Hola amigos- I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but last fall my time to talk Sea Kittens softball shriveled up like swizzle stick on a January morning. maybe it was all the time I spent beachin’ in Hawaii, which totally f’d up tendons in my throwing hand btw, which also happen to be the hand that I type a lot of these words with. I didn’t stick with that summer typing class my mom put me in back in the day but I’ll take on your best barnyard chicken in a huntin’ and peckin’ contest anyday.
Damn I miss Anchower.
But with less than two weeks before Sea Kittens take the field for their 15th year of play it’s probably time to recap what happened last Fall. When we last checked in the Cats had taken a Summer season-ending semifinal beatdown at the hands of Bat & Boujee, but were getting into the swing of the Fall season.
Game 1
Boom! Sea Kittens opened Fall proceedings with a 22-9 beatdown of Bat Intentions with The Puma, Alex Latzka, going 4-4, Slash Grutzik driving in 5 runs and Joe Hennessy 4. Bat Intentions jumped on the cats for 5 first-inning runs, but the Kitten counter-attack was relentless, posting 7 runs in the third and 9 in the fourth. It was the first time since Summer 2023 the Cats drew 6 or more walks in a game- a total the team has only exceeded 7 times in its 258-game history. Sunshine Curtis and Laura “Red Shoes” Hewitt did remarkable damage at the end of the batting order, going a combined 2-4 with 2 walks, 4 runs scored and 4 RBI.
Slash Grutzik with a bases-loaded triple- one of 11 three-baggers he hit in 2024.
Game 2
The hitting and winning continued with a 19-12 win over Summer League champions Hot Pitches, as Sea Kittens rode 6-run innings in the first and third to jump to a 14-5 advantage. Grutzik and David “The Ringer” Engeldinger each went 4-4 and Hennessy once again drove in 4 runs. Roadrunner Jami Hauer continued to make HP look like Coyote, going 3-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI. Over her career Roadrunner is 21-36 (0.583) against Logan Kobieske’s squad; she’s only knocked down Busch Lattes (0.714, in 14 at-bats) at a swifter clip.
Game 3
Speaking of Busch Lattes, the Cats surged to a 3-0 start with a 12-1 pounding the following week, even in Roadrunner’s absence. Zen Master David Rowe twirled a gem from the pitcher’s bump and recorded the third 5-hit game of his career, going 5-5 in the leadoff spot. Josh “Rusty” Weber and Slash each poked 3 hits and The Cats had a remarkable 4 subs in their lineup that night, so thanks to Shelby, Jubilee, David and Dusty for stepping in.
Game 4
September 26 brought Showdown Week. Sea Kittens squared off against their Cat-Daddies one more time. To this point in calendar year 2024, Sea Kittens were 14-0-1 against anyone *not* named Bat & Boujee and 0-3 against B&B. This time- it was different. Or was it. The record will show Sea Kittens a 10-7 winner, but technically B&B forfeited and borrowed Sea Kittens to play. And the Cats trailed 5-4 entering the 5th before breaking through for 5 runs. Kendra “I Play Softball All day” Haight notched her third straight 2-hit game wile Puma and Rowe each rapped 3 hits.
Mama Cat pokes a single up the middle
Game 5
The win set up a first-place showdown the following week between the 4-0 Sea Kittens and 5-0 Da Hittas. Showdown? Mowdown. After dueling through a 0-o first inning Da Hittas clobbered the Cats for 11 runs in the second. While Sea Kittens have a handful of rallies from 10+ runs back under their belt, this was not one of those nights and Da Hittas cruised to a 19-6 win. It was only the 6th time in Sea Kitten history the team allowed more than 10 runs in a single inning- and only the second time that happened outside the first inning. The only other incident- ah, the infamous “Out at Third” game, immortalized in po-em by Man-Aaron Jossart, who also happened to be the only Kitten with three hits in this otherwise forgettable game. Dan DynanOele and Roadrunner were also flawless at the plate- each 2-2 with a walk.
Game 6
A chance for redemption immediately ensued as Sea Kittens lined up for the second half of this early October double-header against Bat Intentions, whom the team had drubbed in the Fall season opener. Drubbed? Flubbed. Bat Intentions, quietly improving as the season progressed, ambushed the Cats for 5 first-inning runs and never looked back. The Cats had their chances- notably with Hennessy, Mama Cat Erin O’Brien, and Man-Aaron reaching to load the bases with nobody out in the third, but BI locked down and held the damage to a lone run. Ultimately, Sea Kittens couldn’t find offensive rhythm and fell 9-6. While I’ll always remember October 3 as my mom’s birthday, it won’t be remembered as a great softball night.
Game 7- playoffs
Despite the back-to-back losses, the Cats retained their hold on the second seed for the 2024 Fall playoffs behind Da (unbeaten) Hittas. In its October 10 quarterfinal, Bat Intentions rallied and walked off Hot Pitches 13-12 to set up a semifinal match with Sea Kittens. This time The Cats were ready and jumped to a 9-3 their-inning lead. Five different Sea Kittens (Grutzik, Weber, Latzka, DynamOele, Hennessy) tripled in the first three innings, and Rowe effectively worked the zone for 5 strikeouts. But in the fourth inning, the tide turned. Maybe the Kitties got tuckered, but the bats showed their ill intentions and cut the Cat lead to 9-7. they followed by twisting a double play to end the Kitten 4th after only 3 batters, and struck for 4 more runs in the 5th to take an 11-9 lead. Down to their last bats, Puma and Hennessy delivered two-out hits to draw the Cats within a run in the bottom of the fifth. Haight dug in and ripped a potential game-winning liner to right that sliced just foul, but the BI pitcher shook it off and got her on the next one, earning Bat Intentions the right to get throttled by Da Hittas 25-6 in the Championship.
The Cats’ next-to-last gasp of 2024
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