JCC Softball Cincinnati

With all the rain on Wednesdays this second half of the season (and dubious rainouts), it was nice we finally got the second half of the season over with. Thanks everyone once again for making this another great regular season and to the Commish for getting all of the games in. It’s not easy, we all know that. 

Now onto the action. 

In the early games Team Simons shocked the softball world by taking down mighty Team AJ.

Marc for the winners:

Team Simons beat team Goldhoff in a bit of a head scratcher on a hot Sunday morning. The game was tight until Griff broke it open with a Grand Slam putting team Goldhoff firmly ahead with a 12-7 lead late. Team Simons had some choices to make so they slowly started grinding its gears because hey, lets face it, we aren’t exactly demons on the basepaths. It wasn’t the 4th of July, but a hit parade began and did not stop until 10 runs crossed the plate. Team Simons did not let another run score, winning the game 17-12. 

Team Simons plays Team Wagner in the Play-in game while Team AJ plays the winner of the play in game as the #1 seed

On the Field 2 it was Team Wagner vs. Team Fogel

Keith Kombrinck here reporting on Team Fogel win #7 with a 9 – 7 win over Team Wagner.
Team Fogel had to play with its regular players while Team Wagner was missing their pitcher Corey Norris, Matt Leader, and Eric Zied.
My recall of the game is very shaky, but Jamey helped with an email. I think Brad Gallop began the scoring in the first with a solid single. Jeremy Fogel followed with a line-drive double. Ryan Baum followed with a hit, and we scored 3 in the first.

Team Wagner came back with hits by Steve Zawatsky, Anton Loon, and sub Marc Brafman, to score two in the top of the second.

The middle innings were a back-and-forth affair that included some fine defense. The lefty
playing 3rd for Team Wagner made some nice catches and throws, and he included a ricochet off his glove right to Joel Buckley at shortstop who then threw the runner out at 1st. The Team Fogel fielding highlight came when Brad Gallop playing 2nd base chased down a bloop hit down the 1st base line and threw a strike to 2nd base to cut down the runner going to 2nd . Nice catch and tag, Nick O’Brien. Jeremy Fogel and Josh Rosen were chasing down balls in the outfield, and Joel Fogel was making the plays at 3rd base.

The big inning for Team Fogel came in the bottom of the 6th when trailing 7-6. Brad Gallop
tomahawked a triple into left-center, Joel singled, and Josh Rosen clubbed one over the left fielder. Three scored in the inning.

In the top of the 7th , Fogel’s infield managed 3 force-outs at 2nd base – game over. But your observant reporter trotted into the bench to prepare for another inning until he saw teams shaking hands in the infield. Again, it was hot!!

Team Fogel takes on Team Brafman in the first round of the Battle for the Youk award while Team Wagner is in the play-in game vs. Team Simons.

In the 11:30 games it was Team Groh vs. Team Wolf.

Kenny for the winners:

Wolf jumped on Groh early batting thru the entire order and producing 6 runs. Howie was vintage early 2000’s for 4 innings only allowing 3 hits and 1 run. Wolf added a few more to lead 9-1 heading into the bottom of the 5th. Coach Groh started it with a bloop double to left then Bryce Anslinger, David Solomon and Jon Ruben each had 2 hits in the inning as Bryce doubled and Jon capped it off with his 1st triple of the year. Tyler Stansbury had a 2-run double, Sam Castellini and Jack Cohen had back-to-back triples and everyone else got a hit or an RBI. Wolf scored 2 more but couldn’t overcome the big inning. Thanks to Jack for playing all 16 games, to Todd Wasserman for coming and coaching and for my team for only needing 3 subs for the entire season. We have 3 MVP candidates in Tyler, Jack and Pete Soltesz and two great rookie years from Chris Von Holle and Mathew Kraus.

Team Groh will play Grefer while Team Wolf will battle Team Solomon in Round 1 of the Tournament.

And it was Team Brafman vs. Team Solomon.

