July 5, 2017
After five innings of cat-and-mouse play, Harmony Sea Kittens (3-2) pounced on Steal Your Base (1-5) with a team-record 15-run sixth inning and trotted away with a 19-7 MSCR LaCrosse league victory. The win- the third consecutive for Harmony- leaves the team squarely in contention for a title game berth. Sea Kittens will play for the title with wins in their final two regular season games, while a loss in either will eliminate the team from title contention.
Sea Kittens struck first, with Erin “Mama Cat” O’Brien delivering a solid 2-run single in the bottom of the second inning, and later coming home on a Jami Hauer groundout. Down 3-0 early, and victimized by three blowouts at the hands of Harmony in 2016, Steal Your Base stood steady and generated some confidence while holding Sea Kittens scoreless for three of the game’s first four innings on a thick, humid night at Olbrich Park. The Basers only managed to hold Sea Kittens scoreless in a single frame across three games in all of 2016. Boosting that SYB confidence was a 4-run, lead-changing rally in the bottom of the fourth inning, marking the first time SYB had led Sea Kittens since a 4-3 win September 16, 2015.
Sticking to her game plan, Steal Your base pitcher Sherri McGrumpus kept Sea Kittens off balance. McGrumpus rarely delivered strikes to male batters and found herself backed by steady defense when she did. In the top of the fifth, outfielder Alex Latzka was the beneficiary of a rare mistake pitch over the plate, which he launched to the right-center gap for an inning-opening double- a hit that nearly went for naught as the speedy Latzka entertained the idea of stretching it into a triple before running into a perfect relay and having to nimbly dive back into second base. The retreat proved wise, as one out later he dashed home on a David Rowe single to even the score at 4 runs apiece.
With the game knotted and the innings ticking by, Joe Hennessy accepted a two-base walk to open the top of the Sea Kittens’ sixth, tuning out ruthless jeers of “counselor! And “Esquire!” Jess Schultz bopped an RBI single to regain the Sea Kitten lead, and then all hell broke loose. Dan Dynam-Oele deposited a junk pitch into the junkyard beyond the left field fence, and greatly displeased McGrumpus. Six of the next seven Sea kittens reached safely, extending the cat’s lead to 10-4 and loading the bases for Hennessy, who sat on the inevitable inside pitch and launched a rocket over the left field fence that had Kim Jong Un eating his hat in envy. Following the grand slam, and excepting a pity swing from Oele, seven more Sea Kittens reached safely and brought the inning’s run total to 15, besting the Sea Kitten single-inning run-scoring record by a run.
SYB didn’t go down without shenanigans, with a Baser (unsuccessfully) attempting to stretch an infield single into a triple in the bottom of the sixth and stringing together enough hits to stage a 3-run mini rally, but it was far too little too late as the loose Kits played out the frame and coasted to victory.
Game notes
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15 runs is the most Sea Kittens have ever scored in a single tinning, topping the 14 the team posted against Steal Your Base October 5, 2016
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Let there be an asterisk if Dan falls a hit short of a batting title, as he flailed at a pitch barely within reach late in the 6th-inning bloodbath, flaring out to SS.
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It’s become a rite of summer: Dave vs. Kyle vs Brad, who are hitting 0.538, 0.538, and 0.533 respectively through 5 games. Both Dave & Kyle are out this week- a chance for Brad to make a move! Last year Kyle ended up best in group with a 0.588* average, while Brad finished 0.568 and Dave 0.563
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*but Mags only mustered 17 plate appearances, vs. 35 for Dave and 38 for Brad
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Next up for Sea Kittens is another Harmony team- Soft’s Balls (5-1). There will be familiar faces across the diamond, as members of this squad were contributors to the One Hit Wonders who topped Sea Kittens 8-6 in the 2016 Harmony tournament final and Foul balls, who scored 7 runs in the 5th & final inning in a 19-16 win over the Cats 9-28-2016- the only blemish on the 2016 Kittens’ fall record. The Cats blew 11-3 and 16-12 leads in that game.
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Joe for his first HR of the season and second career grand slam
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Jami & Alex for filling in- and going a collective 6-8 with 5 runs scored and 4 RBI
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Jami for making her debut at second base
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Karlin for blotting out those first three at bats and collecting hits in her last two
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Erin for rapping a solid 2-run single to open the Kittens’ scoring- and Erin for making an amazing snow-cone catch at first base
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Alex for a 4-hit effort, and Erin & Brad for collecting 3
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Everybody for reaching base at least once in the 6th– everyone had a hit but Dave, who was forced by Sherri to draw a bases-loaded, 2-run walk in his second AB J
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Dave for another solid game on the mound
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Sherri for not getting vocally grumpy
Nice salmon snack for Sherri!