Spoiler Alert: Cats a headache for playoff hopefuls

It’s a role no one relishes playing, but the Thunder Bay Border Cats gave an Oscar-worthy performance as Northwoods League spoilers on Sunday evening.

The Cats continued their late-season surge, knocking off the first-place Willmar Stingers 7-3 at Port Arthur Stadium, a loss that eliminated their opponent from post-season play, dropping them a game behind St. Cloud on the penultimate day of the NWL’s regular season.

St. Cloud, who beat playoff-bound Rochester 10-8 earlier in the day, clinched top spot in the North Division, having guaranteed themselves the best second-half winning percentage, which they earned by virtue of playing two less games thanks to a pair of rainouts that won’t be made up.

"Our coach came in and said let’s just try to take this last series and finish on a good note and maybe knock these guys down a step or two," said Cats leftfielder Kenny Battiston, who drove home a pair in leading Thunder Bay (15-18) to its third straight win. "We came out these last two games and really put it to them."

Willmar manager Matt Hollod knows it all too well.

"It’s tough, but it’s something you have to deal with," he said after the contest, knowing his expansion squad came close, but just not quite close enough in their first kick at the Northwoods League can.

"The travel and everything coming up here affects us a little bit, but everybody has to do it and we have to deal with it. Obviously we didn’t handle it very well."

The Cats too-little-too-late hot stretch is a little frustrating for Battiston, who said it would have been nice for the team to pull it together a little earlier in the season, when there was still something to play for other than pride.

"But for all the guys here, to finish on a good note like that and come out and play their best ball of the year feels good," Battiston said.

Kitchener native Tanner Nivins, who collected five hits in five at bats and scored twice in the lopsided win, said it’s a shame the Cats waited so long to turn things around, winning eight of their past 11 games to creep into sixth place, up two spots from where they began the month.

"It just shows how good of a squad we have when we play together," said Nivins, a freshman at Stony Brook University in New York, who is eligible to return to the Cats in 2011, should the team not fold or move in the offseason.

"It definitely shows the potential. All we can do, because we’re mathematically eliminated, is come in here and cause a bit of chaos and show what we can do against good teams."

That chaos began in the first, when Ryan Court doubled home Nivins to give the Cats a 1-0 lead on Willmar starter David Carroll (L, 4-3).

Court scored in rapid fashion, crossing the plate on a Battiston single.

Thunder Bay added runs in the second and third to go up 4-0 in support of Michael Woytek, who evened his record at 5-5 thanks to six mostly strong innings of work.

Woytek’s first real trouble came in the fifth, when the Stingers mounted a rally that cut the lead in half.

With Mikey Reynolds on second and Anthony Bemboom on third, Carlos Leyva singled, scoring Reynolds and Bemboom came home on an error by Cats 2B Sean-Miller Jones.

No problem, said the Cats hitters, who promptly went back on the offensive in their half of the inning, plating two on a Battiston sacrifice fly and a P.K. Kitamura double that cashed in Court standing on second.

Willmar’s Jordan Smith, whose .378 average and 54 RBI make him a legitimate MVP candidate, blasted his fifth dinger of the year to start the sixth. Jared Norris followed with a sharply hit double to centre, but he was gunned out at the plate after reaching third on Bemboom’s single to right.

Cats RF Garret Houts’s throw sailed catcher Taylor Honeycutt, but a quick-thinking Woytek was there to back up the play and Norris was an easy second out.
Matt White took over in the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings, paving the way for Paul Barton to close things off in the ninth.

The two teams close out the regular season schedule Monday night at Port Arthur Stadium. Game time is 6:35 p.m.