Under-Cats Storm Bracket, Finish Runners-Up

After scuffling through the fall season to a disappointing 1-4 record, Sea Kittens entered Tuesday night’s MSSC-Upper Division playoffs as the 5^th– and last- seed, scheduled for a play-in game against 4-seed Run Like Mad (1-3-1).  The winner’s season would continue with a date against unbeaten #1 seed Thunder Buddies, 5-0 in Fall league play and 20-2-1 overall in 2021.  

Never a bunch to which is eager to see its season end,  nine Cats arrived early to a dark- and unpainted- diamond at Bowman Park, this game between also-rans relegated to a back corner of the lot and almost forgotten.  But the lights finally flickered on and the Man in Blue was ready to call fair or foul without the assistance of lines, and at 6:30 PM Zen Master David Rowe dug into the batter’s box, poised, determined, ready to light the torch and lead the Cats’ last stand.  He grounded out to short.  He wasn’t alone, and the uneven offense that had marred the Sea Kittens fall season continued through the top of the first.

Run Like Mad struck for two runs in the bottom of the inning, aided by Sea Kitten miscues, and the Cats went down 2-0, with less than an hour left to find their bats and continue the season.  Dan DynamOele opened the Kitten second with a single, and Mama Cat Erin O’Brien followed with a big two-strike double- making the most of her Glitter Ball.  Seizing the opportunity, Joe Hennessy clubbed a go-ahead home run to left-center, depositing the ball in the outfield of bowman baseball diamond, where it will likely rest until spring.  One out later, Jami “Roadrunner” Hauer lashed a double to right-center, and darted home on a two-out hit from the Polish Puma, Alex Latzka.

Sea Kittens getting rolling every way possible in game 1

Staked to a 4-2 lead, the Sea Kitten defense settled in behind Rowe and played a flawless second, and the Cats returned to bat- this time with a fury not seen in weeks.  Stephen “Slash” Grutzik blasted a home run to left to open the inning, and the DynamO followed with another, taking advantage of the cozy confines of Field #3.  One out later, Hennessy, Joe “The Pup” Bevington, Roadrunner, Zen Master and Puma followed with consecutive singles, scoring four more runs in the process.   With two out, Slash and DynamOele went back-to-back- again, putting the nigh-nigh into a nine-run rally. 

From there, the Cats cruised, holding a dangerous RLM lineup in check until the bottom of the fifth- and- final inning, where the home squad staged a mini-rally, but the answer was too little, too late and Sea Kittens emerged 15-7 victors.

The first-round win under their belts, the Cats made the long trek to Field 1, with just enough time to grab a sip of water and write the lineup on a new page of the scorebook.

Picking up where they left off, the Sea Kitten offense struck for three runs in the top of the first, with Rowe opening this game with a ringing single and Latzka doubling him home. A baserunning error stalled the Kitten rally but O’Brien and Hennessy delivered back-to-back two-out RBI hits to put the visitors up 3-0.

Middle always open for the Roadrunner.

Unruffled, Thunder Buddies struck in the bottom of the first, spraying the ball around the field in the manner than characterized its season, and the Cats did well to limit the damage to 4 runs.

Then came The Ambush-  Rowe led off again with a single, but was quickly erased by a fielders’ choice, and that runner by another.  With two out and a runner on first, Slash singled and DynamOele blasted a long two-run double;  Mama Cat singled, and Hennessy collected his second straight two-out RBI hit, and The Pup followed with another.  The five two-out runs put Sea Kittens up 8-4, and the Cats rode that wave out into the field, dashing a Thunder Buddies rally that started with runners on second and third and nobody out.

The Cats seized the upset opportunity fully in the 3^rd, and made the kill bite, again with Rowe & Latzka setting the table and Grutzik-Oele-O’Brien-Hennessy delivering consecutive hits and another five-run barrage.  The Sea Kittens roared home from there, keeping the league’s highest-scoring offense off the board for six consecutive innings and crashing into the league championship with a 15-4 victory.

At 8:40 PM CDT, the Zen Master dug into the batter’s box for his third leadoff performance of the evening, and promptly delivered the hustle double that has defined his long Sea Kittens tenure.  The Puma doubled him home, and the Sea Kitten offense showed Excalibur its claws, with Hennessy delivering a sizzling grand slam over the left-center fence to give his squad a 6-0 advantage.  Sea Kittens promptly re-loaded the bases and added another run but al line drive from Sunshine Curtis went straight down the third base line to Excalibur third baseperson Andrea Cummings, who snagged it with her dino-mitt and doubled Roadrunner off third- a great play and impossible situation for the baserunner, and an unfortunate end to what could have been an even bigger Sea Kitten first.

Zen Master opens the championship with a trademark hustle double.

The rally pretty much consumed most of the energy these nine battling Cats had left.  Excalibur- which thrashed Sea Kittens 25-6 in the teams’ first matchup- slashed the Cats for four first-inning runs, and was just getting warmed up.   A quick and quiet 1-2-3 inning for the Sea Kitten offense was followed by another five Excalibur runs, as every hitter found a hole, and the Cats paid dearly for any mistake in the field. 

The 7-run lead replaced by a 2-run deficit, the, uh, more experienced but tiring Sea Kittens still battled, and Roadrunner, Rowe, and Latzka combined hits to give the Cats a 10-9 lead halfway through the third. Excalibur scored another five, and the Cats had no answer.

