2023 Summer Season

June 29, 2023

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.  Bat & Boujee posted a decisive nine-run third inning that Sea Kittens couldn’t overcome on this smoky summer night.  The loss was the 100th in Sea Kittens franchise history.  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.

July 6, 2023

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.

July 20, 2023

The Cats and Maulers battled back-and-forth for six innings, but the Kittens could protect a 15-9 fifth-inning lead.  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 walkoff 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.  Laura “Red Shoes” Hewitt and Dan DynamOele made great defensive plays in the 5th to keep the Cats alive.

 

 

 

 

July 27, 2023

A 102* heat index wilted the Sea Kittens before the game 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.

August 3, 2023

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.

Bat & Boujee jumped to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning but Sea Kittens answered with three 2-out runs, powered by a 2-run single from A-Train Howard.  The teams traded zeroes on the scoreboard for the next three innings, but the Cats broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Chil Hil Dugan and Rusty Weber opened the inning with hits and an infield single from Zen Master Rowe loaded the bases with one out.  The Puma poked a single to center to bring home Weber to tie the game, but the B&B second baseman picked off a liner from Roadrunner Hauer for the inning’s second out.  Slash Grutzik dug in and delivered a bases-clearing double to the left field fence to give Sea Kittens a 3-run lead. “I wanted that pitch, but didn’t think I got enough of it,” Grutzik said after the game.

The Puma ties the game in the 5th inning of Sea Kittens 7-5 win over Bat & Boujee August 3, 2023.

In contrast, the B&B hitter who blasted what would have been a game-tying rocket to center with two out in the top of the 7th thought he’d  gotten more than enough of the ball he hit, but he didn’t account for the horse Lomax galloped upon to run down that shot.   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.

August 10, 2023

The Cats erupted for a 10-run first inning, aided by both timely hitting and good fortune 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.  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.