While Sea Kittens sat back after their 6:30 PM Madison Sport & Social Club Thursday night Falcon Division semifinal win June 19, top-seeded and unbeaten Foul Balls hosted 5th-seeded NASCAR Duckblind Divorce in the 7:30 PM semi. The NASCAR crew raced to a fast start and while Foul Balls chased, they could never quite catch up and NDBD secured a title game berth. Unfortunately for Sea Kittens the revved-up NDBD offense never downshifted and blew past the Cats 18-10 for the title.
Fresh off their victory Duckblind was fast on the re-start and plated three runs in the top of the first inning- two on a two-out two-run homer- against Sea Kitten’s starter Joe Hennessy, who was attempting to pitch both ends of the split double-header, but the Cats answered quickly. David The Ringer Engeldinger tripled with one out and Megan “Slam” Salm’s productive grounder to the right side brought him home. The Sea Beast, John Corrigan, followed with a rocket to left and brought the Cats right back into the game.
The Ringer’s 3rd-inning blast
But Hennessy struggled with control in the top of the second and DB took advantage of a pair of Sea Kitten miscues to open up a 5-run lead. The Cats opened the bottom of the second with a pair of hits but could not produce a run, and in the bottom of the inning NASCAR pushed the throttle for 3 more runs, chasing Hennessy in favor of the Zen Master Dave Rowe.
“My legs got tired.” -Old Man Hennessy
Suddenly down 10-2 but with a long way to go in the 7-inning game, Los Gatitos needed to find a way to get off the mat and rally. It took until there were two outs in the bottom of the 3rd but the Cats scratched a pair of runs back on a Rowe single and Engeldinger’ s third playoff home run to trim the deficit to 6 runs… briefly.
NDBD stayed hot and added three in response to the Sea Kittens two, and once again the Kitten offense didn’t click into gear, failing to score after putting runners on the corners with nobody out in the bottom of the 4th. A NASCAR run in the top of the 5th put them up 14-4.
The 10-run advantage loomed large and daunting as the Cats were down to the final 9 outs- three of which went quickly in the back half of the 5th. The deficit ballooned to 13 in the 6th before the Cats finally mustered a rally. The Daves each singled and one out later Corrigan crushed an absolute moon shot- pretty sure it landed in the Arboretum, if anywhere. All Day Kendra, Rusty Weber, and Hennessy singled and with two out Gas Furness doubled home another pair to bring Sea Kittens back within 7 runs.
But the rally ended there, NDBD tacked on a final tally in the 7th, and the Cats went quietly into the dark, silver medalists on this sublime June night.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duckblind | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 18 |
| Sea Kittens | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 |
Duckblind
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zen Master Rowe | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.67 | 8 | 1 | 4 |
| David “The Ringer” Engeldinger | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Megan “Slam” Salm | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Corrigan | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kendra All Day Haight | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh “Rusty” Weber | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Hennessy | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.33 | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| Mama Cat O’Brien | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Braden “Gas” Furness | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red Shoes Hewitt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Man-Aaron Jossart | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Abi Fredrich | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 38 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 4 | 4 |
Salmon Snacks
- John for his 3-3, 2B/ 2 HR game
- Dave for the valiant effort in relief
- David for a great snag of a fast-sinking liner in right-center in the 2nd
- Kendra for a 2-3 game
- All the Cats for a fun Spring season!
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!
What's your pick for Sea Kittens Great Filet of the game?
- John's moonshot home run in the 6th (100%, 1 Votes)
- Davids's snag of a fast-sinking liner to RCF in the 2nd (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 1
Next Up
Summer Season opener!!! After the Spring foray into Falcon Division, the Cats will return the the familiar MSSC Wingra Division and open against familiar foes Hot Pitches in a 6:30 PM game June 26 on Bowman Field 1. Hot Pitches was 4-3 in their Spring season, dropping a tight 10-7 decision to eventual champion Da Hittas in the Panther League semifinals.
Besides the usual suspects Hot Pitches, Bat & Boujee, and Da Hittas, the Wingra League will feature Foul Territory (6-0 in Falcon play until a semifinal upset loss), Casey Spangler’s Hitmen, and Miller Low Lites.
Game Notes
- Sea Kittens are now 16-10 in playoff games overall, but 3-7 all-time in league Championship games. Gracious bridesmaids!
- When Josh touched the black mat in the 6th inning it was the 3000th run scored in Sea Kitten history
- Three rainouts were the most in a season since Summer 2021
- The Spring Kits’ 99 runs scored were their most since Fall 2022
- The Sea Kittens’ next win will be their 150th
- Sea Kittens had home runs in 6 consecutive games- the longest such streak since the Cats homered in 12 straight in 2021- the last season at Olbrich.
- John & David each had 20-hit seasons- John with 12 extra base hits, David with 11
- The duo also joined Dan DynamOele and Joe as the only Sea Kittens to hit 5 or more home runs in a season. David’s 6 HR ties him for 3rd on the all-time single-season list, while John’s 5 ties him for 6th.