The Sea Kitten defense finished its last game with a streak of six consecutive scoreless innings and picked up where it left off, with Braden “Gas” Furness, Joe Hennessy, and Megan Slam Salm spinning a double play to end the Willows’ first inning.
Gas ignited the Cats’ offense in the bottom of the first with his first career hit, and six of the next seven Sea Kittens batters reached base as the squad built a 4-0 first inning lead. After a quick top of the second, David The Ringer Engeldinger cracked the Sea Kittens’ first homer run of 2025 to extend the Kitten advantage to 6-0.
All Day Kendra- who was *definitely*wearing official league-issued white under her sweatshirt, rips a backside single to extend the Kittens’ lead to 11-0.
The Willows battled back in the top of the third, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Kittens pitcher Dave “Zen Master” Rowe picked that spot to notch his first- and only- strikeout of the game. The next Willow batter hit a tapper down the third base line; Man-Aaron Jossart fielder the ball cleanly, checked the runner back to 3rd, and then astutely put the ball in his pocket to keep the Willows off the board. A pop up followed, and Rowe dug in to induce the inning’s final out and keep the shutout intact.
The third inning went much the same as the first two for the Sea Kitten offense- not much hard contact, but the Willow pitchers’ control abandoned him, to the tune of three walks to load the bases with one out. Jossart delivered a two-run single, and with two out Furness followed with another two-run knock. Bu the time the damage was done, the Sea Kitten advantage had ballooned to a comfortable 11-0.
Los Gatitos escaped another little jam in the fourth, aided by an impressive shutout-saving catch from All day Kendra Haight in centerfield. Hennessy then tapped Josh “Rusty” Weber to take the bump in the 5th. Weber, who has primarily played outfield in his four-year Sea Kitten career, has a background as a talented multi-positional player in his years with the Infield Flies franchise. Pitching in his first game in at least eight years Weber had to shake some of that trademark rust but guided the Cats through the 5th and 6th, preserving the team’s first shoutout since June, 2021.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willows | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sea Kittens | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 18 |
Willows
| AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sea Kittens
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braden Furness | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| David “The Ringer” Engeldinger | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kendra All Day Haight | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh “Rusty” Weber | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| John Corrigan | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Megan Salm | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zen Master Rowe | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Hennessy | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Abi Fredrich | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Man-Aaron Jossart | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red Shoes Hewitt | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 40 | 18 | 26 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Salmon Snacks
- Braden for reaching base 5 times form the leadoff spot- 3 singles and 2 BB
- Josh for making his Sea Kitten pitching debut- his first pitches thrown in 8 years!
- Abi for a keen eye in drawing two inning-extending walks and collecting the first RBI and run scored of her Kitten career
- Dave & Josh for their fine work on the combined shutout
- Braden-Joe-Megan for a nifty inning-ending double play to end the 1st, though Megan might have called it differently. Braden made a sweet stop & shovel from behind the bag to start it
- David for the Cats’ first homer of 2025
- Laura for getting the ball down and collecting a pair of RBI
- Kendra made a long run and lunging, shutout-saving grab in CF in the 4th
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, whose shoestring catch in left field was the Great Fillet of game #2!
Next Up
Sea Kittens (3-0) will play their first early game of 2025- a 6:30 matchup with Dairyland Dingers (2-0)- on May 15 at Bowman Field 2. At press time, Dingers had allowed a mere 3 runs in their first two games.
Game Notes
- The shutout was the third in Sea Kittens history:
- August 10, 2016- Zen Master pitched and the Cats thumped Steal Your Base 25-0
- June 16, 2021- Joe pitched and Sea Kittens beat Olbrich Offenders 11-0
- This was the first shutout for Sea Kittens in 80 games of MSSC play
- The Sea Kitten defense has posted 12 consecutive scoreless innings, the second-longest streak in team history. Between August 3- August 21, 2016 the Cats held their opponents scoreless for 14 straight innings.
- August 3, 2016- held Rattlesnake Masters in check for final two innings of an 8-7 Kitten win
- August 10, 2016- a 25-0 6-inning shutout of Steal Your Base
- August 21, 2016- kept Harmony Relics scoreless for first 6 innings of a 12-2 win in opening round of Harmony Tournament
- The current 12-inning streak is the Cats’ longest in league-only play, topping 9-inning streaks in June 2021 and September 2010
- Sea Kittens 18 runs scored is they most the team has ever posted with only 1 extra-base hit- David’s home run.
- It was only the 4th time the Cats have scored more than 10 runs with a single extra-base hit:
- April 27, 2023- Roadrunner Jami Hauer doubled as the Cats beat SP Prairie Dogs 17-7 (Bowman Field 1)
- June 27, 2024- Alex “Puma” Latzka doubled as the Cats topped Hot Pitches 15-9 in the Summer League Championship (Bowman 1)
- May 9, 2012- Detroit Josh Ghena doubled in a 7-2 Kitten win over TEK systems (Olbrich 4)
- Sea Kittens turned a double play for the third consecutive game. Records are incomplete, but that could very well be a first!
- John opened his Sea Kitten career with 8 consecutive hits! He flew out to the warning track in at-bat #9, but that is the longest such streak in team history and nobody else has been even close. Like so far away that I can’t even figure out what the old record was.
- Braden became the 14th person to reach base 5 or more times in a game; a feat those 14 Cats have accomplished 35 times collectively. Slash Grutzik (5) and Puma (5) lead the list; Zen Master Rowe (4), Dan DynamOele (4), Mama Cat O’Brien (3), Joe Hennessy (3), Seahorse Cichosz (2), Sweet Thing Harkins (2), and Doc Kornis (2) are the multiple-time participants.