July 29 Recap
By Marc Brafman
It was another hot one of the fields last night and the action wasn’t bad either. Once again, some upsets and close games. Let’s get to the recaps.
Taylor leads off as his team took down Team Loon on Field 1
Team Schwartz battled Team Loon on Field #1 as both captains sat out due to the “Twisties.”
Both teams scored 2 in the first inning. Team Loon took the lead after scoring 3 runs with 2 outs. The score held until the bottom of 4, when Mark Franklin (making his season debut) came up to bat with 2 outs and the bases loaded and BLASTED a massive triple over the outfielder’s head, giving Team Schwartz a 7-5 lead. The middle infield of Ben Rodriguez (returning from a firework injury) and sub, David Wertheim, made multiple nice plays but the defensive star was Corey Norris who made two incredible grabs in the same half inning. Mike Rothstein was 3-4 at the dish but league favorite, Pete Soltesz, led the offense going 4-4 with 2 should-be triples (he only got a double on one of them because he thought it was a home run so he walked to first). Schwartz led 12-7 going into the top of the 7th, but Team Loon wouldn’t quit. They strung together 7 consecutive hits to tie the game 12-12, but Jamey Kurtzer hung in there and didn’t surrender the lead. In the bottom of 7, trying to avoid extra innings in consecutive games, Brian Monk got a hit to start the frame. The offense moved him to 3rd and with 1 out Eric Goldstein came up to play hero, and delivered as Monk slid under the throw at the plate to give Team Schwartz back to back walk-off wins.
After the game, offensive star Pete Soltesz had this to say: “I know I may be the least liked guy in the league, but I’m the hottest hitter in the entire world right now. And I have to give thanks to Coach Taylor because he is such a nice person and he believes in me.”
Note: David and Pete did not make up, but they were able to coexist and bring home the win.
Over on field 2, it was Team Solomon vs. Team Kamrass
Stu reports the following:
Big win for Team Solomon last night 10-2.
One of our most stellar defensive efforts. Tyler Stansbury was all over the field. He had two unassisted double plays and a great diving stab and flip to second on a grounder up the middle. Our team had a 9 to 2 to 6 double play. Stuart caught a fly ball to RCF. The runner on third tagged and he beat the throw. The runner on first tried to go to second on the throw home and Andy Gollin gunned him down at 2nd.
On the offensive side, another strong performance by Tyler going 2-4. Moving up in the line-up was Zander Wold going 2-4 with a few RBIs.
We will briefly touch on the fact that Kamrass only had 9 and were missing their two top hitters.
On field three it was a titanic struggle as Team Lefton battled Team Brafman
Jimmy’s ghost writer weighs in:
In a game that wasn’t without drama Team Lefton held on to beat Team Brafman 9-7. In what was an interesting offensive night for Team Lefton they never got huge hits or a lot of extra base hits but came up with big hits when they needed them. “The other” Brian Goldberg came up with a couple of big knocks to drive in runs and Jimmy dinked and dunked himself to a couple of hits. The Human Rain Delay, Brad Wagner, had a few knocks and was also smart on the base paths for the visitors. Griff Harris, while not contributing his normal 4-4 night, played a stellar SS and Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend made two nice catches in LC.
On Team Brafman side Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz went Joey Bangs Votto on a ball in the bottom of the first for his second over the fence homer in as many games. Alan “The Family Truckster” Lessure also had a nice hit and the Commish Rick T legged out a couple of infield singles. Capt. Lefton explained his controversial move moving Grif from LC to SS. “Nothing against Dee but his range is that of Barry Larkin, NOW, so we moved Grif in and boom we won.”
