Second-seeded Sea Kittens (6-0) and seventh-seeded Brews on First? (3-3) tangle in a 7:30 PM MSSC Thursday night all-comers league playoff tilt at Bowman Park tonight. While the Cats ride the wave of their finest start in franchise history, the team cannot overlook Brews?, a solidly under-seeded opponent. The two teams battled May 12 in a tight, thrilling game that saw the Cats sneak away with an 8-3 victory, buoyed by solid defense while the offense struggled to string hits together against a 9-player Brews defense.
Brews on First comes into the playoffs having lost three of its past four games, all to one of the league’s top three seeds, with a 4-run loss to Base Invaders in addition to the 5-run loss to the Cats. Brews? fell 22-7 to league juggernauts Thirsty Thursday Enthusiasts. The key for the Cats will be to keep the Brews? offense in check and not give up free baserunners; the Brews defense is good at catching the ball and won’t give the Cats extra scoring opportunities.
If the Cats needed any further reminder to come into the game with claws out, they need look no further than the Fall 2021 Tuesday playoffs (lower division), when Brews? absolutely ambushed second-seeded Scared Hitless 21-5, just two weeks after losing to the same squad 14-1. Sea Kittens were in a similar position in their last playoff run- the chippy undercats who blew up the bracket and toppled a heavily favored unbeaten squad en route to a spot in the finals, and will have to find that loosey goosey energy as the higher seed this time.
Sea Kittens will be without Zen Master Rowe, Red Shoes Hewitt, and Schultzy Oele tonight. The trio had three hits, a walk, and three runs scored in the first matchup. In the absence of Rowe, Joe Hennessy will take the bump in his first career playoff start for Sea Kittens. Hennessy started the first matchup against Brews? on May 12 and struck out five while walking two, and repeatedly wriggled out of jams that could have been big scoring opportunities. Sea Kittens will have to hit better to avoid reliving such dramatic situations. Rowe had started the Cats’ last five post-season games, but Hennessy should bring a veteran’s composure to the fracas. Hennessy’s last post-season start came for SIU Fisheries Fisheads in September, 1998- a game that saw the Fisheads implode in the seventh inning and turn an 8-2 lead into a 12-8 loss. A Sea Kitten inning before there were Sea Kittens. All Hennessy remembers about that fateful frame is racing off the mound, diving for a foul ball, and watching it bounce out of his glove. The stuff that haunts a low-level recreational softball player for half of a lifetime, and counting. “I’d prefer to make a new, less regrettable playoff memory to ponder in the wee hours of the night,” said Hennessy when he reminded himself of the moment.