Kittens Pounce Early, Evade Barkers’ Wrath

After cruising to victory in its last three games, Sea Kittens (7-1) faced a sterner test in the form of Barker’s Bombers at Olbrich Park Wednesday night.  The Cats answered the bell with a 10-run flurry in the game’s first three innings, then hung on through a hairy 7th inning for an impressive 12-7 victory.

Bombers (6-2, 1-2 MSCR Kenosha League 2nd half) cruised through the Monroe League in the first half of the 2021 season before being promoted to Kenosha League at the halfway point of the year.  The squad announced its presence with a resounding opening win, and then made a serious run at unbeaten  juggernaut Silver Eagle (8-0) before falling 13-9 last week.

Sea Kittens showed up ready to play, and grabbed a 3-0 lead three batters into the game thanks to a Zen Master Rowe hit, a walk drawn by Z-Force Slattery, and Dan Dynam-Oeles’s 12th home run of the season.  Some wild Bomber throws further assisted the Sea Kitten cause, and the Kits had a 5-0 lead before taking the field to play defense for the first time.

It’s really a different home run than the one posted last time

Kitten starting pitcher Joe Hennessy issued a two-base walk to the first Bomber batter of the game- the first sign of the control issues he’d battle off and on all night- but limited to damage to a single run scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Cat attack continued in the second, with Boom Boom Magyera opening the proceedings with a hit and advancing to home after knocks by Slattery and Oele.  Mama Cat O’Brien and Alex “Puma” Latzka kept the parade rolling, with Latzka’s single extending the Kitten lead to 8-1.  Alas, the rally stalled with the bases loaded before the Kitten side could deliver a true knockout blow.

The Barker squad responded with three hits within the span of four batters to open the inning, scoring a run and setting up runners on first and second.  But Oele snagged a grounder to short, tagged the Bomber runner trying to get past, and fired a seed to O’Brien to end the potential rally and the inning.

An effective Cat attack continued for the third, with Oele again in the middle of the action, this time delivering a 2-out, bases-loaded single to extend the Kitten advantage to 10-2.   The Bombers again answered with a single run, this time on a long home run to left to open the inning.  A two-out triple sparked the Barker bench, but once again Hennessy and the Sea Kitten defense ended the inning with a Bomber stranded in scoring position. 

 When the Polish Puma opened the top of the fourth with a triple- his fifth of the season, establishing a new team record- it looked like Sea Kittens would continue its offensive success.  But this time the Bomber pitcher buckled down and the Kittens were unable to scratch out a run. 

Back to work on defense, the Kittens shined.  Hennessy made a juggling, bare-handed grab on a little popup, dashing into the Bermuda Triangle between the mound, third and home to make the grab.  Three consecutive hits followed and the Barkers scored their customary single run, but Slattery snagged a grounder down the lie, stepped to the bag and tossed to O’Brien for another inning-ending twin killing.  It was like anti-matter of the infamous “Sea Kitten Inning.”

Hennessy makes barehanded grab.

Zoe & Erin end the inning with picture-perfect double play.

The fourth inning trend repeated in the fifth, Sea Kittens going quietly and Bombers chipping away with a run, and the game entered the final two innings with Sea Kittens enjoying a 10-5 advantage.

Once again Oele sparked the Cats’ offense, dropping a 3-0 pitch over the center field wall to open the Sea Kitten side.  Latzka added a one-out double and came around on a Man-Aaron Jossart single, but the Bombers turned a twin-killing of its own to stop the damage there.  Feeling the pressure to deliver, Bombers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th for their slugging lead-off hitter.  Hennessy labored to find the plate, but managed to sneak a strike past the Bomber, and got him to chase a short pitch for an inning-ending flyout as the Bomber bench barked its derision at Hennessy for not throwing a meatball with two strikes.

Once again the Kitten offense went quietly, and the game went to the final half inning with Sea Kittens facing the challenge of securing three outs before allowing seven or more runs.  Any observer familiar with Los Gatitos del Mar can attest this is not the time to head to the exits.

The Bombers opened the inning with a hit, and then Hennessy could not find the strike zone against the opponent’s clean-up hitter, who angrily barked his way to first base after walking, though he had not actually been able to reach base by swinging the bat in the game.  Perhaps feeling a flair for drama, Hennessy then walked the next Bomber, who took her free pass more graciously, though she had tagged Hennessy for a triple and hard single earlier in the game.

Bases loaded and nobody out, tension hung thick as gnats over the diamond (later revealed to be actual gnats). The next batter lifted a pop up beyond first base, carrying just far into the outfield to cause the Man in Blue to retract his “infield fly” call  in the same instant as it was being  made.  Bombers plated a run as the ball fell to the grass, and Kittens did not record an out. Hennessy bounced back with a full-count strikeout, catching the front lip of the plate in a call that elicited more howling from the Barkers’ bench.  The Cats traded an out for a run on a fielder’s choice ground ball, and the Kitten chucker ended the drama, the Bombers’ last chance, and the game with a strikeout.

For all the heroics, Dan still fall down

Salmon Snacks

• Zoe & Erin and Dan & Erin for turning double plays
• Jami for *almost* spinning a 3rd Sea Kitten DP
• Joe for the barehanded snag
• Alex for running down a hard, sinking line drive

^Just look at all that defense!!!^

• Dan & Alex for 4-hit games
• Dan for playing in his 100th SK game
• Kyle for his 200th career hit

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 Sunshine Curtis– for winning the Week 6 Great Fillet for trolling an opposing hitter into a strikeout.  It’s an important & underappreciated role of the catcher to distract batters from their task at hand, and Curtis shines in the role.