Month: August 2020

 

August 9 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

The morning was hot and so was the action on the field. As Ernie Banks used to say “Let’s Play Two” on Sunday at Triple Creek.

 

It was a tale of 3 teams as both Lefton and Loon swept their action on Sunday while Team Brafman was on the other end of the spectrum by being swept. Let’s go to the action.

 

On Field 1, Team Lefton ended the first half at 4-2. In game one they beat a depleted Team Fogel 14-4. Lefton was led by super Sub Alex “Earl Bruce” Lefton who went 7-8 for the day. “We hit up and down our order for the second game in a row, and even with a shorter game scoring 14 runs is a lot. I Was really proud of the effort we gave,” Captain Jimmy Lefton said. In game two, Team Lefton beat Team Weisser in a back and forth game 9-8. With the score tied in the bottom of the fifth Rookie of the Year Candidate Jacob Zeidenstein hit a walk off single for the win. “Man, I’m just excited to help the team,” JZ said post game. “I haven’t been this pumped about anything since Grace Lefton invited me over to one of Rick’s selfie stations that he had set up at their house this summer. I know that it’s important to not only play well but look good when you play on Lefton so that game winning single really helped my profile.”  

 

On Field 3, it was a tough day for Team Brafman who lost in walk off fashion to Team Schwartz in game one 11-10, and then lost another tough game to Team Fogel 11-8 in the second game. In the first game it was back and forth all game as Schwartz was led on offense by Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you and Randy “Tex” Broyles who each had 3 singles. Not to be overlooked was the hitting of Eric “Jeter” Goldstein who had a couple of knocks and got on base with a walk. The game took a turn in the top of the 4th when Sam “The Hitman” Hecht had a huge two-run single to put Brafman up by a run. In the top of the 5th Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot then hit a two-run homer for Brafman to put them up 3 going to the bottom of the 5th. That is when Team Schwartz mounted a comeback. 

With one out Goldstein walked, Schwartz singled and Cronstein walked. After a Broyles fielder’s choice, Harry “Hood” Meisner was walked intentionally by Capt. Brafman to load the bases and set up the force out. That move backfired when Corey Schwartz smoked a game winning single up the middle scoring the go-ahead run from first. “That move showed so much disrespect for my brother. I don’t know what Brafman was thinking,” an elated Taylor said post game. “I haven’t been this excited since Leon brought me my favorite PB&J Sandwich with the crust off just how I like it when we lived together. What a great win for our team.”  “I now know how David Bell feels,” a dejected Brafman said post game. “If Corey had made an out, I would have looked like Sparky Anderson. Instead he made me look like Vern Rapp.”

 

In game two on Field 3, Team Fogel, with Ken Groh subbing as pitcher, held Brafman in check to win 11-8. Fogel once again beat Brafman with death by a 1000 paper cuts approach on offense when the top of his order led by Mark Simons, Ken Groh, and Adam Knecht each had multiple hits. It was a back-and-forth game until the top of the 3rd when Fogel once again got multiple runs with singles and well-placed balls led by Eddie Gallop who capped off the inning with a single and scored on a couple of hits. Brafman showed the fighting spirit they have shown all season battling back to put the winning run at the plate, but Groh was able to snuff out the late rally. 

 

Finally, over on Field 4 Team Loon relied on great defense and crafty veteran Jamey Kurtzer to sweep the DH and move to a league best 4-1. In Game 1 vs Team Groh, the offense was led by Shorty Adams and professional hitter, Keith Kombrinck. Defensively, Fink was a vacuum at SS all day and seemed inspired to play in front of his wife and two kids.

 

In game 2 vs Team Schwartz, Mark Tenenholtz took matters into his own hands with 2 HRs (over the fence). The first was a 2-run bomb, and the second was a Grand Slam which gave Team Loon some breathing room in a 12-6 victory. Mark also added a couple of diving catches to snuff out rallies and Jamey did the rest. “I have to stick up for Big Blue Nation,” Tenenholtz said post game. “Sure, our football coaches called out Big Brother OSU on a coaches conference call for cheating, and sure our best point guard couldn’t get out of town fast enough to transfer UC, so someone has to stand up for Michigan Sports, and today that guy was ME!” 

 

With the sweep, Team Loon clinches the first half of the season with their record currently standing at 4-1.

 

See you all on Wednesday!

 

August 5 Recap

By Marc Brafman

It was another great night of softball action last night. Let’s get right to the action:

Team Fogel got back on the winning side of things evening its record to 2-2.  Mike Gray was masterful hitting his spots all night and the offense was led by Jeremy Fogel, who was a home run shy of the cycle.  Subs Gary Grefer and Randy Broyles both produced in a big way and the team defense was solid.  Both father and son Gallop had huge bunts. When you think of all the great father/son combo’s in baseball history (Bonds, Griffey, Bell) the Gallop name should be right there with them.  All that work in the instructional league has paid off.  Final score was Fogel 8 Loon 4  

Meanwhile, Ken Groh got his team back on the winning side last night as well.

