Sea Kittens rode through a roller coaster season in 2023, finishing with a 13-11 overall record and two runners-up finishes (and a chance at a third rained out). This year’s version developed a surprising talent for squandering large leads and playing in walk-off games- dramatic, fun softball that didn’t always go the Cats’ way. Adrienne “A-Train” Howard brought patience to the Cats, and was the first Sea Kitten to walk 6 times in a season since Boomer Boehm and KJ Johnson each drew 6 walks in 2013.
Alex “Puma” Latzka, Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer, and Laura “Red Shoes” Hewitt each played in their 100th career Sea Kittens game during the course of 2023, and Erin “Mama Cat” O’Brien played her 200th. Hauer, Stephen “Slash” Grutzik, and Man-Aaron Jossart each scored their 100th career runs for the Cats. Joe Hennessy notched his 500th career hit, 400th RBI, and 300th run scored. Dan DynamOele tallied RBI #300. Josh “Rusty” Weber- the long-time leader of the Infield Flies/Baltimore Factorioles franchise- returned to Madison and returned to slowpitch after a lengthy absence and joined the Cats as a full-time member, even with his legacy already cemented by virtue of being one of the substitutes who helped end The Schneid so many years ago.
Spring 2023
| Pos | Team | W | L | T | Pct | GB | RS | RA | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Da Hittas | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 102 | 57 | 45 |
| 2 |  Sea Kittens | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | 3.5 | 96 | 97 | -1 |
| 3 | Bat and Boujee | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 3.5 | 88 | 59 | 29 |
| 4 | Roughnecks | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 4.5 | 77 | 58 | 19 |
| 5 |  Busch Lattes | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.375 | 5 | 94 | 106 | -12 |
| 6 | SP Prairie Dogs | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0.000 | 7.5 | 51 | 131 | -80 |
League Champion: Da Hittas defeat Sea Kittens 12-9
Sea Kittens opened the 2023 Spring season with a bang, putting up 17 runs in their first three innings of play in a 17-7 rout of SP Prairie Dogs. A week later, that Cats rallied with a 6-run 5th to scoot past Roughneck Maulers 11-8 and move to 2-0.
The hot start continued in week three as Sea Kittens fought of three bases-loaded rallies by Busch Lattes to post a 14-9 win as Zen Master Rowe collected four hits and Alex “Puma” Latzka paced the offense with two triples and a quadruple, but the 4-0 start came to an abrupt end in week 5, as Da Hittas used a 9-run 4th to sail past the Cats 14-4, and then followed with a 9-6 win a week later. Bat & Boujee extended the Sea Kitten losing streak to 3 games with a 12-7 victory June 8, which pushed Sea Kittens to the 3rd playoff seed and a match with SP Prairie Dogs. the story of the B&B game is embedded in the first-round playoff story- there was some entertaining stuff in those games.
This time around, the Dogs gave the Cats all they could handle, but Rowe delivered a one-out single in the bottom of the 5th to give the Cats a 19-18 walk-off win. Sea Kittens jumped to an 8-2 lead over Bat & Boujee in the semifinals, then weathered a heroic rally to hang on for a 9-8 win. The Cats once again jumped to an 8-1 lead in the Championship game, but Da Hittas battled back and held Sea Kittens scoreless through the final four innings to hang on for a 12-9 win.
MSSC Summer 2023
| Pos | Team | W | L | T | Pct | RS | RA | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea Kittens | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0.667 | 96 | 89 | 7 |
| 2 | Da Hittas | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 82 | 49 | 33 |
| 3 | Bat and Boujee | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | 79 | 74 | 5 |
| 4 | Busch Lattes | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 71 | 81 | -10 |
| 5 |  Hot Pitches | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 77 | 105 | -28 |
| 6 | Roughnecks | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 63 | 70 | -7 |
| 7 | PLAYOFFS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
League Champion: Bat & Boujee defeated Sea Kittens 8-7
The Summer 2023 season opened with the 100th loss in Sea Kitten history, a decidedly lackluster 13-6 defeat at the hands of Bat & Boujee on a smoky late-June night. The Cats’ offense went down in order in three innings and left the bases loaded in two others on a night that just wasn’t theirs. Mama Cat O’Brien was one of the few bright spots at the plate for the Cats, going 3-3 with a run scored and RBI.
One week later Sea Kittens charged to an 11-3 second-inning lead and then hung on for dear life as Busch Lattes chipped into the lead until the end. The 14-batter Sea Kitten lineup was the longest since the team’s 2010 inaugural season. Slash Grutzik was 3-3 with two doubles and five runs batted in, and defensive gems from Grutzik, Dan DynamOele, and Adrienne “A-Train” Howard helped secure the win.
