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Red-hot Catfish swim into another postseason with dominating W
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Cape Catfish baserunner Lane Crowden sprints home in a recent game at Capaha Field. Crowden had three hits in the home regular-season finale on Tuesday against O'Fallon.
Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com
In the end, betting against the Cape Catfish didn’t prove to be a wise move for the skeptics this summer.
The Catfish closed out its home regular season in convincing fashion on Tuesday at Capaha Field with an 8-0 six-inning trouncing of O’Fallon to clinch the Western Conference South Division second-half title.
It marked the fourth time in the team’s five seasons that it advanced to the Prospect League postseason.
Cape (30-25 overall, 16-10 second half) has won nine of its last 10 games.
“It was getting hot at the right time,” Catfish infielder Lane Crowden said of his team’s season. “That is all there is to that.”
On July 11, Cape dropped its sixth consecutive game and fell to 15-21, which followed the first half of the season in which the Catfish had a losing record (14-15) and finished in last place in the South Division.
“We lost a ton of one-run games at the beginning of the season,” Crowden said. “We’re just bouncing back now and got hot at the right time.”
No one was hotter on Tuesday than Crowden, who began the evening by being inducted into the Cape Catfish Hall of Fame following his strong third season with the club.
Crowden had three hits, including a double, and drove in four runs to pace the Cape offense.
“Lane does so many little things for this team defensively and offensively for this club,” first-year Cape manager Phil Butler said following the win, which was called early due to lightning in the area. “You just can’t replace a guy like him, is what it is.”
Crowden leads the Prospect League in stolen bases (46) and hit .302 this summer.
Mid-season signee Owen Henne had a couple of hits, including a double, in the win while Moises Rosario (one hit, two runs, one walk), Owen Mandler (three runs, one walk), Alex Kowalski (one hit, one run, one RBI), former Cooter High standout Hayden Nazerenus (one hit, one run, one RBI, one walk), Andrew Ramirez (one RBI, one walk, one run), and Wes Gingerich (one RBI, one walk) also contributed.
The Catfish took a 3-0 lead in the second inning and added a couple of runs in the third inning and three in the fifth inning.
Cape starter Jorge Romero earned his first win by throwing five innings of no-run ball.
He allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out four.
Former Notre Dame High School thrower Noah Gadberry worked the final inning and allowed one hit, no runs, and walked one.
“These guys have become a family,” Butler said of his team. “They have gotten comfortable, and they stopped worrying so much about all of the ancillary stuff that goes on.
“They just focused on winning baseball games.”
The Catfish will close the regular season with a game at O’Fallon (29-26, 12-15) today at 6:35 p.m.
The postseason will open on Thursday at Marion, Ill. where Cape will face Thrillville (30-24, 9-18) in a one-game Division-title deciding game.