Team Weisser started the scoring early as Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris had an RBI triple to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the 1st Groh, Anslinger and Ryan Baum had consecutive two-out hits to put the home team up 3-1. Gig and Mark Franklin started off the 2nd with hits and Swadner, Soltesz, Stansbury and Sam Castellini all drove in runs to up the lead to 7-2. Baum 3-3 Kahn 2-2 and Depiano 2-3 all scored in the 3rd as the lead swelled to 10-2 after 3 innings. Both teams scored solo runs the rest of the way as Tyler Stansbury came in to close the game out in the 7th for the 13-6 win. Coach Groh was pleased as 8 players had multiple hits and 9 guys drove in runs. Swadner, Stansbury and Kahn led the defense as Soltesz and Baum paced the offense.   

Finally, on Field 4 Team Lefton laid the wood to Team Brafman 14-1. If there was ever a softball game with a score of 14-1 that wasn’t even that close it was last night. Lefton scored all those runs without the benefit of more than 1 extra base hit. Using the old Wee Willy Keeler line of “hitting them where they ain’t, Lefton was paced by rookie leadoff man Jacob Zeidenstein, sub Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you and pretty much the rest of their lineup who hit the ball to all fields. “We had our hitting shoes on tonight,” Lefton said post game. “We showed patience at the plate and really put good ‘wood’ on the ball all night. When your entire team hits the ball it makes it easy to pitch.” Jimmy kept the normally potent Team Brafman offense in check all night as he cruised through the game with very few hard-hit balls. “I could have caught Jimmy in a rocking chair,” Rick Lefton commented. “Whatever sign I put down he hit his spots and it was an easy night for me.” “Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team,” dejected and frustrated Brafman said post game. “We will come back on Sunday and get back at it.” Team Brafman did make a couple of nice plays in the field with “The Hitman” Sam Hecht and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem making nice plays at 2nd and Jacob “Hallelujah” Buckley continuing his gold glove work at 3rd. Lefton improves to 2-2 on the season while Brafman falls to 2-2.

League Notes:

Not only did Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel almost hit for the cycle but Brooke Fogel is now doing modeling here in town. I couldn’t be prouder of my kids Sparky said post game.

Leave it to Mr. Selfie, Rick Lefton, to already find his cutout picture down at GABP. “When I heard about this, I knew it was for me,” Lefton said. “I have what 8-9 kids at home (I lose count) and combined none of them take as many selfies as I do, so it was only natural that I put my mug on one of the seats.” 

Ken Groh is taking his life into his own hands this weekend by venturing up to Columbus to help with Jason “The Mad Hungarian” Faust and his recovery efforts. “I’ve been told that Jason needs daily sponge baths and I’m only too happy to provide the loving care and touch that he will need.” (All kidding aside, it’s a great thing that Ken is doing and Jason is on the mend and getting stronger every day)

The future of the league is in good hands as Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum and Bryce Anslinger joined the long list of dads in the league that are coaching their sons in little league. Let’s hope that in 15 years we are all still playing to see the next wave of sons and dads playing together 

This week I caught up with Aaron “Straight Outta” Compton to check in and see what he has been up to. Since last season Aaron had knee surgery on his other knee and is feeling good. He’s been spending time with his family and misses being out on the field. Hopefully we’ll see Aaron back on the diamond next season.

You know you have a good brother-in-law (Sam Hecht) when he texts you on Monday to inform you that Summer Slam 1992 was on Fox Sports 1. Who doesn’t want to re-watch the Ultimate Warrior take on Randy Savage? 

In this week’s installment of What has Roger Learned since he isn’t playing softball and keeping with the wrestling theme-Being the huge WW(E)F wrestling fan that I am, I found it interesting that Angelo Poffo the father of both Randy” Macho Man Savage and “The Genius” Leapin’ Lanny Poffo once held the sit up record.  In 1945, [1] He completed 6,033 sit-ups in four hours and ten minutes. According to his son Lanny, after 6,000 sit-ups he did 33 more, one for each year of Jesus Christ‘s life. “I wish the WWE Would do a three-headed bobblehead to showcase these amazing athletes,” Roger said. (FYI…I do have a couple of Jesus bobble heads if anyone is interested) 

Finally, I think we ALL owe a big JCC softball tip of the cap to the Commish Rick Tenenholtz for all the hard work he’s put into this crazy season. If all goes well, we will soon finish the first half of the season safely and with minimal interruption and it’s in no small part to his leadership. 

See everyone bright and early on Sunday. Stay safe!