Stu for the winners:

In what was ultimately just another regular season softball game, Team Solomon got the best of Team Brafman 14-2 after locking up the second half title by default earlier Sunday. Special shout out to Team Simons for the win!

Stuart “Little” Solomon conceded a pair of leadoff triples and 2 runs to start the game, then settled in for one of his best pitching performances all year – finding the zone late in at bats when he needed to the most and forcing soft contact. The hardest hit ball all day came right back to Stu for a line drive out off the bat of Yitzi “Golden Boy” Creeger. Tom “Back to Back to Back” Emanski and Fred  “Crime Dog” McGriff would have been very pleased at the defensive fundamentals displayed. 

The bats were hot early and often on this fine Sunday. Cam “Mr. P&G” Kirzner went 3-3 and Jeremy “Dr” Dock was on base 3 times, both scoring 3 times. The Two Lefty Sensations Dan “Coconut Water” Mcgrath and Ben Charlton”Athletic FC” used their speed and tenacity to create mayhem on the basepaths. Lastly, Old Man David Snyder was 2-2 with a double and two runs scored. 

Shoutout to Benny “The Jet” Charlton and Matt “LeBlanc” Brodof for traveling leaps and bounds from Portland, Oregon and New Buffalo, Michigan, respectively, to make it back in time for the game despite the lack of postseason implications. Just for the love of the game. 

Brandon Lindsay had this to say after the game. “It was all about the Melon Electrolytes we all drank before the game. It allowed us to have clear eyes and full hearts.”

So to recap

AJ and Stu will battle it out this Wednesday for the Regular Season Championship 

Wagner and Simons will play in the play-in game.

The post season battle for the Youk award will begin next Wednesday.

Team Goldhoff vs. Winner of play-in game

Wolf vs. Solomon

Brafman vs Fogel

Groh vs. Grefer

League notes:

Happy birthday to:

Griff Harris

Ken Groh

Ryan Baum

The Oy Vey 5K is on November 9th. Please sign up to help support the JCC and all the athletic programing including the softball league.

I saw that the JCC launched a non-kids swim team. I have no clue who else they swim against but I want to see Howie out there living his Maccabiah games memories.

This past weekend was the 56th anniversary of Woodstock. Ryan Silverman and I might be the only guys who care, but since I write the blog I thought I’d share that with you all. And I will continue to say that this footage of Sly and the Family Stone (who were playing at 4:00 AM) is still the single greatest music performance ever captured on film. Here is a snippet Sly and the Family Stone – Final of “I Want To Take You Higher” Woodstock again this was at 4:00 AM!! 

I am not the biggest fan of Reds GM Nick Krall but I do have to give him credit for the three moves he made at the trade deadline. All have paid off. But since he is the same guy that signed both Moose and The Candy Man and did nothing at the 2023 deadline, I only give him some credit. 

I don’t know who the slowest guy in the league is currently but I bet that if they played the Bengals defense last night they would have run for a first down. 

Finally, since Roger is the resident NHL expert in the league he will be giving a detailed power point on Wednesday of all of these guys: All the Jewish NHL players to watch in the 2024-2025 season – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (I know it’s a little old but still) 

Good luck to Team Simons and Wagner in the Play-in game and to Team AJ and Team Stu for the Regular season title this week.

It was HOT out there this Sunday but that didn’t stop the action on the field. Let’s start with the early games. 

AJ kicks things off with his recap of their come-from-behind win of Team Stu.

An amazing win for the Goons this week as we came back to walk off Team Solomon 13-12.

The game started big for Team Solomon as they jumped on us in the first couple innings with a 7-0 lead. Big hits came from Jeremy Dock with a triple, Matt Brodof and Alex Kraus.

After that super-sub, Jeff Finkelstein locked down on the mound and we started chipping away. Two in the second, 2 more in the 3rd off a 2-run homer from super-sub, Harry Meisner, 2 in the 4th to make it 8-6, and then 3 in the 5th to make it 9-8. Team Solomon came back on us in the 6th and scored 4 runs off hits from Steven Shapiro, Matt Brodof and Dan McGrath.

