Kittens Down Busch Lattes

Competition in the Madison Sport & Social Club Thursday Night Upper Division remained tight last week, but for the third straight week Sea Kittens emerged as winners of a well-played softball game.  The Cats (3-0) outlasted Busch Lattes (1-2) 14-9 at Bowman Park on May 11 and sit tied atop the league standings, with back-to-back games against fellow unbeaten frontrunners Da Hittas (3-0) looming.

As has been their pattern in the early going of the 2023 season Sea Kittens jumped to an early lead, posting three runs on the strength of a triple from Alex Puma Latzka and a two-run home run from AaLo Lomax.  But Busch Lattes- who had been the league’s highest-scoring team through the first two weeks- showed its offensive prowess and plated three runs to even the game at the end of the first inning.

The second inning threatened to be a quiet one for the Cats, with only Man-Aaron Jossart on first base and two outs as the lineup tuned over.  But starting pitcher David Zen Master Rowe flicked a Hustle Double™ to center field.  Leaving on contact, AaJo surged home from first on the hit to ignite the Kitten bench.  The Puma followed with a laser to the right-center field fence and wheeled around the bases after Rowe, notching his second quadruple of the season to extend the Kitten advantage to 6-3.  The Roadrunner- Jami Hauer- and AaLo followed with hits, and substitute infielder Casey Spangler smacked a triple to left-center to bring home two more runs.  Spangler, playing on loan from Monday night’s Hit Hit Hooray club, made her debut in the absence of Kitten regulars Erin Mama Cat O’Brien and Chil Hil Dugan and made her presence felt repeatedly through the night.  The two-out Kitten eruption continued with run-scoring hits from Slash Grutzik and Joe Hennessy, driving the Cats’ advantage to 10-3.

But the Lattes weren’t going down that easily, and threatened to come back up as they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the inning. Needing an out, Rowe induced a forceout at second base and a sacrifice play,  and together with the Kitten defense kept the damage to two runs.

Casey Spangler’s star-spangled Sea Kitten debut featured three hits, including a double and this two-out, two-run triple.

After trading zeroes in the third, Sea Kittens clawed out a run on an RBI groundout from Laura Red Shoes Hewitt, but then saw their 11-5  lead all but evaporate in the bottom of the inning as Busch rattled the Cats for four runs.

Feeling the pressure and need for insurance runs, the top of the Kitten lineup delivered again.  The Zen Master opened the inning with his fourth hit of the night, and the Puma lofted a triple to right to bring home Rowe.  Roadrunner flicked a hit to bring home Latzka and a 13-9 lead, but was forced at second when a hot line drive from AaLo unluckily bounced off the Latte’s pitcher’s glove directly to the second baseman, who soft-tossed it to second for a force out.  Spangler and Slash singled to load the bases, but Hennessy flew out to left.  Still feeling the fragility of the advantage, Red Shoes dug in and worked a 4-pitch walk to bring home Lomax and give the Cats just a little more breathing room.

They needed it.  For the third time in the game- and second time with nobody out- Busch Lattes loaded the bases.  Finding the Zen again, Rowe induced two infield pop-ups and all the Cats turned and held their breath as the next batter smashed a long, loud line drive to left.  But AaLo was up to the task, snatching the liner before damage could be done and the Kittens closed the case on the Busch Lattes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salmon Snacks

• Casey for filling in and delivering a double & triple in a 3-4 night!
• Dave for the second Sea Kitten 4-4 night of 2023
• Alex for putting up 10 total bases with two triples and a quadruple
• AaLo for the first over-the-fence blast of the year, and for a pair of big catches in left field
• Laura for driving in two runs and drawing two walks
• Dave & the Kittens defense for staying poised & working out of some big jams
• Jami & Stephen for 3-hit games
• Joe for occupying the SS position in Dan’s absence

 

 

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 Joe for winning a fillet for his go-ahead triple in last .

Next Up

The Cats (3-0) and fellow unbeatens Da Hittas (3-0) square off in the first of back-to-back matchups Thursday, May 18 at 6:30 PM on Bowman Field 1.  Da Hittas played Summer 2022 at The Avengers, and split the season series with the Kits 1-1-1.  The teams played to a season-opening 9-9 tie, and then Sea Kittens took advantage of a short-handed Avengers squad in a 26-6 win, but then Avengers exacted revenge in the playoffs, shutting down the Cats 10-3 in a first-round playoff game.

Game Notes

• The win moved Sea Kittens to 25 games over 0.500 for the first time in team history.  The Cats are now 120-95-1 all-time.
• It was the third time in the Kittens’ last 15 games they’ve scampered for 3 or more triples.
• Alex & Jami (84 games each) passed Tommy Tom Tom Seahorse Shabidu Cichosz, Jr. (83) to move into 9th place on the Cats’ all-time games played list.  Sweet Things Harkins (81) & Man-Aaron Jossart (80) are poised to move up the list soon.
• We’ve got a race to 100 career runs scored:  Sweet Thing Harkins has 98, Man-Aaron Jossart 97, and The Roadrunner has 94!
• Casey became the 8th woman to blast a three-bagger for the Cats

Player	Career Triples	Plate Appearances
Mama Cat O’Brien	8	707
Roadrunner Hauer	2	313
Gretchen Hansen	2	171
Helen Boo Rabbit Bradley	2	83
Julia Hart	1	11
Boomer Boehm	1	120
Casey Spangler	1	4
All Day Kendra Haight	1	19
Stephanie Jolitz	1	20