June 16 Recap
by Marc Brafman
Put me in coach I’m ready to play today…Look at me I could be Centerfield (or Left or Right Center). If you were like me, the great tune by John Fogerty was bouncing around my head all night last night. We almost forgot what it was like to play after a month off. It was nice to be out playing again and seeing everyone. As Jacob said to me last night, “The last time you played, Dad, I was still in school….”
On Field One it was Team Solomon vs. Team Brafman (Brafman won 6-5)
Team Brafman jumped on Team Solomon early with 3 runs in the bottom of the first. Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, Fink, “The Macho Man” Andrew Gage all had hits and Pat “Sunshine” Feldman drove in a run in his return to action after a year off. “It was nice to be back out playing again,” Feldman said. “This is the first time in 5+ years that I’ve had a hat on playing.” While most of us let our hair grow during COVID, Pat actually cut his hair, which resulted in him not losing his hat running a-la Johnathan India (Roger is very sad that Pat cut his hair for reasons that he’ll have to explain). Led by the stellar pitching of Mike Gray, Team Solomon kept Brafman off the board while they chipped away at the lead. Some heads up baserunning by Stu and a timely two-out double by Danny Gilbert brought the tying run home for Solomon. With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 7th, The “Spleen” of the order for team Brafman got the job done. Three straight singles by Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, Rick the Commish and Eric “the fastest player in the league” Zied brought up Zach “the Wildhorse” Zakem who’s hard-hit grounder was able to drive Hecht home with the winning run. The defense on both teams was outstanding all night. David BP Snyder made a nice throw for Solomon and Mike Gray fielded his position very well. For team Brafman Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg and Fink made the game saving play getting a force out at 3rd to end a Solomon threat. Alan “The Family Truckster” Lessure also made a nice catch moving all of 1 inch in short-short center. “The hardest part for me was waiting for the ball to come down,” Lessure said post game. “That ball was coming down slower than I run.”
A big tip of the JCC cap to prior league MVP Griff Harris who umped last night. Sure, he might have been seeing double or triple with his pre-game activities and the sun being in his face on field one, but in true JCC style he didn’t let it bother him. Good job, Griff, and thanks for the help.
Team Brafman improves to 5-1 on the season.
On field 2, we had Team Grefer vs. Team Loon. Grefer won 16-12.
Kyle checks in for the winning team:
Team Grefer defeated Team Loon 16-12 in an offensive showdown. Tyler Wolf led the team offensively with 4 hits. Dan Grefer, Scott Wolf, and Eddie Gallop were each on base 3 times and Eddie had a picture-perfect bunt hit to first base. Bob Pelberg, Wes Wolf, and Duff Wolf also each had some clutch hits. Wes Wolf played a great defensive shortstop, highlighted by a barehanded double play at second base. Our team did a great job of keeping the foot on the gas, after we scored 4 runs in the first inning. Team Loon kept chipping away and brought the game within two, but we were able to add on some runs late in the game which proved to be the difference.
On field 3, we had Team Groh vs. Team Schwartz.
Taylor chimes in for the winners:
After 5 weeks off, Team Schwartz returned to action against the team they last faced, Team Groh.
There were no signs of rust as Team Schwartz scored 5 in the top of the 1st, started by a solo homer by sub, Dee Harris. Adding 3 more in the 2nd, they jumped out to an 8-1 lead. Team Groh settled in as sub, Jimmy Lefton kept batters in check over the next few innings. The bottom of the lineup for Groh came up clutch and led a 5-run rally to cut the lead to 8-6. In the bottom of 4 now trailing 9-6, the Fogel family made history. Joel hit an inside the parker, followed by son, Jeremy, hitting his first career over the fence home run. He skipped around the bases in joy, and while rounding 3rd, shouted to his girlfriend in the stands “I love you babe! Couldn’t have done this without you.” He then turned to his equally proud sister Brook and stuck his tongue out, saying “I told you Mom and Dad like me better.” To make this father/son feat even more impressive -Mallory Lefton who was in the stands as well cheering on her Dad said this post game, “I had a feeling Jeremy was going to go back to back. You just got the feeling that there was magic in the air similar to my favorite baseball moment ever from Sept. 14, 1990, when Griffey Sr. and Jr. went back-to-back.” Jamey Kurtzer buckled down and pitched 3 scoreless innings to end the game. Team Schwartz scored 4 in the top of 6 to extend the lead to 12-8. Solid hitting, defense, and pitching throughout assisted them to a 12-9 final, leading the game wire to wire. One lesson to be learned: don’t intentionally walk Pete Soltesz.
Finally on Field 4, history was made for Team Kamrass as they played Team Weisser.
Micah reports the following:
Team Kamrass began its march to the second half title with an 11-0 win over Team Weisser. The game ball went to the wily veteran, Eppy, for pitching a shut out with no walks. After the game he said, “I had to adjust to the new ban on spider tack, but I was still able to command the ball well.” (More on this below)
Jared Kamrass celebrated his 30th birthday with some key hits including one over the left fielder’s head. Everyone on the team had key hits, and the defense played error free ball. First Baseman, Keith Kombrinck, battled a difficult sun to lead the infield, and all four outfielders (M. Kamrass, Silverman, Heldman, and Able) made nice plays.
