Kittens Can’t Finish the Kill

The Solstice passed but the Summer sun was still riding bright, hot, and high as Sea Kittens opened 2022 Madison Sport and Social Club Summer League play at Bowman Park Thursday evening. Setting the memory of last week’s stinging Spring playoff loss behind them, the Cats faced The Avengers for the first time, and battled to a… draw.  A tie.  Nine runs each, game over. Everybody, but nobody, won.  It was a first in the Sea Kittens 198-game history – ties weren’t possible in Madison Sport and Community Recreation leagues where the team played between 2010 and Fall, 2021.

I don’t know how to feel about it (a tie). The feelings are confusing.

-Sea Kitten manager Joe Hennessy, more than 24 hours after the game ended

For the second consecutive game, Sea Kittens dug a deep, early hole.  The Avengers came out hot, putting its first four batters on base and drawing first blood before the Cats could record an out, and added more after capitalizing on Sea Kitten miscues on the field.  Finally the Sea Kitten defense and starting pitcher David “Zen Master” Rowe settled, but not before The Avengers had jumped to a 5-0 lead.

Looking to strike back quickly, Rowe helped his own cause with a leadoff single, but the Cats managed only two more hits in the frame- enough to score one run on a Hilary Dugan base hit, but not the big answer the Kitten faithful sought.  After holding The Avengers scoreless in the second, the Kittens’ story was the same in the bottom of that inning.  Aaron “A-Lo” Lomax walked and Mama Cat O’Brien followed with a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out, but the Cats couldn’t scratch out a run.

The Avenger offense went back to work in the 3rd, tacking two runs to its tally and surging to a 7-1 lead, and pressure mounted on the Kitten offense to respond.  Hennessy opened the inning with a triple to right-center, and Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer walked to set up the Cats with  zero-out and runners-on-the-corners again.  Slash Grutzik got Hennessy home with a productive ground out, and wheeled home when Dugan’s follow-up hit to left was misplayed.  Lomax and O’Brien reached to load the bases, but there the rally stalled again and Sea Kittens still trailed 7-3.

In a moment hoped for when the lineup was built, Sweet Thing batted with Aaron on 3rd, Aaron on 2nd, and Erin on 1st.  As Umpire Dave observed, “That’s a lot of people named Aa/E-rin.”

The gap didn’t stay narrowed for long, as The Avengers immediately took back those two runs to go ahead 9-3 in the top of the 4th, and once more the Sea Kitten answer was cut short- the Cats tallied one, but could not capitalize further, even with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out.

Still, the Sea Kitten defense and Rowe stayed steady, keeping the game within reach.  Hennessy- playing his first game at shortstop in 2022 with Dan DynamOele absent- back Rowe with a diving stop on on hot potato up the middle, making a little backhand flip to Hauer at second to end the top of the 5th.

All I saw was a cloud of dust, and then the ball came out of the dust.

-Roadrunner, one the receiving end of Hennessy’s toss

With time and the Kittens’ chances ticking away, the team finally started to dig into The Avengers’ lead.  The Aa/E-rons – Aarons Lomax and Jossart and Erin O’Brien- loaded the bases to open the Sea Kitten 5th, and Sweet Thing Harkins rapped an RBI single.  Sunshine Curtis laced a line drive down the third-base line, but The Avengers’ third baseman was in position to snag the ball before it could do damage.  Rowe worked a run-scoring walk, to follow, and Hennessy delivered a two-run single to right.  With two out, Grutzik poked a single to right, bringing Hennessy home from second to tie the game.  Dugan walked to re-load the bases, but the Cats couldn’t find open grass and the inning ended with the score even at nine runs apiece.

Sea Kittens set down The Avengers’ offense methodically in the 6th, Rowe working through the heart of their order effectively, and with time cap drawing nigh the Cats prepared for their final at-bats.  Mama Cat and Sweet Thing delivered one-out hits to put the winning run on second base.  A fielder’s choice erased O’Brien and put Harkins on second with two out.  Rowe dug in at the plate and flicked the first pitch her saw out over short.  The Avengers’ solid left-fielder raced in and snagged the ball with a sliding grab… just off the ground? Just off the short-hop that Harkins and others were almost sure they saw? Umpire Dave called it a catch, and with Hennessy on deck and not filming, there was no replay to review, and that inconclusive story was all she wrote.  The two teams will meet again July 14 and start from scratch.

Salmon Snacks

• Once again, a snack for all, as the Cats climbed out of a deep hole (again)
• Erin for a 3-3 game, plus a walk
• Dave, because he deserved better on that final play
• Joe & Jami for combining on the sweet play the end the 5th- Joe diving for a grounder un the middle and flipping it to Jami at second.
• Hilary and A-Lo for making their (rostered) debuts!
• Brad for his return to the diamond!
• Katie and Man-Aaron for stepping in
• Joe for going 3-4 with two runs and two RBI

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!  

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Game Notes

• The tie was the first in 198 Sea Kittens games. Granted, ties were not possible until game 182, when the club switched to MSSC play.
• It was the first time the team played without Dan and Alex in a regular season game since July 23, 2014- before Alex was a full-time rostered player.  That game- that was the game that ended The Schneid.  (The duo had both been absent for four Harmony Tourney games within that span, in which the Cats went 2-2).
• The Cats left 14 runners on base in six innings- bases loaded twice, and two runners on in all four of the other innings.  It matches the second-most LOB in Kitten history- the Cats left 15 in an 11-10 seven-inning loss to Bat Intentions (MSCR) June 5, 2019, and also against Baltimore Factorioles August 20, 2014.  Sea Kittens lost that game 9-8, in walk-off fashion, also in seven innings.
• Hilary collected her first two Sea Kitten hits! She’d been hitless in two substitute appearances.
• Jami is climbing the consecutive-games list.  She’s at 41 straight, the 5the-longest streak in Sea Kitten history, and has only missed two in her career. 

Blessed is the player who shows up.

-Manager’s beatitudes 1.1

*- current streak