Merasheen Kat
Field: level if possible, but it does not really matter. Dig small holes in the ground - two, three, four or more holes depending on the number of players. Each time two extra players come wishing to play, just dig another hole.
Minimum number of players required to play cat is four. Two players on each team choose sides.
Two players with bats, usually pickets or slim sticks about 2 1/2 or 3 feet long. Two players to guard the holes in the ground. Play with bare hands, no gloves.
The ball could be anything you can hit. It is usually made from a piece of wood about 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Hardwood that would not split or crack easily, usually a knot of a tree shaped into a ball - the ball was usually roughly made or uneven so that when you hit it you never knew which direction it might go. The uneven hard ball also made it difficult to throw and catch and the fielders might pull away their hand or just knock it down.
For this exercise or explanation of cat as we remember it being played, we will use three holes, six players. To determine which team will bat first would be left with the players. Usually one of the sticks is tossed back-and-forth between two opposite team members for three times and then hand on top of hand and a player who can hold the top of the bat last, bats first.
The three players with the bats stand to the left or right side of each of the three holes in the ground.
The other three players position themselves behind the three holes in the ground, usually standing, bending over or cooping down behind the holes. One of these players holds the ball.
To start the game of Kat, the ball is tossed by the fielder at hole number one to the batter at hole number two. If it is a bad throw, or the batter swings and misses, the batter or batters stay where they are, but they must remember to put the end of the stick in the hole.
If they do not immediately put their stick in the holes, the fielders may catch the ball and put the ball in any unprotected hole. The fielders can also throw the ball to any hole that is unguarded. If the ball is placed in an unguarded hole, the fielders take the bats.
When the ball is tossed and the batter hits the ball, the batters must run to the next hole or as many holes as they feel they can safely reach. A hit is when the ball is driven to the front, left or right of the batter. Foul balls or nippers hit to the rear of batter are not hits. Foul balls caught must be put into a hole before the stick to be counted as out.
Each time the batters get completely around the field or back to the holes from which they started then one run is scored.
If a batter hits the ball a long distance then the batters can take a chance and run around to all the holes as many times as they wish. Each complete circle of the holes scores another run. The batters must remember to touch each hole with each stick each time they pass. Failure to do so, that is seen and or proven, will mean the fielders get to bat, provided the ball is also put in the hole.
As mentioned earlier, in order for the fielders to get their turn to bat they must put the ball in any one of the holes before a batter puts a stick in the hole. If the ball is hit and caught, it must be put in the hole also before an out is recorded.
If the fielder puts the ball in the hole at the same time or about the same time as the batter puts the end of the stick in the hole (often skinning out the fielders fingers) an argument usually began between the batter and the fielder each claiming that the stick was in the hole first or the ball was in the hole first.
If an agreement cannot be reached and it usually was not, the real fun part began. The fun part being that the fielders, in this case the three fielders, went SMUGGLING.
Smuggling means that the fielders take the ball and go hide behind a rock, stage, hill, store, house or fence or anything that would keep the batters from seeing them. The three fielders, hidden, will decide on which one of them will hide the ball under their sweater or coat and then return to the playing field. The three fielders then return to the playing field with each player pretending they have the ball they keeping their hands under their clothing and puffing out their hands to make it appear that anyone of the three may have the ball. The fielders might hide a rock or a ball or hay in their hands pretending it is the ball.
The fielders then position themselves behind each hole and bend down on their knees or coop down close to the holes. Anyone of the batters must then try to advance to the next hole without being caught out. The batters try to figure out who has the ball or who do not have the ball (sometimes this can take a few minutes or more). When they figure they know who does not have the ball, one of the batters, say at hole number two, will take a chance and run to whole number three.
The batter at hole number three will keep the stick in the hole until number two arrives. Then number three hole batter must run to hole number one and when this is completed, number one runs to hole number two. If this can be done and the ball is not placed in either hole while his stick is missing then the batter keeps their sticks.
If however the batters have guessed right or wrong, the fielders who are smuggling can take the ball from hiding and throw it to their team member guarding an unprotected hole, that is a hole with no stick in it. If the ball is put in an empty hole, then the fielders get their team to bat.
As mentioned earlier, the shape and hardness of the ball made it hard to catch and hit which made the game so unpredictable and fun. There were many places to play the game of Kat. The most popular places seemed to be in Stan’s Meadow behind the co-op store, and up by the school.
The games could go on for hours and hours and once around the holes meant a run was scored, but the score was hardly ever kept track off as the fun was in playing.
By Ernie Walsh for the 1990 reunion