than 4 at-bats)
The beauty of Alex’s bloop infield double was that there was no error about it… while three defenders surrounded it, it hit the ground and took a totally wicked New England hop sideways without being touched
The 2018 Sea Kittens look poised to do a re-write of sections the Sea Kitten record book. Watch for an update in advance of the team’s August 8 game with Wisco Kids!
Erin got things started with her 3rd double of the Summer. While she notched nine doubles in Fall 2017 (plus three in Fall 2010 and four in Fall 2013), she became the first woman to knock more than two in a summer season.
Salmon Snacks
Jami for her 4-4 night at the plate. And everything but the grab on a deep, high fly near the
right-center field fence. Doh!
Katherine for collecting 3 hits, scoring two runs, and notching an RBI. And there was that foul ball she cranked to left in the first. Ninety seconds of pre-game batting instruction taken to heart. Rawr!!! And she had a nice grab of a foul ball.
