Kittens Stymie Offenders

Sea Kittens (3-0) continued its unblemished opening to the 2021 MSCR Kenosha League season with an 11-0 shutout of Players’ Olbrich Offenders (1-2) at Olbrich Park Wednesday night.  The Cats used a combination of timely-enough hitting and timely-enough defense to cruise to a victory that by many accounts could have been more lopsided.

Joe Coffeecat Hennessy made his first start of the season for the Cats and quickly found himself in trouble in the first inning as the Offenders put runners on the corners, but the Kitten defense stepped in as squelched the would-be rally, setting a scene that would be replayed multiple times in the evening’s performance.

The Sea Kitten offense struck first and struck hard in the bottom of the first, with Zen Master Rowe drawing a two-base walk off the Offenders’ long, tall, and spectacularly inebriated starting pitcher.  One out later the Cats began a run of five consecutive hits, capped by back-to-back doubles by Mama Cat O’Brien and Hennessy to bring the team’s lead to 5-0.

Sea  Kittens added two more runs on Dan Dynam-Oele’s first of two home runs in the bottom of the second and were drooling at the sound of the can opener – a fresh can of fish-flavored whoop-ass- when the Coffeecat stepped to the plate with bases loaded and one out.  The owner of six career grand slams got jammed and only managed a soft sinking liner to the left-center field gap, but the miss-hit ball seemed destined for a good outcome… until the Offenders’ center fielder hurtled into the scene and snatched the ball from the tips of the dry outfield grass. Charged with glove-armed robbery was he!

In the bottom of the third inning- only four batters later- Rowe put a charge into a ball to the left-center field fence.  For a moment it looked like it might carry 248.5 feet for the Zen Master’s first career homer, but it stalled at 247 and the second-time Offender made a leaping, over-the-shoulder, fence-crashing grab to steal extra bases.

Offender robs Hennessy of hit

The Offenders’ pitcher found his equilibrium as the game progressed, snagging no fewer than four Kitten line drives up the middle and keeping his team within striking distance of a “Sea Kitten Inning.”  Still, the zeroes kept coming for the Kitten defense, even as the squad quietly fretted about the safety of an 8-0 advantage.  Kyle Boom Boom Magyera made noise with his glove in left field, making a leaping grab in the 3rd and another long run to snare a ball at the foul line, a Man-Aaron Jossart made a 40-yard dash to take a hit and run away from the opponents, and Magyera, Hennessy, and O’Brien combined on a very strange 7-1-3 double play.

“That was bad baserunning. I mean, I’m impartial, but that was terrible.”

-Umpire Greg, on watching Magyera dance between 3rd and home without tagging up on a long Oele flyout to CF

After a long, garbage-time Hennessy homer pushed the lead to 11-0 in the 6th, the Cats trotted onto the diamond looking to post a seventh and final zero.  A leadoff hit cast doubt upon those aspirations, but Roadrunner Jami Hauer made a great play on the right-field line to get the ball in fast enough to hold the hitter to a single.  An out later another hit put runners on first and second, but the Cats closed the deal, with Oele snagging a grounder and flipping to Kristen Hollywood Brown to secure the shutout.

Offenders vs Sea Kittens

Salmon Snacks

• Scott S for handling the official scorecard
• Kyle for his leaping grab in LF in the 3rd 
• Joe & the Kittens defense for the shutout!
• Alex for a 3-3 game with a triple & 3 RBI
• Dan for his 2 HR game
• Dave & Joe to ease the sting of being robbed of hits 
• Jami for getting her car started & to the game on time!
• Man-Aaron for his long run & catch
• Everybody for shouting loudly while Kyle, Joe, & Erin completed the 7-1-3 double play, with Joe collecting Kyle’s relay to the general vicinity of the infield and chucking it to Erin.

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 Man-Aaron Jossart and Alex “Polish Puma” Latzka for winning the Week 2 Great Fillet for the Jossart Jig & reprisal!  The pair broke the week-old record for votes by capturing 11 of 12 cast!

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