Da Hittas (4-0) lived up to their namesake for one big inning last week in breezing past Sea Kittens 14-4 last week at Bowman Park. The matchup between last two Madison Sport & Social Club Thursday night unbeatens looked tantalizing on paper and lived up to the pregame hype for more than 3 innings, but unraveled in the bottom of the fourth- from the Sea Kitten perspective, anyway.
Under kaleidoscope skies, the evening May sunshine filtered through a gauzy layer of Canadian smoke, Sea Kittens looked to continue their string of quick starts that saw the club posting 13 first-inning runs through its first three games. Sea Kittens set up shop with runners on first and second and one out, but Da Hittas do more than hit, and their defense issued an early statement by tracking down a long fly ball from Dan DynamOele and snagging a hot shot to third from Chil Hil Dugan to hold the Cats scoreless. It was the first time in 9 games- dating to the Fall 2002 season- Sea Kittens didn’t manage to score at least one first-inning run.
A 2-base walk qualified as an offensive “highlight” this night.
But Los Gatitos del Mar aren’t all about offensive flash, and answered the bell by holding a scoreless line against Da Hittas, setting the tone for the early part of the game. The two teams played
nearly flawless defensive softball through three innings, neither side able to string together hits. Sea Kittens starting pitcher Joe Hennessy was backed by two slick plays from third baseman Slash Grutzik in the early going, and Alex Puma Latzka opened the game’s scoring with a quadruple to deep right with two outs in the third, giving Sea Kittens a short-lived 1-0 lead.
Da Hittas answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring once, but the cats closed the door there to keep the game even. Oele drew a two-base walk to open the third and Dugan followed with an infield single, but no parade of baserunners followed and the cats mustered only a single run on a two-out base hit from Hennessy. in the bottom of the fourth, all hell broke loose and Da Hittas started finding openings, peppering the Kittens’ defense for a handful of runs. With one out and the bases loaded, the south wind died for a few fateful moments, and a well-struck ball found enough carry to clear the left-center-field fence for a game-breaking grand slam. All said and done, Da Hittas put up nine runs to surge to a 10-2 lead.
Da Hittas played longball again in the fourth, but the Cats offense didn’t even appear to hear the call, much less answer. Sometimes when the flame goes out, smoke gets in your eyes.
Results
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busch Lattes | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | 7 | Loss |
| Roughnecks | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | 24 | Win |
Busch Lattes
| AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Roughnecks
| AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SF | IP | RA | WK | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Salmon Snacks
- All of the Sea Kittens, to get re-energized to try again next time!
- Stephen for his gem of a defensive game
- Alex for another quadruple
- Joe for a 3-3 effort at the plate
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! Congrats to Aaron Lomax & Casey Spangler- tied for last weeks Fillet!
What's your pick for the Sea Kittens Great Fillet of the Game?
- Stephen for his sweet snag of a line drive in the 3rd (50%, 1 Votes)
- Stephen for his nice pick of a groundball in the 2nd (50%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 2
Next Up
The Cats (3-1) tangle with Da Hittas (4-0) again, this time in the friendly confines of Bowman Field 2, Thursday, May 25 at 6:30 PM.. Da Hittas have put the Kittens offense into a sleeper hold in two straight matchups, and have managed to ride the strength of a big inning to victory in each of those games.
Game Notes
- Sea Kittens are now 1-35 all-time when scoring 4 runs or fewer.
- Sea Kittens are 2-13 all-time when allowing 9 runs or more in a single inning- that was only the 15th time that’s ever happened to a Kitten team.
- Dan had a streak of 25 consecutive multi-hit games broken, dating back to October 5, 2021. He holds the record for longest such streak with 28, between August 2, 2017 – October 3, 2018. The next longest such streaks belong to Joe 22 (2016-2017); Dave 16 (2017-2019); Joe 16 (2021-22); Mercury Stevens 15 (2015-2016); and Dave 13 (2014-2015). Among Sea Kitten women Erin (8) and Gretchen (7) are the leaders.