Category: Game Results

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Game Results: September 23, 2019

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

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Game Results: September 12, 2019

Leader…13
H. Schwartz…8
By Marc Brafman
After starting off the season 0-4, Team Leader dominated the rest of the year winning 14 of their 15 culminating in a 13-8 win over Team Howie Wednesday night.  “I couldn’t be prouder of our Team.” Co-Capt. and Co-final game MVP Anton Loon said post game. I haven’t won a title in a long time and this one was special. I’d like to congratulate my co-MVP of the game Jamie “Maddux” Kurtzer for the way he pitched tonight and all season. He proved to everyone that soft tossers have their place in our league as well.
The game was close all night with Team Leader getting on the board first with an RBI single by Loon in the first and a JCC RBI by Harry “Hood” Meisner. Howard’s team came roaring back in the top of the 2nd when Nick “Don’t shoot me I’m the DePiano player” had an RBI single. With some shaky Leader defense and an RBI Single by Brian “No I am not Ken Griffey Jr.’s Agent” Goldberg, Team Howie grabbed a 3-2 lead.
Leader came right back in the bottom of the inning with a single by Mike Rothstein to tie it up at 3.
Not to be outdone in this back-and-forth game in the top of the 3rd after a long triple by Zach Swadner, Tyler “A-Rod” Stansbury clubbed a long two-run homer to put Howie back on top. “I’ve told this guy all year to hit a long single over the fence,” Mike “Flash” Creemer said in between innings, “and I’m glad that he continues to listen to me.”
It was at this point in the game that Rabbi Yitz decided he had seen enough and like the Blues Brothers before him told his team that they were on a mission from God. With a mighty blow of his shofar, similar to Elwood Blues on the harp, Team Leader knew that they were going to win.
After a scoreless bottom of the 3rd and a 4th inning highlighted by great pitching by Howie and a snow cone catch by Goldberg, who looked like Jr, the score remained 5-3 Red.
In the top of the 5th Goldberg had an RBI single, Swadner had a sac fly and DePiano continued his hot bat to drive in another run to make the score 8-4. But it didn’t last long.
In the bottom of the 5th, Leader’s team woke up. Anton hit a long 3-run homer to left-center field, and in a play straight out of the JCC playbook, Kurtzer plated two runs on an infield JCC “single” to give Leader a 9-8 lead. The lead was extended when, in front of his family (who claimed it was the first time they ever saw him get a hit), Eric “Mattingly” Goldstein ripped an RBI double to LF to make the score 10-8.
The score stayed 10-8 as Kurtzer continued to work his magic on the mound.
In the bottom of the 6th, Anton had another RBI single and Yitz with the power of the rams horn behind him singled in two more runs to make the score 13-8 and that was how it ended.
“I wish I could have given my team a better effort out there,” Howie said post game while eating a Triple Creek hot dog. Tonight just wasn’t my night, but I want to thank all of the guys on my team this year. We played great…just came up short tonight. (Editors note: you know it’s not your night when you are eating a Triple Creek hot dog after a game)
Team Capt. Greg  Leader who wasn’t at the game tonight because he was at announcer school for Sycamore High School football said, “Anton and I  would also like to thank all of the guys that played for us this  year except Marc Brafman and Brad Wagner who subbed for us in the only game in two months that we lost. Thanks for ruining our perfect second half, fellas.”
League Notes:
Gig Franklin explained how at age 69 he still dominates and hits over .400 in his over-60 hard ball league. It’s very easy he said. If you can hit the ball in the air and run somewhat quickly you have a shot at a double. For example, no one can lift their head on a pop up. The ball falls on the ground no one can pick it up, if they can pick it up they will rush the throw and it ends up out of play. That is how I hit .400 each year.
One day I hope that Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you has a son who whines as much as he does. Raise your hand league if you think that Taylor is solid #1 ranked player. You see Taylor, you aren’t going to win this one.
On another Taylor note it was nice of him to come out and cheer on his roommate and best buddy, Leon “The Bull” Seserman, tonight. All night Taylor would film every move that Leon made just waiting for the proper time for him to do something memorable. That time came during the game when after a single Leon rounded first and promptly fell right on his face. No 15-year old girl seeing the Jonas Brothers could have sent out a text faster than Taylor did to his group of friends sharing the video. (As Marty B would say, “Ain’t Love Grand?” between those two)
In the coming years I would suggest all of you who are in Survivor pools for the NFL get with Mike “The Greek” Margolis who a couple of years won one outright. I’ll let him tell you how much he won but let’s just say he could buy a small share of the Reds with his winnings.
A belated shout out to all of the guys that made the ASG this year. If you want to come out for a fun night the game is next Sunday at 6 at Roselawn Park.
Speaking of All Stars our league has some All-Star Hair. Pat “Sunshine” Feldman, Rafi “Baby Beluga” Goldfarb, and Tyler “A Rod” Stansbury lead the way, but two guys that are underrated when it comes to hair are Mike “Flash” Creemer and Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris. I vote that we have a special award for best hair at the banquet.
Happy first anniversary to Zach Mayer, 13th anniversary to Pat Feldman, 10th anniversary to Eric Gruen and 27th to Roger Rosenthal (How does Carol do it???). Behind every successful softball player is a wife at home wondering why we spend so much time talking about JCC Softball.
It’s been a great 75th season guys and I hope that everyone comes back again next year healthy and ready!