The following is a report from last night’s title game…….
#1 SEED TEAM CRONSTEIN DEFEATED #3 SEED TEAM GUTTMAN, 9-8, IN COME-FROM-BEHIND FASHION……..(COURTESY OF ADAM CRONSTEIN (is it OK to put this in the Blog now?……private joke)…..
First off, it shoud be noted that captain BRANDON GUTTMAN was absent and in his place was MATT STEINBERG……
TEAM GUTTMAN jumped out to an early lead and added on as the game went along as STEINBERG crushed two home runs over the fence, while JUSTIN BERG, candidate for ROOKIE OF THE YEAR honors, belted a home run over the fence as well to help keep his team in the game…..
However, entering the bottom of the 7th inning, the #1 seed trailed by what seemed to be an insurmountable four run lead at 8-4…..
JEFF “FINK” FINKELSTEIN huddled the troops with a pep talk and the rest as they say is history………
BEN RODRIGUEZ had NO worries as he stated, “We were a coiled viper just waiting to strike.”
Strike they did in a BIG way!!!!!!
YITZI CREEGER led off with a line drive out, but what followed was an onslaught that wouldn’t stop…..RODRIGUEZ hit a liner to the second baseman (name withheld) who threw the ball over the first baseman’s head……..here was the BIG break that they needed and they took full advantage of it…….BRENT CARROLL gets a hit and MARK BLOOM followed with another hit…….to the top of the order they went…….
MICHAEL ASKIN doubles and now all of a sudden, they’re down by two runs with only one out and men at second and third with the meat of the order coming up……CRONSTEIN laces a hit to the outfield and ends up tying the game and standing on third base representing the winning run…….KEN GROH and BERG were intentionally walked to load the bases when FINKELSTEIN stepped up needing just a fly ball deep enough to score the winning run…….he hit a ball down the right field line and in foul territory the ball was caught, but deep enough for CRONSTEIN to waltz in for the winning run……….
Afterwards, observers stated that this was one of if not the best classic softball games in the history of the JCC annals……..
Again, CONGRATS to TEAM CRONSTEIN for winning the tournament and let’s not forget about the first half champions…..TEAM GUTTMAN and second half champions……TEAM LEFTON…..
TIDBITS…….
*RUMORS HAVE IT…….veterans JOHNNY BERG and GARY ASKIN may be retiring…..if so, they’ve been a part of the JCC league for a long time and have contributed a lot on and off the field……but a little birdie told me not to put too much stock into this…….STAY TUNED!
**A BIG thank you to all the sponsors, captains, umpires, JCC staff and most importantly players for making this an enjoyable year!
***THE BANQUET WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT A LATER DATE WHERE AWARDS WILL BE PRESENTED…….STAY TUNED…….
That is all………………..
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