After scoring 3 in the bottom of the 6th, and getting through the top of the 7th, the stage was set. Down 12-11 in the bottom of the 7th, Ryan Small led off with a double, Dee Harris moved him over with a single, Ian Conwell knocked Ryan in with a single, and Big Sam Klinkowitz came to the plate. He hit a Klinko Bomb to the warning track scoring Dee and the game was over.

This was a true team effort with everyone making an impact as they have all year.

We hope to finish the season strong against Team Simons on Wednesday.

Keith K files this report for Team Fogel.

Keith Kombrinck here reporting on Team Fogel win #6 with an 18 – 6 win over Team Simons.

Team Fogel had subs Brad Wagner, Steve Zawatsky, James Swan, Eric Zied, and Kade Carlyle. Maybe Team Fogel should play subs every week?

Team Simons super sub was their 3rd baseman, Dylan Smith, who hit 3 home runs. Lucky for us, two were solo shots.

Our super sub was Kade, who tracked fly balls in left-center like Jeremy and had 4 hits. I had 3 hits, but my exit velocity averaged 60 mph whereas Kade’s was around 100.

Team Fogel scored 5 in the 1st with hits from Swan, Carlyle, Rosen, Zawatsky, Kurtzer, and Wagner. Team Simons came back with 2 in the bottom of the 1st including a home run by Mike Askin. In the 2nd , singles by Nick O’Brien, Zied, Kombrinck, and that man Carlyle again plated 2 more.

The middle innings were a blur for me. It was hot!! I recall Weisser throwing all those bottom-of-the-zone pitches, causing me to ground out and others to pop up. Nick O’Brien ran left, ran right, and speared two line-drives at shortstop, and Brad Wagner made several fine plays at 3rd base. Our other outfielders, Rosen, Swan, and Zied made running catches.

Team Simons threatened to score each inning, but Jamey Kurtzer kept them in check by refusing to issue walks. He capped his performance in the bottom of the 6th by nabbing a line-drive just above his head and firing to 1st to double-up an overconfident runner.

Thanks to Brad Wagner for serving as our replacement coach. It looks like Team Fogel has avoided the play-in game. In a be-nice-to the old guy gesture, Brad gave me the game ball for my 3 hits and catching all the throws to 1st base. I appreciate it.

In the 11:30 games 

Kyle for the winners over Team Wagner.

We beat team Wagner 19-18 in a back and forth battle. Ken Groh pitched a solid game on the mound subbing for Mike Gray, and Landon Hawkins played a great game defensively making all the plays in the infield.

Offensively Billy Bernstein had a great game at the plate hitting liners all over the field and an inside the park homer. I had a good game with multiple hits, and the rest of our order chipped in well with big hits from Brian Goldberg, Gary Grefer, and Oren Shmoel to come back in the top of 7 and hold a one-run lead to end the game.

Finally there was the “Game” between Team Wolf vs. Team Brafman

I’ll write the recap for Team Wolf. Let’s just say that Team Brafman didn’t have their best game while Team Wolf hit the ball all over the yard. the final score was something like 27-12. It was so bad for Team Brafman that Jimmy Lefton waved the white flag and asked to be taken out of the game and we used two position players to pitch. When that didn’t work Jimmy came back in and might have given up another 10 runs. Hitting leaders for Team Wolf were the entire team. Wes, Tyler, James Swan, Pat Feldman, Andy Beck  all had at least 3 hits. You know it’s a long day for Team Brafman when Shorty Adams goes 3-4 with a double. And while there were no home runs, somehow most of the hits were bullets all over the field to all fields. “We’d like to thank Commish Adam for lending us his bat,” Captain Wes Wolf said post game. “We hear he got it from Chris Sabo which might explain our extra pop.”  When you give “The Living Legend” Howie Schwartz 11 runs in the first inning, unlike the Reds bullpen, he is going to let that stand up. The only bright spot for team Brafman was Mike “The Bagel Man” Margolis going 3-3.