Up 14-10 at the game’s hallway point, Excalibur kept up its pressure, and extended the advantage to 18-10 at the end of four innings. Everybody hit for the crew from Camelot, and while the team’s heavy hitters left their mark,  the name “Galen” may haunt the Cats’ off-season dreams in particular.  Hitting in the 11th- or was it 12th? spot- he skewered the Cats, setting the table for the top of the order and the parade that followed time and again.

But These Sea Kittens- undercats of the night, made one last valiant push, dinking and dunking hits for four more runs in the top of the fifth inning and clawing back to a more manageable 4-run deficit, but could not punch home more.

It was the Cats’ last gasp, and Excalibur drove home 10 runs in the bottom of the inning, breaking the game open.  The proverbial dagger.  All she wrote. Singin’ we will rock you.  Sea Kittens pushed two more runs across in the game’s final two innings, but that was just details, as Excalibur earned the championship banner with a well-played 28-16 victory.

Even as Amy dances her championship dance, The Pup wraps up his rookie campaign with a hit- one to grow on!

Salmon Snacks

• All around- HOW FREAKIN’ FUN WAS THAT TO PLAY THREE GAMES ON THE FINAL NIGHT???
• Dave for pitching valiantly for three straight games- and Katherine for calling them brilliantly 😉
• For everybody who had wobbly legs the next day
• Dan & Stephen for the first- and second!- back-to-back homers in team history.
• Jami for another near flawless night at 2B- and for her hand.
• Erin for a fantastic night at 1B and 9 hits on the evening
• Alex for joining the 6-hits club
• Joe for an exciting grand slam in the final, and big catch in game 2
• Joe B for getting his first taste of multi-game softball and adjusting well on the fly!
• And one to Excalibur’s Andrea Cummings for escaping a wicked line drive with only a little scratch on her head.

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!

Game Notes

• The games were the latest calendar date- October 26- Sea Kittens have ever played.
• The Game 2 win was #99 in team history- Sea Kittens are 99-90 all-time.
• In total, Sea Kittens scored 46 runs on 70 hits and made 129 plate appearances- the most of any of these things the Cats have ever done in a single day, topping the 128 plate appearances, 41 runs, and 65 hits the team collected in the 2016 Harmony Tournament and 127/39/65 in the 2017 Harmony Tourney.
• Erin, Jami, and Joe became the first three players to play 20 games for the Sea Kittens in a calendar year.
• Katherine moved into 8th place on the all-time games played list.
• Alex joined Erin (8/26/2010) and Jonny Jon Jon Shabidu Hansen, Jr. (5/16/2012) as the only Sea Kittens to ever collect 6 hits in a single game.
• Stephen & Dan became the first two Sea Kittens to hit two home runs in a single inning- and they both did it twice. In the same inning.  Back-to-back, twice in the same inning- the first back-to-back homers in team history.
  • Suffice to say, it was the first time Sea Kittens have hit 4 home runs in an inning.  The Cats hit 3 (Grutzik, Boom Boom Magyera, and Hennessy) in the 3rd inning against Harmony Dogs 8/22/2021 in the Harmony Tournament- two of those inside-the-park jobs.
  • Dan’s second was career HR #50, tops in team history (Joe 48, Alex 16, Stephen 11, Kyle 10).
  • The team’s 11 fall season home runs is a new record, topping the 9 hit in both 2016 & 2017.
  • The 5 home runs in Game 1 matched the second-most Kitten homers in a single game.  SK hit 7 vs Harmony Dogs 8/22/2021 and 5 vs Royals 8/19/2018.
• Jami & Erin’s doubles in Game 1 were the first time since 9/25/2019 a pair of Sea Kitten women connected for extra base hits in the same game.  Between 2016-2018, it was a feat accomplished 12 times.
• Alex set a new fall-season record with 24 hits.  Joe had 21 in Fall, 2016.  They’re the only two players to collect 20 or more hits in a fall season.
  • His 0.800 average tied for 4th-best fall season BA all-time.
  • His 12 extra-base hits were 2nd-best all-time for a fall season (Mercury Stevens 13 in 2016, Joe 11 in 2016).
• Erin notched career hit #250 in the 2nd inning of Game 2, and Dave got #300 in the 1st inning of the championship game.
• Joe’s grand slam was the 8th of his career, all since 2016.  Nobody else has more than 2.
• Dave’s run in the 3rd inning of Game 2 was run #2,000 in Sea Kitten history.
  • TRIVIA TIME!  Who scored the first?  Post your answer in the comments!
• Excalibur’s 28 runs are the second-most Sea Kittens have ever allowed- Royals hung 29 on the Cats 8/22/2021, in the Harmony Tourney championship.
  • Excalibur now holds two of the six highest runs against totals in Kitten history, and remarkably, four of the Sea Kittens’ six highest runs against totals occurred in 2021.
  • This was the first time anyone scored 4 or more runs in 5 consecutive innings- Soft’s Balls scored 4+ in 4 straight innings 8/2/2017 in a 19-7 win over the Cats.
  • Game 3 was the first time Sea Kittens ever scored 7 or more 1st-inning runs and lost.
  • The Cats’ 16 game 3 runs matched the most-ever in a loss- Sea Kittens lost 16-19 to Soft’s Ball’s 9/28/2016 and 16-21 to Wilson’s Coolers 10/17/2018.