Sea Kittens Survive and Advance

Pushed to their everlasting limit by Brews on First? for the second time this season, Sea Kittens played fierce and nearly flawless defense and rode a dramatic, two-out, sixth-inning rally to a 9-5 first-round playoff win.  The victory puts Sea Kittens into a semifinal duel with Base Invaders June 16 at 6:30 PM, the winner advancing to the 7:30 PM championship.

Brews on First? came out swinging in the first inning, ripping crisp singles and a long double to stake a 2-0 advantage over the Cats and starting pitcher Joe Hennessy.  Los Gatitos answered the challenge in the bottom half, with Slash Grutzik and Dan DynamOele knocking doubles and Hennessy following with a hard single to center to even the game at 2-2. The Kitten defense made quick work of Brews? in the second, and seemed poised to surge ahead when Joe “Pup” Bevington and Z-Force Slattery opened the inning with hits.  Brews? buckled down and got the next two Cats out, and after a semi-intentional walk to Alex “Puma” Latzka to load the bases, managed to get Slash uncharacteristically chasing.

After holding Brews? in check once again in the third, the Cats scratched out a run to take a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the inning.  DynamOele and Hennessy singled, and with two out The Pup plunked a run-scoring double into center.  The advantage proved short-lived, as Brews on First came back with a flurry of hits, but Latzka, Oele, and catcher Sunshine Curtis combined on a rally-killing 8-6-2 putout at home plate and the inning ended with the game deadlocked at 3-3.

Buoyed by the defense, the Sea Kittens threatened in the bottom of the fourth by were stymied once more.  The Brews pitcher all-but-intentionally walked Slash to put runners on second and third and get to Mama Cat O’Brien- who entered the contest hitting 0.739.  O’Brien lofted a liner over the second baseman but the speedy Brews right fielder made a sliding catch to rob O’Brien of a hit, save a run, and end the inning with the game still tied.

Mama Cat robbed!

For the second week in a row, Hennessy stayed in the strike zone and kept the opponents hitters off-balance and in-check, working his way through  a scoreless fifth.  DynamOele lead off the Cats’ half of the inning with a walk and was replaced on the bases by Hennessy after a fielder’s choice grounder.  Curtis followed with an infield single, and once again the Cats converted a two-out opportunity, this time Slattery delivering the go-ahead hit.

Seriously. This was all a bit much.

Brews on First? battled back in the sixth, and quickly evened the game again.  With runners on second and third and one out, the next Brews hitter laced a single to center.  Without hesitation, the runner on second bolted, nary a moment’s thought of stopping at third base.  But his wheels spun a bit fast and he tumbled halfway to home.  He righted himself quickly and continued his dash, but it was the opening Oele needed for his relay throw, a high-velocity strike to Curtis, who snagged it for the out at home for the second time in three innings.

Really.  I can’t make this up. It was awesome.

The Brews’ hitter raced all the way to third on the play, and plated the go-ahead run when the next batter beat out an infield hit, but heads-up defense by O’Brien ended the inning by tagging the runner after she turned towards second base.

The Cats trailed 5-4 entering the bottom of the 6th, marking the first time in 2022 Sea Kittens trailed in a game at any point later than the first inning.  And things didn’t look good when the first two Cats were retired. But Grutzik rapped a single, and O’Brien found a hole on the left side to put runners on first and second.  DynamOele stepped in, no stranger to the situation, but after a long foul down the left-field line he smacked a worm-burning grounder to short… and by god it went through the wickets of the Brews? sure-handed shortstop.  Grutzik, off on contact, dashed home with the equalizer.  The Kittens squeezed through the opening, one after another. Hennessy dug in and delivered a clean single to left, O’Brien galloping home from second to put Los Gatitos up 6-5.  A parade of RBI singles followed- Bev, Curtis, Slattery- and when the dust finally settled the Cats had batted around and taken a 9-5 lead.

Down to their last gasp, Brews? lined up for the seventh.  The first batter launched a fly ball to right- where Bev had not yet turned around.  Hearing the crack of the bat and his teammates’ exhortations, The Pup spun around, looked up, and caught the thing.  A line-out to Slattery in short center and a grounder to Grutzik followed, and that was all she wrote.

Salmon Snacks

• Katie for the two putouts at the plate!
• Alex & Dan for the relay throws on said plays!
• Zoe, Joe, and Joe for each having two 2-out RBI
• Jami for holding the bag on a couple of physical plays at 2B
• Erin for her heads-up defense in the 6th
• Bev for wheeling around and snagging the fly ball in the 7th
• Katherine for waiting waiting waiting waiting and getting big hits in both the 5th and 6th
• Dan, Zoe, Joe & Joe for managing 3-hit games
• Joe for staying in the strike zone and not walking anybody.

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 we had our first-ever TIE!  Man-Aaron Jossart received a Gracious Fillet and Dan DynamOele the Great Fillet.  

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Game Notes

• Sea Kittens scored EIGHT of their nine runs with two out!
• Sea Kittens are 7-0 for the second time in team history.
• The winning streak matches the club’s second-longest.  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.
• After losing its first four games upon transferring from MSCR to MSSC play, Sea Kittens have won 9 of its past 10.
• Sea Kittens are now 5-2 all-time in postseason play.
• The Cats’ late rally was the first time the team won a game in which it trailed in the 6th inning or later since June 2, 2021.
• It was Sea Kittens third consecutive game without a home run, the longest homeless streak since the final three games of the Fall, 2019 season. The team hasn’t had four consecutive games without a home run since going eight in a row  without in Summer, 2015.
• Katie moved into 7th place on the all-time Sea Kittens games played list (84), passing Tommy Tom Tom Seahorse Shabidu Cichosz, Jr.
• Alex’s hitting streak ended at 37 games, fourth-longest in team history.

Sea Kittens’ longest hitting streaks