“I wish I had Trevino to pitch for me in the 5th inning,” Brafman said post game. Maybe his 30 MPH eephus pitch would have prevented the other 13 runs from scoring. 

Team Wolf looks to stay hot vs. Team Groh while Team Brafman looks to get back on the winning track vs. Team Stu.

League notes will return on Wednesday.

On a muggy night the action on the field was almost as hot. Let’s get right to it.

On Field 1 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Wolf. Our third shift stringer called in from the Bananas game in Baton Rouge last night to let us know that Team Wolf won.

On Field 2 we had Team Solomon vs. Team Simons.

Stu for the HOT winners:

Team Solomon walked off Team Simons 9-8 to extend its winning streak to six straight games since the start of the second half.

Stu’s squad plated its first five hitters to jump out to a 5-2 lead June 18 before the game was suspended in the top of the second. Seven weeks later, it was more of a back-and-forth affair on Field 2.

We added two runs thanks to aggressive base running from Will “.i.am” Coleman and Alex “Sauer” Kraus, then Michael Askin and Jeff Weisbrot hit two inside the park homers to bring it back within one at 7-6. Stu later returned the favor to get Askin looking on strike three, and his defense rallied behind him with a clutch double play and some running catches in the outfield.

Sub Joel “Sparky” Fogel provided the spark we needed with a sixth inning triple that ricocheted into right field, and Eli “Gemstone” Gould scored the game-winning run in the seventh. The rookie led off with a single, got moved over to second on a fielder’s choice and came around to score on an error at first base that bounced out of play.

Dan “The Man With the City Plan” McGrath had a timely catch of a hard hit liner from Mark “Poker Face” Weisser that could have been the doom of Team Solomon. Two big hits by Brandon Lindsey “Lohan”. 

Solomon will return to Field 2 on Sunday looking to avenge its first half loss to Team Goldhoff while Simons meets Fogel on Field 1.

On Field 3 we had Team Wagner vs. Team Groh

Kenny for the winners:

All-Stars Tyler Stansbury and Jack Cohen led the way going a combined 7-7 with Tyler scoring 4 times and Jack driving in 5. After scoring one in the 1st, Team Wagner scored 5 in the 2nd and led 5-3 after 3 when the games were called on June 18. After a Ken Groh walk and Bryce Anslinger double, the hobbling Groh took home on a wild pitch and Danny Meisterman drove in Bryce with a single to tie the game at 5. Sam Castellini and Chris Von Holle helped Groh take a 7-5 lead only for Team Wagner to pull ahead 8-7 after 5. At 8-8 with 2 outs, Mathew Kraus singled and Jack Cohen hit a 3-run triple to give Team Groh them the lead as they went on to win 11-9. 

And finally on field 4 Team Brafman vs. Team Goldhoff

AJ for the winners:

Another really good win for the Goons as we took out Team Brafman 7-2 in the First Place battle. This was another team effort with everyone really getting a chance to have their moment.

The story of the game really was the first inning where we jumped on them early and scored 5 runs thanks to hits from Adam Cronstein, Griffin Harris, Me, Ian Segall, super sub Landon Krantz (triple), and Ian Conwell. 

From there our defense shined, with big plays from Michael Heldman, Sam Klinkowitz and Segall we were able to hold their offense in check for the most part.

We will hope to keep it going in another big game on Sunday against Team Solomon.

For Team Brafman the only offensive star was Gary “The Coach” Fisher who went 3-3. As usual the fielding for Team Brafman was great. 

League notes:

Only James “Lynn” Swan celebrated a birthday this week. Also let’s wish James good luck as he is taking over (on a short term basis) the JCC Pre-School. This is a BIG BIG job and we all know James will crush it

Happy anniversary to Dee Harris. 

I bitch about the Reds a lot (more on them soon) but did you guys see that the Blue Jays outscored the Rockies 45-6 over the weekend? They had 63 hits, the most in a three-game series in over 100 years. 

If last night wasn’t the most Cincinnati sports night of all time I don’t know what was. The Reds, Bengals and FCC all played. All three lost..

