Somehow the rain held off yesterday and sun poked it’s head out on Field 3 about the top of the 7th just when Team Brafman was trying to protect a 5-run lead.
Let’s get to the action.
On Field 1, Team Wolf beat Team Simons 28-12.
Team Wolf beat Team Simons 28-12 in a slugfest on field three last night. With two separate innings where the first 7 batters in the lineup scored, Team Wolf was on a roll from the first inning on.
Team Simons started with 6 in the first inning, then Scottie Wolf stayed strong only allowing 6 runs the rest of the game, earning his first two game winning streak as a pitcher in over 40 years in the league. Scottie also added a 2 run homer to his stat line, prompting catcher Andy Beck to call him the “Shohei Ohtani” of the JCC.
Team Wolf is now 5-2 with a shot at the first half championship and is looking forward to the much anticipated return of Howie Schwartz for the second half.
On Field 2, Team Fogel took on Team AJ
AJ for the winners:
Another really good 7-5 team win for The Goons last night against Team Fogel in a
defensive battle. Both teams hardly made an error the entire game, so it was really fun
to be a part of.
The game mostly happened in the first inning as we jumped out to a 5-2 lead on the
back of a couple triples from Ian Segall and sub, Stu Solomon. After that Team Fogel
chipped away, but we were able to keep them at a distance to hang on to the
win. Shout out to the defensive MVPs of the night, Dee Harris on our end, and Jeremy
Fogel (shocking, I know) for them. Both of them made ridiculous plays keeping both
teams in the game.
No one could confirm for me but this had to be one of the first Jamey (Kurtzer and
Drennan) duels on the pitchers mound in the history of the softball league. Clearly it
lived up to the billing around it.
Sunday we will look to keep it rolling against Team Simons. (Team AJ plays for the first half title on Sunday vs. Team Simons)
On Field 3 Team Brafman took on Team Wagner
Marc for the Winners:
In another clutch defensive (and offensive) performance, Team Brafman won 12-11 in a close game despite some terrible 3rd base coaching that will be addressed behind closed doors . Hitting stars for Team Brafman were Rabbi Yitz who went 3-4, Ricky Lefton who might have gone 4-4, Jimmy Lefton with a big time double, Harry Meisner with one of the all time JCC doubles, and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zackem who had a couple of clutch hits and timely stolen bases. On defense, Zach Mayer made a couple of great plays at SS but the two big stars for Team Brafman were the rookie combo of Corey Meyers and Jeff “Oscar Meyer” Wiener in LF and at first base. Both played outstanding defense all game and helped win the game. It was a back and forth game but in the bottom of the 6th, Team Brafman had a big two-out rally and scored 5 runs to go up 12-7. Team Wagner showed the heart of a champion and tried to come back in the top of the 6th with the big blow coming off the bat of Steve Zawatsky, but Team Brafman was able to get the final two outs to close the deal.
Team Brafman looks to finish the first half with a win vs. Team Stu on Sunday.
Finally on Field 4 it was Tean Groh vs. Team Grefer
Ken for the winners:
Team Grefer jumped on a shaky Groh in the 1st inning with hits everywhere to jump to a 7-0 lead. A 2-out hit by Chris Von Holle drove in 2. After a scoreless 2nd inning, a Pete Soltesz triple drove in 2. Heading into the bottom of the 4th down 12-5 the bottom of the lineup said enough is enough and started the inning with three straight singles. Then Tyler Stansbury and Sam Castellini drove them in and Jack Cohen followed up with a home run over the fence to cut the score to 12-11. Soltesz singled and later came around to tie the game after 4. Stansbury hit an inside the park home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 5th to put Groh up 13-12 but with 2 outs in the 7th Grefer got a hit from Bill Bernstein to tie the game. The game went to extras and after holding Grefer in the top of the 8th with a great catch by Tyler, Jack Cohen led off the 8th with a single. Jack is making a run for MVP going 5-5 and scoring his 4th run after our real captain, David Solomon, roped a single with the bases loaded to give Groh the comeback win 14-13. The 8-10 hitters Todd Wasserman, Danny Meisterman and Mathew Kraus all went 2-4 with a run. Castellini had 3 doubles and made 3 great catches in LCF.
As we come down to the final Sunday of the season three teams are still in the running for the first half title. If Team AJ wins they win outright. If they lose and Team Wolf and Team Brafman win there will be a 3-way tie for the title. We might have a Friday Night Lights coin flip up the street at the Circle K to determine the first half champ.
League notes:
Happy birthday’s go out to Jeremy Fogel, Wes Wolf and former player Barry Kaplan this week.
Reminder once again, June 11 is Wing Night sponsored by Big Gig Franklin at the Silver Spring House. This is free and open to all of us so hope to see you there.
The J Classic is coming up as well. Please sign up and support the JCC.
A huge shout out to Jared Kamrass who announced this week that he is once again cancer free. That is great news!
In kids news: Jeff Weisbrot’s son Evan’s baseball team came in second place in a recent tournament and Joey Monk (son of Brian) is up for Penn Station Athlete of the week for his work at Sycamore Lacrosse. Good work, boys and Dads.
This week in the Athletic they announced the top Reds players since the start of 2000. If you put this team up vs. the other top teams from baseball I would predict the would be no better than 3rd place in the NL Central and no closer to getting to the World Series than our current team. An entire generation of Reds fans have grown up without seeing a winning team. It makes me more sad than angry.
Here is there team by the way:Tucker Barnhart C, Joey Votto 1B, Zach Cozart (over Elly) which is dumb at SS, Geno Suarez at 3rd, Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr, and Jay Bruce in the outfield, P Homer Bailey, who would never get my vote (I personally would have Hunter Green, Aaron Harang, Johnny Cueto, Luis Castillo, Bronson Arroyo, Aroldis Chapman,
in this vain) Roger has promised me that he will work on a personalized Reds bobblehead series of the following Reds players over the past 25 years who didn’t make this list: Jeff Conine, Jeff Keppinger, Buck Coats, Matt Belisle, Kyle Lohse, Ryan Jorgensen, Eric Milton, Gary Majewski and, of course, Marlon Byrd. Thanks, Roger for the bobbleheads. See everyone on Sunday!
Marc