On a beautiful day for softball the first half of the season came to an end, and I didn’t even have to go into my rain out rant! Small miracles do happen.
Let’s give a big shout out to rookie capt AJ Goldhoff as he led his team to the first half title. Well done, AJ!
Now onto the action. In the early games on Field 2 it was Team Groh vs. Team Wolf
Ken for the winners:
Team Groh left the bases loaded in the 1st and 2nd innings getting RBI’s by Chris Von Holle and Jon Ruben keep the game close, but Team Wolf scored 2 runs in each of the 1st 3 innings to lead 6-2. In the 4th after an RBI from Sam Castellini, the MVP, Jack Cohen, hit his 3rd over the fence HR in 3 games to cut the lead to 6-5, but Wolf plated 4 runs to build a 10-5 lead. The top of the 5th changed the momentum with Groh starting off the inning with a single. Team Groh batted 13 with almost the whole team getting on base as they scored 8 to take a 13-10 lead. Team Groh would add 5 in the 6th and 6 in the 7th, scoring 19 unanswered runs, to win 24-10. Jack Cohen led the way going 6-6 with 5 runs and 7 RBI’s. Sub Griffin Harris had 6 hits, Pete Soltesz had 5 hits and a walk and scored 4 runs. Danny Meisterman, Groh, Von Holle and Castellini also had 3 hits and Todd Wasserman, Matt Kraus and Jon Ruben all added at the plate and with great defensive plays.
On Field 3 Team Brafman took on Team Solomon
Marc for the winners.
In the 9 years I’ve been in the league, I’ve seen some strange games and outcomes but Sunday’s might take the cake. Team Brafman came back from being down 12-7 in the bottom of the 7th to win 13-12 on a two out steal of home by Capt. Brafman. “That is a new one for me,” Brafman said post game. “As with all of our wins this season this was a total team effort.” After overcoming some shakey defense in the first inning that led to 5 Team Solomon runs, Team Brafman as usual was led by Zach Mayer and Harry “Hood” Meisner in their comeback. Harry crushed a 3-run homer over the fence, then had a great double to drive in more runs later in the game. “The Special One” Mike Rothstein, Rick Lefton, Super Sub AJ Goldhoff and Gary Fisher also had big hits to help the team. On the mound Jimmy Lefton continued to find the fountain of youth by pitching a great game.
In the 7th inning give credit to Team Stu whose bats came alive with 1 out. It seemed like the entire lineup got hits to put them up by 5. But Team Brafman came roaring back in the bottom of the 7th with hits by Ricky, Fish, and the top of our order. With two outs and trailing by a run, Rothstein and Brafman had back to back singles which brought up sub Joel “Sparky” Fogel. He hit a single to RC that scored Rothstein and moved Brafman over to 3rd. It was at this time that Fogel took off for second and Brafman broke for home. When the throw from the catcher went to second, Brafman scored for the winning run. Team Brafman finishes the first half 6-2.
For the late games,Team AJ took on Team Simons. AJ for the winners:
In another crazy affair the Goons pull out the win against Team Simons 18-17.
We jumped on them early in the first few innings and built up a lead of 15-4 on the backs of pretty much everyone on the team. However, The Simons Squad clawed back with a couple big innings and ended up taking a late lead 17-15. Big contributors for them were David Wertheim with 5 hits, sub Dylan Smith with 3 hits including a Grand Slam over the fence, Eric Gammarino with 4 hits, Anthony Skrapitz with 4 hits, Stu Weinstein with 4 hits, and Zach Michelson with a sick diving grab in right.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jamey Drennan started us off with a triple (after stealing home twice on the day), sub Ben Charlton knocked him in, Ryan Small tripled and Ian Conwell sac flied him in. That gave us the lead and we closed it out in the 7th. This was again a team effort with Ben having 4 hits, and Jamey Drennan, Adam Cronstein, Griffin Harris and Me having 3 hits.
We look forward to opening the second half of the season on Wednesday against Team Groh.
Finally on field 3 Team Fogel beat Team Wagner 14-10
League Notes:
If you have seen Matt Miller’s dog, Wally, please call (513) 827-8906. He is loose and running around near Harper’s Point.
Condolences go out to David and Marc Wertheim on the death of Marc’s dad (David’s grandfather).
Also thanks to Marc for bringing Marx bagels to the game yesterday.
A happy birthday to Landon Krantz this week.
Do you all realize that the Reds have not won a series in which they lost the first game in over a year? They are also 1-9 in rubber games this season. And yet I am going to the game tonight.
And finally a speedy recovery to Linda “Julian Edelman” Rothstein who broke her shoulder catching a football thrown by Laurie Lefton after a day of fun last weekend. Get well soon.
See everyone Wednesday night as we start the second half of the season!
Marc