FRED RABOFF MEMORIAL ALL-STAR GAME RECAP!!!!!
By Marc Brafman….sports editor in waiting……
On a great night for softball the 75th season of the JCC softball league came to a close as Team Rothstein beat Team Weil, 12-9, in the Fred Raboff Memorial All-Star Game.
It was a close game throughout as David “The Doctor of Style” Weil kept his team primed for the upset all night. “I know that a lot of people questioned my team selection,” Weil said, “but I knew what I wanted and our team kept it close.”
The game started off with back to singles by Dan Gilbert and Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel and another hit by Adam “Real American” Cronstein, and just like that Weil was on the board.
Rafa Goldfarb drove in a couple of runs for Team Weil to put them ahead in the top of the 3rd. (Rafi, it should be noted, won second best hair in the league to Pat Feldman, although Mike Creemer and Jeff Weisbrot might argue)
In the bottom of the first, team Rothstein came back to tie it with a couple of hits by Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris, and Tyler “BH” Stansbury.
The game stayed close with some fine defense on both sides of the ball by Fogel, Fink, and Michael Askin on Weil’s team and by Zach Mayer, Randy “The Big Kahuna” Broyles and Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz, who had two perfect relay throws to the plate in back-to-back innings to keep Weil off the board…..
“Don’t those guys know not to run on my cannon of an arm?” Mayer said post game. “I’ve only been in the league for 10+ years. You’d think by now they would know of my great arm strength.”
Not to be forgotten was the diving try by Ken Groh on a pop foul that resulted in him hurting his thumb (hope it’s ok Ken). Don’t tell these guys that the game didn’t matter.
On offense, for the most part, all of the pitchers kept the game close. Jamie Kurtzer, Mike Gray, and Randy Broyles for Team Rothstein, Jimmy Lefton, and Ken Groh for Weil. Two huge strike outs by Jimmy including one with the bases loaded were key in the middle innings.
Team Rothstein finally put the game away in the bottom of the 5th when Tyler “BH” Stansbury led off with a single. Weston “Hungry like a” Wolf also singled and both were driven in by Jeff Weisbrot’s 3-run JCC homer on a ball that “Handsome” Sam Castellini almost made a shoestring catch on. After another double by Pat “Sunshine” Feldman, game MVP Randy “The Big Kanhuna” Broyles had an RBI double to put Rothstein’s team up for good.
Jamie Kurtzer continued his stellar season with a 1-2-3 top of the 6th and Mike Gray, who picked Enter Sandman as his walk-up music, proved to be just like Mariano Rivera and closed the game out for Team Rothstein.
As mentioned, Randy Broyles won the game MVP for his hitting, pitching and defense. He played P, 2nd and 3rd and handled each spot with ease….
“I’m honored to be the MVP of the game. I wish the JCC would have a winter league since I can’t wait till next April to get back out on the field.” I’m sure all of us agree.
A HUGE Thank you to game announcers Joel Fogel and Greg Leader and spotted Scott Wolf who provided insight and color commentary that was second to none. Some memorable lines included that the Commissionership of Brad Wagner was like the “Trump Years” of JCC softball. They reminded everyone that Harry Meisner would be teaching a jazzercize class after the game. After swinging and missing a strike by at least a foot and half Marc Brafman was told that his son hadn’t ever seen him get a hit and that Mark Simons always played fundamentally sound until he tried to score from 3rd and ended up sliding into home and coming up short by about 4 feet.
Thanks to Mike “Flash” Creemer for providing all of the food. Gary “Hey everybody it’s Enrico Pallazzo” Grefer, Dee Harris, Dr. Bob Pelberg, and Jerry “Doc” Kirzner called a great game as the umps (minus a called third strike on Mark Tenenholtz that he would have needed a surf board to hit).
A special thank you to DJ Curly Jacob Brafman who was the DJ for the game and helped with the music all evening.
Finally, a big shout out to Rick “The Commish” Tenenholtz, who for the past two years has done an outstanding job running the league. It’s a thankless job and we all wanted to thank Rick for a great season, Post season and ASG.
See everyone at the banquet in November.
Marc
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS CAN BE SENT TO ME AT….r.rosenthal1955@yahoo.com