After a rainout week, the Cats and Roughneck Maulers battled back-and-forth for six innings, but the Kittens could not protect a 15-8 fourth-inning lead. It was the third time in a month Sea Kittens squandered a 6-run lead- something the team had remarkably never done in first 219 games of their existence. The Maulers battled for three runs in the bottom of the 5th and four in the bottom of the 6th to walk off with a wild 16-15 victory. The walk-off loss was the Cats’ first since Summer 2019. Alex “Puma” Latzka tripled and hit an inside-the-park grand slam and Joe Hennessy doubled, homered, and drove in four runs.
A 102* heat index wilted the 1-2 Sea Kittens before Game 4 even began, and Da Hittas torched the Cats for 20 runs, most via the longball. The A-Train, Adrienne Howard made a sweet leaping grab in a game that is otherwise best forgotten, although it did lead the league to properly enforce its home-run rule on the small Bowman Field 2 in future games.
In a rematch of the Summer season opener, Sea Kittens and Bat & Boujee battled through an exciting, tight, and, well-played contest, the outcome of which hung in the balance until Aaron AaLo Lomax’s dramatic game-ending over-the-shoulder catch in deep center field to preserve a 7-5 Sea Kitten victory.
Slash Grutzik dug delivered a bases-clearing double to the left field fence to give Sea Kittens a 3-run lead with two outs in the 5th. “I wanted that pitch, but didn’t think I got enough of it,” Grutzik said after the game. We’d be remiss in not mentioning Weber’s amazing inning-ending catch in the second- a sliding, shoestring grab in shallow right field that got overshadowed in the game-ending hullabaloo.
The Cats erupted for a 10-run first inning and never looked back in the 2023 Summer regular-season finale. Slash Grutzik hit for the third cycle in Sea Kitten history, Joe Hennessy added five hits and Rusty Weber four as the Sea Kitten offense piled up a season-high 27 in the 21-5 rout of Hot Pitches. A-Train Howard turned an unassisted double play to end a bases loaded Hot Pitches rally in the 3rd, and Zen Master Rowe fed Hennessy two relays for a pair of putouts at home plate.
One week later Sea Kittens and Hot Pitches reconvened for an opening-round playoff game, and the cats cruised to a 15-6 win with a 12-run outburst across the 3rd and 4th innings. Rowe, Roadrunner Jami Hauer, and Hennessy each notched three hits, and Rowe drove home a a season-high 4 runs.
The victory earned Sea Kittens a match with Da top-seeded Hittas, and the Cats held tight after scoring five first-inning runs, clawing their way to a 9-5 victory and third consecutive finals appearance.
Alas the Summer playoff run ended like Spring did, as Bat and Boujee rallied from one-run deficits three times in the game and won in a 8-7 walk-off thriller. The Boujee crew played solid defense, turning two double plays and denying the Cats any extra opportunities in the course of the win.
MSSC Fall 2023
League Champion: Playoffs rained out
Still smarting from the walk-off loss and third consecutive Championship defeat, Sea Kittens opened the 2023 fall season with yet another tense struggle with Da Hittas… and got walked off again. Sea Kittens rallied from an early 4-run deficit but could not protect a 4-run lead of their own as Da Hittas struck for 5 runs in the 5th. The cats tied the game at 12 in the 6th, but could not hold Da Hittas scoreless in the bottom of the frame.
The squad finally bounced back in week two, piling 25 hits on Hot Pitches en route to a 19-12 victory. Joe Hennessy had the Cats’ first 7-RBI game of 2023, and The Puma went 4-4 in the win. A week later Sea Kittens erupted for another 23 hits and pasted Roughneck Maulers 18-5.
After a rainout week- one in which only Field 1 games were stopped- the 2-1 Sea Kittens finally took the field again September 28, dueling 4-0 Thunder Buddies. Sea Kittens held an early 6-4 lead, but Thunder Buddies scored 9 times across the game’s final three innings to surge to a 13-9 advantage. The Cats did not go quietly in their final at-bats. Slash Grutzik homered to lead off the bottom of the 6th and cut the margin to three. After an out four consecutive Cats reached base, scoring one and loading the bases. Alas, Los Gatitos could not complete the comeback, and fell 13-11.
Busch Lattes dumped the Cats 11-8 the following week in what proved to be the team’s final regular-season game. rain once again washed out the Sea Kittens’ scheduled date with Bat & Boujee, and the call was made to start league playoffs October 19. In a rematch with Busch Lattes, Sea Kittens jumped to a 12-0 lead and coasted to a 17-10 victory, setting up a semifinal with top-seeded Thunder Buddies and a chance to return to a fourth consecutive Championship game. But Ma Nature had other plans, and the slate of playoff games was washed out October 26, with no November makeup dates scheduled.