On a pictures-perfect Wednesday evening, we had two games with drastically different meanings played. On Field 2 it was the battle for the regular season championship, while on Field 4 it was the play-in game which Micah Kamrass called the “worst combined record play-in game in history.”
With that set up let’s go to Field 2 first where Team Wagner took on Team Grefer for the regular season title:
Brad for the winners:
Team Wagner clinched the first trophy of the 2024 JCC Softball season by taking down Team Grefer 26-25 in a back-and-forth offensive nailbiter. Grefer scored four in the top of the first, but Team Wagner battled back with six in the bottom with some help from Super Sub Jeremy Fogel, who cleared the RCF fence for a 3-run homer. Wagner kept adding to the lead with hits from Michael Askin, Daniel and Zac Hiudt, Brad Wagner, Mark Levine, Landon Hawkins, Corey Norris, and Sub Scott “Dawg’s” Friend. With a 17-8 lead, Grefer battled back to get within two at 17-15. A few innings later, Team Wagner added a few more runs, including a Brad Wagner two-run homer over the LF fence—his first career HR.
With the score 22-18 going into the seventh, Team Grefer turned on their super-secret powers and put up a seven on the scoreboard with big hits from Dan Grefer, Zach Mayer, Ryan Silverman, Kyle Grefer, and Oren Shmoel. Landon Hawkins led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, followed by hits from Jeremy Fogel, Scott Friend, and Corey Norris. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Daniel Hiudt hit the walk-off two-run single to win it for Team Graphite.
“It was a great team win, and our bats were able to overcome some defensive miscues,” Captain Wagner told the one and only reporter after the game.
Team Wagner opens up the tournament on Sunday vs. Team Brafman on Field 4 with Wednesday Addams and Cousin Itt on the call.
Team Grefer takes on Team Harris on Sunday on Field 2 with Tupac and Biggie on the call.
And on Field 4 It was Team Kamrass vs. Team Buttermaker (Brafman)
For the first time all season, Marc for the winners.
It was bound to happen at some point as Team Brafman finally got their first win of the season by beating Team Kamrass 13-3. Harry “Hood” Meisner last week set the tone by saying “everyone starts 0-0 and this is our time” and for once Team Brafman delivered. A 6-run first inning capped off by a 3-run moon-shot homer by Meisner started the day for Brafman. After a solo homer by Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury in the bottom of the first, Team Brafman got right back at it. After a leadoff walk by Captain Brafman, Eric “the Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen hit his first career homer, a line drive shot to the LF fence.
In the top of the 5th, Team Brafman continued to add to their lead with 3 two-out runs. Jamey “Smokin” Drennan and Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot got on and Meisner hit a JCC homer to RF to put Team Brafman up 13-1.
In the bottom of the 5th some fancy defense by Cam “Bearcat” Kirzner and Steve Shapiro led the way for the first win of the season for Team Brafman 13-3.
A tip of the cap to both Eriz “Spuds” Zied and Eppy for keeping Team Kamrass off the scoreboard and for Steve “Z” for lending a hand catching. Jerry “Doc” Kirzner and David “The Dr. of Style” Weil also helped both in the field and at the plate.
“We look forward to building off this momentum and playing League Champ Team Wagner on Sunday,” Brafman said post game. This game gives us the confidence we need to compete with them on Sunday.
Reminder that the first round of the post season tournament starts this Sunday at 9:30.
League notes
Happy birthdays this week to Ryan “the One Man Gang” Marcus and former player Drew “Kung Fu” Brown.
Please remember to sign up for the Oy Vey 5K this week.
Let’s hope that the Reds front office doesn’t use the excuse that they had a lot of injuries to not go out and address the teams hitting needs. I’ll grant them that the starting pitching and even the bullpen for the most part has been pretty good this year, but man the hitting stinks. If they think getting Matt McClain, a guy who won’t have played for almost a year and a half, CES and the Candy Man back will make this team a playoff contender then we really need to look at who is in charge. As Brad and I talked about this week, if they actually cared about winning THAT would be a nice change of pace.
You know my love for the older guys in the league and how it makes our league so special. After the game on Wednesday, I hustled down to Riverbend to see a couple of REALLY old guys who are still playing nightly. 83-year old Bob Dylan (who was fair) and 91-year Willie Nelson, who was better, put on a good show. Watching these guys play it really is amazing that they are still out there entertaining, and that they can still get it done (mostly).
See everyone on Sunday