I’m sure Roger has been following the ongoing saga of people throwing green dildos onto the court at WNBA games (Roger will be re-selling them on his blog), but today I read that somehow cryptocurrency might be behind it. I have no idea what one thing has to do with the other (even after reading the story), but I just know it’s dumb.

For all of us that root for real college football teams, I can’t wait to see Texas Tech finish 3-4 in the Big 12 this year. They spent 25 MILLION on NIL this off season. Let me say that again, 25 Million!! on a team that I don’t think will win the Big 12. Good luck with that.

Reminder that the JCC night at FCC is this Sunday. I think tickets are still available. 

And the Oy Vey 5K is coming up this fall. It’s a fun event with all the money raised going back to the league and the Blue Jays program. Please sign up. 

As for the Reds, they continue to be who we thought they would be (now a better fielding team), a team that for the most part can really pitch and can’t hit a lick. Maybe one day ownership will care about winning now and not down the road to a future that is 30 years and counting in the making.

See everyone on  Sunday.

Hey, we got two straight weeks of softball in this half of the season. Sure it was like playing inside of a dog’s mouth out there but it’s better than sitting at home on Wednesday, right?

Let’s get to the action.

On Field one we had Team Groh vs. Team Stu

Stu for the winners:

No Stu, no problem for Team Solomon – who made it five straight wins Wednesday in an 11-10 nail-biter over Team Groh on Field 1.

Dan “Spuds” McGrath filled in on the mound, where he overcame a shaky start before settling in and throwing his best stuff. Back-to-back second inning homers from Chris Von Holle and Bryce Anslinger put Groh in front 3-0 and powered them to a 5-2 lead after three. Then our offense woke up.

We plated four runs in the fourth inning and five in the fifth thanks to clutch hitting and aggressive base-running up and down our lineup. Cam “Diaz” Kirzner, Steven “Seagal” Shapiro, William “H. Macy” Coleman and Alex “Trebek” Kraus each finished with multiple hits and two runs apiece.

Down 11-7 entering the bottom of the seventh, Groh knocked in three but left the tying run stranded on the bases as our defense stepped up to make the final outs of the game.

Next week, Team Solomon resumes its June 18 showdown on Field 2 with Simons while Groh gets Wagner on Field 3.

On Field 2 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Brafman 

Marc for the winners:

In a tight game Team Brafman walked it off with a thrilling 8-7 win over the battling Team Grefer. Team Brafman was led by Rabbi Yitz who tomahawked a homer early in the game and super sub Michael Askin who went 4-5. Leading 6-2 going into the top of the 7th, Grefer battled back with something like 5 straight two-out hits to take the lead. A huge triple by Kyle Grefer just off the glove of Rabbi Yitz tied the game and Mike Gray’s single got Grefer the lead. After two quick outs in the bottom of the 7th Askin got on base and was driven in by Mike “The Special One” Rothstein who had a fine game in the field and the plate. Next, Zach Mayer hit a rocket to RF and Rothstein was able to score from first to seal the win. Not to be overlooked a great fielding game by Corey Meyers in LF and all of Team Brafman who again shows that fielding the ball leads to wins. “As has been the case all season, this was a total team win,” Brafman said post game. Everyone on the team did their part to help us get this important win.

Next week Team Brafman looks to stay on the winning track by taking on Team AJ. 

On field 3 it was Team Wagner took on Team AJ

AJ for the winners: 

Another big win for the Goons last night as we took out Team Wagner 18-2 in 5 innings.

This was a true team effort as everyone contributed on offense and on defense. The biggest shout outs go to Ian Segall who had 3 hits including a homer over the fence, Jamey Drennan who had 4 hits, 3 RBI and dominated on the mound, Griffin Harris who had 3 hits including an inside the park homer, and Super Sub Anthony Skrapits who had 3 hits and 5 RBIs.

We hope to keep it rolling next week as we make up our game against Team Brafman.

Finally on field 4 Team Wolf Took on Team Fogel

Wes for the winners:

Team Wolf returned to its winning ways against Team Fogel in a true JCC barnburner, outlasting them 18-15. 

