Rally Cats Out-rallied

The coulda, woulda, shoulda memories will haunt Sea Kittens for at least the rest of the weekend after an epic rally stalled 65 feet short of home plate and Base Invaders fought their way off the ropes for an epic 17-14 extra-inning victory in the MSSC Thursday night semifinals at Bowman Park June 16.  The game lived up to its hype and then some, as the third-seeded Invaders (6-2) avenged what to that point had been its only loss of the season against the second-seeded and unbeaten Sea Kittens (7-1).

Base Invaders took command of the game early on a hot, dry, windy night on Bowman Field 2, jumping to a 4-0 first-inning lead on the strength of a two-out, line drive triple to the right-field corner.  The Cats made no answer, going scoreless in the first two innings as the team collectively managed a single hit and lofted a steady diet of easy fly balls to the Base Invader defense.

The game tottered on the edge of Sea Kitten disaster in the second inning, as Base Invaders loaded the bases with nobody out, but Zen Master Rowe and the Cats’ cool defense limited the damage to a single run.  That disaster seemed only delayed an inning after the Sea Kittens went down 1-2-3 in the second and the Invaders posted four more runs in the third, behind a two-run home run and a clutch 2-out, 2-run single.

Down 9-0, Sea Kittens needed a spark, and with one out, Roadrunner Jami Hauer delivered a hit.  Following her lead, six of the next seven Sea Kittens hit safely, and the deficit was cut to 9-5.  The Puma, Alex Latzka, delivered a two-run doubles and the Joes- Bevington & Hennessy- delivered two-out RBI knocks. The worm turned, and Rowe and the defense set the Invaders down 1-2-3 in the top half of the fourth, and the Sea Kitten offense went to work again, this time turning four consecutive two-out hits into a pair of runs to drawn within two of the visitors.

Down 9-7, the Sea Kitten defense hung another zero on the Invaders’ score line, with much credit due to Aaron Lomax patrolling right-center field.  When Bevington rapped a clean lead-off single to open the Cats’ 5th and Hennessy followed with a double off the right-center field fence to put runners on second and third with nobody out, the Cats seemed poised to pounce.  But favor would not smile upon the Sea Kittens so easily.  The Pup got caught wandering off-leash and past the point-of-no-return line (which he learned about after the play) on a groundball from Z-Force Slattery and was forced out at home.  Hennessy made it to third with two out, and advise by his third base coach, “there are two out. You don’t have to go… but you probably should,” bolted for home on contact from Roadrunner.  He, too, was cut down at the plate, this time to end a scoreless Sea Kitten inning, and the Cats got a taste of what they’d done to Brews on First? just a week earlier.

The Puma with a two-out double and Schultzy follows with a hit to pull the Cats within 3 in the 4th!

The Sea Kitten defense could not keep its claws firmly on Base Invaders In the 6th, which was declared to be the final inning by time limit rule, and the visitors posted two 1-out runs, which was later revised to three, giving them a 12-7 advantage in the game’s 6th & final inning.

There were a lot of couldabeens in that game.  -Latzka

Rowe started the Cats’ last gasp with a hit, but prospects looked dim as he remained on first base two batters and two outs later, Latzka putting just a little too much air on a fly down the right field line that the Invaders’ right fielder made a fine play to catch.  But as anyone who has played the Sea Kittens recently can attest, getting that third out can be a b*#^h.   Dan DynamOele singled, Mama Cat O’Brien walked to load the bases.  The Joes made some redemption.  Bevington knocked a run-scoring single to bring Sea Kittens within 12-8; Hennessy  swung for the fences to tie the game, and connected for a hot 18-hopper past the pitchers’ mound to make it 12-9. Z-Force came through in the clutch, and dropped in a two-run single that made it 12-11, with Hennessy on second.  Lomax followed suit, and waved home by Rowe at third, Hennessy dashed for home, reaching the plate just as the throw arrived but ticked off the catchers’ outstretched glove, reversing the game-ending “OUT” call to a game-tying “SAFE!” 

There were a lot of couldbeens in that game.  -Hauer

The rally continued. Roadrunner singled to load the bases- the seventh consecutive batter to reach with two out.  Rowe dug in and took two quick balls to bring the Cats within one bad pitch of a walk-off win.  He took the third pitch- looking for a “flat” call that would not come, and the pitch just caught the front edge of the plate.  Working that floor, the Base Invaders’ pitcher came back in the same spot, and Rowe grounded a bouncer wide of third.  Re-set for a final pitch, the pitcher came back to the same spot for a third time and Rowe punched it down the line, in fair territory but not quite far enough, as the bounding ball’s final leap skipped foul just shy of third base. It was a game destined for extra innings.

