August 30 Recap
By Marc Brafman
A great Sunday morning for softball as teams were in action yesterday.
On Field One
Keith Kombrinck checks in for Team Loon: Beautiful 70-degree weather promised a comfortable setting for Team Loon vs. Team Schwartz. Home team Loon scored in the bottom of the first with hitting from the top of the lineup, Jeff Finklestein, Anton Loon, Mark Tenenholtz, and Matt Brodof. Team Schwartz stormed back with singles up the middle and carefully placed hits to right field. Randy Broyles was on his game as he had Team Loon’s bottom of the lineup hitters popping up and grounding out but couldn’t contain Loon’s big boppers. Gappers by Anton and Brodof plated runs. Team Schwartz kept getting hits, but SS Jeff Finkelstein and 3B Brodof played great defense as they turned three double plays to snuff out rallies. Kudos to Ben Rodriquez in RF for Team Schwartz as he dove for a sinking liner. Couldn’t make the catch, but great effort. Going into the top of the seventh, Loon’s Kombrinck was surprised to learn from Brodof that Team Loon was winning 10-7 instead of down 10-7. “Pay attention to the game, Keith!” All was well for Team Loon in the 7th as Jamey Kurtzer retired the side in order which included a nice play by the veteran pitcher on a bunt attempt to end the game. Team Loon improves to 2-2 in the 2nd half, and 7-3 overall.
Taylor chimes in for his team:
Team Schwartz was shorthanded and played with 9. It was a weird game for Schwartz with 3 outs coming from base running mistakes and 3 non-traditional double plays on hard hit balls. Team Loon got out to a 4-0 lead in the first and 7-2 lead in the fourth. The top of the order led the way for Loon, while Randy Broyles pitched a solid game and shut down the remainder of the lineup. Team Schwartz plated 5 in the top of the 5th to tie the game. The key hit was a 2-run homer by Adam Cronstein. Loon added a few more runs off solo shots by Anton and Mitchell “second-leadoff” Evans to regain the lead and eventually win 10-7. Mark Tenenholtz broke his streak of 2 games with 2 home runs over the fence against Team Schwartz. However, he did have an overly dramatic, unnecessary diving catch. “You didn’t fool anyone, Mark.” Team Schwartz had too many spirits on Saturday night and ultimately that is the reason for their sloppy play on Sunday.
On Field 3 it was another comeback win for Team Brafman as they outlasted Team Lefton 16-15 (or something like that)
“A couple of weeks ago Team Lefton beat us 14-2 in a game that wasn’t even that close, so today’s win was a nice comeback,” Brafman said. “This game was back and forth from the start. Team Brafman would take the lead only to have Lefton come back and then they would take the lead and we’d come back.” Going to the top of the 7th Lefton had a one run lead after a nice 3-run inning led by the top of their order. But back came Team Brafman who tied the game on a sac fly from Brandon “The Bird” Wolf and then took it with a big two-run single by sub Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum. The score for Brafman might have been bigger if not for the amazing defense by Brandon Guttman in LC, Gary “Fish” Fisher at 2nd, Jimmy Lefton at first and Eppy, who took one of the hardest balls I’ve ever seen hit off his leg, but he was able to recover to get the Speedy Mike “Flash” Creemer coming home.
In the bottom of the 7th Lefton came off the mat to once again tie the score on a two-run single by Mike Rothstein leading to the 2nd extra innings game of the season for Brafman. A bases loaded walk drove in the go ahead run.
In the bottom of the 8th Lefton was able to advance the tying run to third but that was as far as he got as Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot made a fine running catch on a LOOOONG fly ball hit by Jonathan Sussman to end the game.
Team Brafman was led by Tyler “the Big Bad” Wolf who hit a grand slam, sub Ken Groh who had a couple of hits and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley who I believe went 5-5. Buckley also, for the second game in a row, took a hard grounder off his body; he might be the first JCC player to wear catcher’s gear in the field.
Team Brafman improves to 4-1 in the second half and 6-5 overall. With a bye this week they look to win a share of the 2nd half when they play current first place team Groh in two weeks. Lefton falls to 0-4 in the second half.
Finally, on Field 4 Team Weisser defeated Team Fogel 6-5. Weisser was led by Josh Rosen (not the QB) who homered and Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner who had a triple and at least 10 putouts at 3rd. “We barely hung on there in the 7th,” Weisser said post game. “It was my kind of game, though. It was over quickly and both teams played well. I would also like to report that my dog, Muffet, didn’t get away from me today.”
League notes:
Congrats to two members of Team Brafman, Tyler Wolf and Joel Buckley, for buying new houses.
Congrats to former catcher Brian “Yogi” Monk on the bar mitzvah of his son, Joey, over the weekend. It’s very strange to watch a bar mitzvah from someone’s house, but he did a great job
Well done by Jacob “Orthodontist of the Stars” Stadiem for stepping up and being one of the sponsors of the JCC kids swimming program.
On a personal note, if you guys or your family love Jewish baked goods, make sure you hop over to Jungle Jim’s and ask for baked goods by Erica. Not only is she my sister-in-law, but man she makes a mean challah.
Let’s congratulate Roger on his wedding anniversary this past week. Roger was lucky that with the pandemic he couldn’t take his wife out to a nice dinner, but because he is a nice guy he did let her get the biggie fry when he took through the drive through window at McDonalds. “Nothing is too good for my bride.”
See ya Wednesday. Mask up!