Finally in one of the biggest upsets in recent JCC softball history Team Groh took down the mighty Team Grefer on field 4
Ken reports:
All we can say is JCC softball – the hottest team vs the coldest team and Team Groh just found the answer and his name was Roger Rosenthal. After contacting 38 players and only having 8 I turned to the legend in his own mind to come to the rescue. Roger Rosenthal did his thing. He talked and talked and talked and must have just thrown the Grefers mojo! After both Fogels scored in the top of the 1st, out came Roger to the mound to make his first appearance since the late 2000’s. Yes, he was stalking the mound and muttering after walking guys. He fooled Kyle, but the bloop double drove in 2. He would later score as Grefer took a 3-2 lead, but a double play got him out of the inning. The mound was irked by Roger’s presence and Howie, the 30x pitcher of the year, got wild and looked more like the Mad Hungarian than his normal Randy Johnson self and Team Groh got a big base clearing double from Ryan Baum. Bryce Anslinger, Zach Michelson and David Weil each had 2 hits in the game and Groh scored 7 to take a 9-3 lead. Roger opened the 2nd with 7 straight balls and was pulled for Groh but he delivered as only Roger could. The 3rd ended with a Roger playing 3rd base turning a double play with Zach and Todd. Joel, Jeremy, Groh and Baum each had at least 3 hits and Baum had 2 doubles and a 3-run homer to be named player of the game awards as he batted cleanup. Our backs were against the wall and we were focused and played hard and of course we had the Roger factor.
(It should be noted that in back-to-back weeks Groh has had both Roger and Faust as subs. There might be a mutiny on his team next week if he keeps this up).
League notes
I forgot to mention this last week but in back-to-back Reds games I caught a foul ball (ok I ducked the ball hit the wall behind me and I picked it up) and then the next night Ryan “Hi Ho” Silverman while sitting with Gary Grefer, Rick Tenenholtz and Jerry Kirzner also caught one while holding a beer in his other hand. Some say it was the best catch Ryan has made in years.
Speaking of Reds games, it’s amazing that GABP is still standing after the bachelor party that D-Sol and his friends had a few weeks ago. Lucky for us, Rick “Mr. Selfie” Lefton was at the party and filmed it. Here is a clip from that night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ_Q2DNmvoo
It’s always nice to see guys out and about off the field. Stu Solomon was spotted at the Montgomery Pool over the weekend. While it was nice to catch up with Stu I believe his lovely wife, Kate, was not so happy with Stu talking to me and Scott Friend while she had to chase after their two young kids. Keep an eye open, Stu. Come on, man! (I also believe she called him Stuart. That is never good)
Congrats to Riley “the Big Man” Able and his wife who are expecting their first baby next year
Taylor touched on this above, but last week Anton played a doubleheader then drove to Chicago that night. That is dedication.
Jason “The Mad Hungarian” Faust is back on Facebook and for those of you who aren’t friends with him, his posts read a little bit like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndv1UfKIluw
Don’t be surprised if Z becomes the foremost JCC softball authority on ballet dancing as his son is currently dating a woman who is a professional dancer.
It warms the heart to know that Eppy still calls his family after every game to give them the rundowns on the games. (Personally, I think it’s they make him check in to make sure he is still alive)
Roger mentioned it earlier in the week, but a very cool article in the Israelite about David “The Dr. of Style” Weil’s dad who was a very good handball player, and who still plays a couple of days a week even into his 80’s. Check it out.
Last night we were debating on our bench about Simone Biles and if this happened to a man what would the reaction be. Well, we have an example of that when a few years ago after his dad died, Joey Votto had to take some time off. Kudos for her for knowing what was best for her and not worrying about what the rest of us think. Plus, if I’m doing flips and tumbles that could kill me if I land on my head, I want to be in the best mental place I could be.
Finally, we would remiss if we didn’t discuss this week in Reds baseball. First, I guess we have to give them their due on getting a couple of relief pitchers in trades. If it means we don’t have to watch Perez, Garcia and Hendrix the rest of this week, I’m good with it. But imagine if they had kept Archie Bradley from the start of the season. Who knows how many games they could have won? And for Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn who said 4 years ago that Votto was washed up, I think the last month+ has shown that it might be a little early to close the book on him. 8 homers in 6 games and he is even making good plays in the field. Let’s hope with the DH coming to the NL next year the Reds can move him out of the field and save his legs a little. On top of his play on the field, his post-game interviews are always top notch. While he might not be the greatest clutch hitter in Reds history, he is the best player anyone under the age of 45 has seen with the Reds, and I hope for all of our sakes he can keep it going and that the Reds will put a team around him worthy of his play.
Roger wanted me to tell all of you that he is starting to collect any old Cleveland Indians stuff in anticipation of a run on it when they change to the Guardians next year. So, if you have any Albert Belle, Corey Schneider or Len Barker things laying around, get them over to Roger ASAP.