“It feels good to be in first place in the standings,” said team captain, Micah Kamrass. “The first half didn’t go our way, but we will be dangerous in the second half.”
Roger checks in from the losing side:
The stars were aligned and all was well as STEVE “EPPY” EPPSTEIN pitched perhaps the best game of his storied career……an 11-0 shutout of
TEAM WEISSER….
He got ahead in the count, didn’t walk a batter and allowed a handful of hits. Add in the fact that his defense played flawlessly behind him in not committing an error the entire game…..a rare feat in this league.
“I don’t remember ever pitching a shutout in this league,” the veteran of many years (too many to count) said after the game.
“I credit the defense as they played great and DAVID SOLOMON who called a great game.” “I shook him off a few times. He wanted a change-up at times and I was fired up and thought my fastball was working too well,” EPPSTEIN added.
It should be noted his fastball reached DOUBLE digits on the radar gun.
“EPPY” also credited his workout regimen of five push-ups, six sit-ups and seven laps around his house as the reason for pitching such a gem. It should also be noted that David “Slim Shady” Wertheim ripped off his Mr. T gold necklaces after this game and tossed them into the woods by field 4. “These things bring me no luck,” he could be heard muttering post game.
So there you have it…….mark the date down…..JUNE 16, 2021…..STEVE EPPSTEIN SHOCKED THE WORLD by throwing a shutout!
League Notes:
It’s very impressive that Eppy tossed a 4-hit shutout but had history not intervened, it might have been a different story. Around 50 years ago, young Eppy was a traveling door to door salesman for the Encyclopedia Britannica and was trying to get people in Greenville, Mississippi to not only buy these but read them. To make matters more complicated he was being helped by a young Black man who Eppy was teaching how to sell these. After stopping at one house where they had a shot gun pulled on them and told to leave the house quickly, Eppy and friend were running away when the police showed up. Expecting to be helped and protected from the Jethro with the gun, instead Eppy was tossed into the slammer because he didn’t have his license to sell encyclopedias in the state of Mississippi. After a quick call to his lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, Eppy was released with the warning not to sell any books about learning in the fine state of Mississippi, thus relegating that state to last place year after year in the rankings of smartest states. So had Eppy not been released from jail for selling the encyclopedias, his shut out last night wouldn’t have happened (I believe Arlo Guthrie once sang about this as well).
It’s good to know that the IOC is thinking with their proper heads as the Summer Olympics start next month. 160,000, yes 160,000 condoms will be handed out to the athletes once they get to Japan. Interestingly, that is the same amount the Lefton brothers used during their college days at OSU.
It’s been so long since we all played. It’s nice to see all of you guys who have seniors that graduated from high school in the last month. Congrats to all of the kids and parents.
Speaking of parents, pretty Greg Leader’s son hit a homer in an important game for Mason. Like father like son, right?
I’m glad I was out of town for Jewish night at the Reds game. 17-3…ouch! What’s more impressive than the Phillies offense is that Sam “The Hitman” Hecht stayed for the entire game because, and I quote, “I thought the Reds had a comeback in them.”
Equally as impressive is how they have played since then. Although their bullpen still can’t find the strike zone half the time.
Speaking of Sam Hecht, it’s a shame that our games were rained out last week. Team Brafman was on a bye last week, but Sam didn’t realize that and would have shown up the field ready to play in full uniform with no team. Man, I wish I could have seen that.
For those of you that missed the Women’s College Softball World Series this year I highly recommend you catch it next year. We can all only hope to be half as good as those young ladies.
Big shout out to David D-Sol Solomon for becoming the new director at Rockdale Temple. He had a very nice write up in the Israelite, which had a slight profile on him: “David enjoys spending time with his family, donating blood, playing softball and making lanyards.” It got me thinking of this classic scene from Tommy Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWrjBBXjjhM. Start at the 28 second mark.
Remember, even though the event is this week, to donate to the Adams Classic. It’s a great event that helps the JCC all year.
Sweet Butter Bakery continues to churn out great products all week. Be sure to order it here: https://sweetbuttercincy.com/order-online
I think all captains next year need to head out to the over-65 year old softball league that Gary Grefer and Jerry Kirzner are playing in. Gary said there is a lot of untapped talent out there playing.
Finally, in Roger world-he reports that someone bought most of his “caps” and that he is dropping his new Shogo Bobbleheads price to the low, low price of $5. If this guy can’t get on the field for the Reds, he can’t sell for more than 5 bucks for me. But in a story that says a lot about Roger, he told us last night that one time he invited his entire softball team to come over for a post-game party and to look at and play with his electric train set. This was before Roger was married and when he was a captain in the league. The sad truth is that only one guy showed up.
Drink plenty of water next week boys..the double headers await.
See you on the field next week