Kittens Smother Hot Pitches

Catching up with the Sea Kittens

Playing host to Hot Pitches (0-6) in back-to-back weeks to finish the 2022 Madison Sport & Social Club Summer League regular season, Sea Kittens pulled away late in both contests to finish its regular season with a 4-1-1 mark, good for second place and the second seed in the upcoming league playoffs.

In the first matchup, Alex Latzka used his trademark Puma-speed to race for two quadruples en route to a 5- RBI night.  The game was deadlocked at three through three innings before the Cats put up a trio of trebles in the fourth, fifth, and sixth to cruise to a 14-7 win. Real John Oliver- stepping in for the Cats for the first time since the 2019 Harmony Tournament- drove in the go-ahead run in the 4th after Zen Master Rowe opened the inning with a double, and Aaron “Aa-Lo” Lomax smoked a two-run, two-out hit to extend the advantage.  Rowe was solid on the mound, striking out three and walking none.

One week later the clubs tussled again.  Hot Pitches took an early lead in the second affair, taking advantage of some squiggly Sea Kitten defense in the early innings.  The Pitches went up 4-0 before the Cats came to bat, but the Kittens answered with a 5-spot in the bottom of the first.  Hot Pitches went up 6-5 in the top of the second, but Latzka opened the bottom of the inning with a two-base walk. to put Los Gatitos in business again.  Roadrunner Jami Hauer flipped a hit down the right field line, and the ball got past the outfielder as she made an aggressive attempt to make the catch.  Digging for a sure triple, Roadrunner… missed first base and had to scamper back in a puff of dust as the Pitches’ second basewoman noticed the whiff.  But the hit evened the game, and three batters later Rowe cracked a two-run single to put Sea Kittens back on top, 9-6. 

That margin remained unchanged until the fourth, when the slugging Hot Pitches Guy in Grey Shirt lined a go-ahead grand-slam over the left-field fence, momentarily putting his club up 10-9.  The Cats responded in the bottom of the inning, sending 11 batters to the plate and tallying seven runs to charge to a 16-10 lead and salt the game away.

Salmon Snacks

• The Olivers for stepping in, including Sam in her Sea Kitten debut
• Alex for the 2 HR game
• Jess for tagging in and rapping two hits
• Jami for realizing she hadn’t touched first base and going back to do so, though all observers knew she could’ve had a triple, if not a quadruple…
• Sweet Thing flashed some sizzling wheels in the 4th inning of the second game- ye ol’ foot injury a thing of the past!
• Dave with a 4-hit game- plus 4 RBI, and he’s walked only one batter over his last 25 innings pitched
• Zoe & Joe to make their Covid go away!

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 Alex & Erin, who won the week 4 Great Fillet for their game-ending 8-3 double play.

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Game Notes

• This was the first time Joe has ever missed back-to-back games in Sea Kitten history.  But it’s good to see the club carry on… maybe the Sea Kittens have a life of their own now! Feles maris in aeternum
• It dates back to June of 2019, but Jess has a 13-game hitting streak, and is 8-15 in the four games she’s played this year.
• Jami tied Erin for the Cats’ 4th-longest consecutive games played streak (46).  Dan (65), Joe (61) and Joe (51) are all that are ahead.
• At least one Kitten has drawn a walk in 18 consecutive games, breaking the the record (16) set between May 31 and September 20, 2017.
• Dan (118) passed Kyle Boom Boom Magyera (117) for 4th on the Sea Kittens’ all-time games played list, while Laura (84) passed Tommy Tom Tom Seahorse Shabidu Cichosz, Jr. (83) for 8th.  Jami & Alex (74) and Brad and Jess (72) all passed Kristen KJ Johnson (71) on the list, and now occupy 11th-14th places, just behind Man-Aaron Jossart, who’s 10th with 77.
• Dave notched his 49th & 50th wins as a pitcher, and has now chucked more than 500 innings for the Cats (516 2/3)- both tops on the team’s all-time list.
• Sam was the 97th person to make an appearance as a Sea Kitten.