There were a lot of couldbeens in that game.  -Rowe

After a leadoff double, Base Invaders re-took the advantage 13-12 with a one-out single, and found themselves clinging to that slim margin with two out and a runner still on first.  The next hitter hit a towering pop up into the disputed territory between “deep short” and “short left.”  Bevington, playing no-doubled depth, had no shot. DynamOele raced back, unable to get far enough to get behind the ball- he turned to the side to make the inning-ending grab, but the Softball Gods intervened in their sadistic way, and ticked the ball away from the all-star shortstop. The Invaders’ runner, off on contact, raced all the way to the plate.  Two batter later, the Invaders made their own two-out noise in the form of a three-run homer to right-center, that batters’ second of the game.

There were a lot of couldbeens in that game.  -Oele

Down five once again, the Cats made one last counter attack, scoring twice and bringing the tying run to the plate with runners on second and third, but the two-out magic was exhausted and the Invaders’ center fielder snagged Slattery’s liner to center to end the game.

That was awesome, and man there were a lot of things that happened, on both sides. We’ll be sad not to see that team again in Summer League- that was a fun game to play.  All I wish this morning is that I could wash my shirt and go play again tonight, to start putting the memory of this one in the past.

But boy, there were a lot of couldabeens in that game.

-Hennessy

Salmon Snacks

• This is a week we open up the bag for all the Cats who didn’t give up and battled out of a 9-0 hole!
• Alex, Dan, Joe, and Joe all had 4 hits, Alex & Joe H. with two doubles each
• Pup, Joe, Zoe, and Aaron for the clutch RBIs to tie the game with two out in the 6th.
• Dave for only allowing two walks in a really tough wind
• Aaron for his flawless defense in right-center
• Dan & Erin for connecting on a sweet defense play in the 4th
• Jami for sparking our offense in the 3rd- it took until our 10th batter before we got our second hit of the game!
• The Pup, for his too-short but fabulous Sea Kitten career.  Joe B embodied L’esprit des Chatons!

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!  Last week’s are shared between Alex, Dan, and Katie for their TWO putouts at the plate- Alex in center to Dan at shortstop to Katie at the plate. 

Next Up

Game Notes

• A week after scoring eight runs with two out, Sea Kittens scored 10 of 14 with two out.
• The loss ended the second-longest winning streak in team history.  The longest Sea Kittens winning streak was 8 games, June 13- August 15, 2018, which culminated with a win in the MSCR Wednesday night championship game.
• Sea Kittens are now 5-3 all-time in postseason play.
• This was only the 5th time Sea Kittens had scored 14 or more runs and lost.
• The team’s 26 hits were the second-most ever in a loss, and the first time the time had ever lost with more than two players collecting four hits (SK had four 4-hit performances in this game).
• The Rally:
  • Down 9-0, Sea Kittens tied the game in the 6th- what would’ve been the final, time-cap inning. While it didn’t translate to a win, the battle-back has historic company, matching the third-largest deficit erased by a Sea Kitten squad.  The biggest was 11 runs, when the Cats went down 14-3 after the first inning to Andrea’s Team in the 2018 Harmony Tournament, but won 19-16. Second-biggest was the epic rally from an 11-1 first-inning hole in Packer Inn II, July 28, 2010, a 15-14 SK victory.  Also at 9-runs- Sea Kittens went down 13-4 after 3 inning vs. Harmony Royals, June 20, 2012 but rallied to win 14-13.
• It was Sea Kittens fourth consecutive game without a home run, the longest homeless streak since going eight in a row without a round-tripper in Summer, 2015.
• Joe’s 7th-inning double was #100 for his career.

For the Record

• Erin made a single-handed assault on the record books this Spring:
  • It took until her final at-bat, but Erin extended her career-high hitting streak to 21 games, breaking her own record for a SK woman in the process.
  • She tied her own personal best and team-record for hits (women) with a 19 this Spring, accomplishing in eight games what it took her 10 to achieve in Summer 2021.
  • She tied her team record for runs scored (12).
  • She fell one hit shy of setting a new record for batting average- her 0.613 mark in Spring, 2022 is #2 behind her 0.632 BA in Summer 2015- but that was in 21 plate appearances, compared to this season’s 33.
  • Her 12 RBI tie for second-most all-time. 
• Dan’s season on all-time lists: #6 RBI (24), T8th doubles (7), T4th batting average (0.846).
• Stephen became the 7th person to hit 0.800 or better in a season (min 20 plate appearances), joining Dan (4x), Joe (2x), Mercury Stevens, Disco Nick Legler, Zen Master Rowe, and Jonny Jon Jon Shabidu Hansen, Jr.
• Stephen’s 19 runs scored also places in a tie for 5th on the record list.
• Zoe’s 0.450 BA was a personal best.
• In limited action, Laura’s 0.429 mark was the best of her career.
• Jami’s 0.444 was her best since her epic 2018 (0.500 in Summer, 0.600 in Fall).
• Joe’s 0.719 is also the best he’s posted since 2018 (0.824 Summer, 0.833 Fall), and his 23 hits are 9th-most in a season in team history.
• Alex’s 5 BB are a tie for second-most ever in a season.  It was the 8th time someone had drawn 5 walks in a season.  Kristen Johnson & Boomer Boehm share the record of 6.