After Team Wolf plated 2 in the first inning, Fogel jumped out to an early lead with 6 in their half. The teams then switched places and found themselves tied 8-8 after two. Team Wolf capitalized on a gapper by Drew “Fart” Hart that fell on the warning track beyond the outstretched glove of platinum glover Jeremy Fogel. 

In the next inning, Team Wolf was up one with two on and Wes Wolf at the plate when one of the more unusual plays happened. Wes shot one through the RF/RCF gap, and ended up right behind the runner from first base as he was rounding third. Brad Gallop took the cutoff at second base and delivered a perfect throw to ageless catcher Keith Kombrink, who tagged out the Team Wolf runner with Wes close behind. Wes avoided the tag and slid in safe at home, capping off the only fielder’s choice home run this league has seen in a while. 

Team Wolf plated four total in the third and continued scoring in each inning of the game. Stand in pitcher, Scottie “quit booing Halloween’s in October” Wolf capped off the night on the mound by shutting down team Fogel in the sixth and seventh to earn the win. 

League Notes

A big shout out to two of our captains who are getting busy on and off the field. Wes (and Haley) and AJ (and Olivia) who are both expecting future JCC softball players. Congrats guys, that is really exciting news.

Birthdays this week all softball alumni.

JZ

Ben Sandor

Tait Cunningham 

The Oy Vey 5K is Nov. 9. Please mark it down.

And Jewish night at FCC is next Sunday night.

Last week I mentioned that my daughter Maya was playing in the Maccabi games in Tucson. (She got a bronze in mixed doubles tennis) and while I am sure that she will have life long memories it will pale in comparison to what Howie did back in the 60’s. He was in Brazil playing basketball for Team USA or Team Cincy when the swimming coach asked if anyone could help out the relay team since they were down a member. Howie, who swam at the old JCC in high school said sure I can help. Little did he know that on his relay team would be Mark Spitz (for you young guys, look him up). Needless to say they won all of their relays and Howie even got a piece of Spitz mustache to take home as a keepsake.

With the baseball HOF induction last week I forgot to mention the Dave “The Cobra” Parker story that relates to softball. I might be off a little on the story but the version I have heard is that when he retired from baseball he was asked to join the league. He showed up to play with metal spikes and when he was informed that he couldn’t wear them packed up his gear and walked off never to be seen again on the fields of the JCC. My Dave Parker JCC Story is that I was the head of the JCC sports camp and Dave Parker II (who gave a great speech on Sunday) was a camper. Imagine a big black kid towering over all the little Jewish kids and you get the idea of what type of athlete he was. It was very cool when Dave came and talked to the camp one day during our baseball week. 

I’m happy to get on my soap box on the Reds if you want to ask me in person. But since they seem ok with being OK then I guess we have to live with it. Did they get better the last 24 hours. Yes, I think they did. But since we don’t play baseball in a vacuum the Pads, Mets, Phillies all also got better. I wish I had the job security that Nick Krall has. Be lousy at my job, never do anything to make the product better and still be employed. Last night’s Reds game was made special by the fact that Jacob and I saw two people wearing Nick Senzel and Stewie Fairchild jerseys. Why in God’s name would anyone want a Fairchild jersey? 

I’m glad the Bengals got the first round guy in and now Trey is back at camp since I guess losing 250,000 for sitting out isn’t the best strategy if you are trying to MORE money. Wake me when the season starts.

Dee, Roger, Jacob and I were talking post game about the amazing amount of Elly bobbleheads and how the Reds need to be creative moving forward. I know I’ve mentioned this in the past but instead of the 10th Elly, won’t you want Eddie Milner, Gary Redus or even the aforementioned Stewie Fairchild? Call it Reds Bums of the Past series. Fans could vote on it. Roger would make a lot of money and we won’t get a 10th Elly. 

See everyone next week. 

Hi everyone we actually got the game in. Let’s back track a couple of weeks to the last time we played which was the week of the 4th of July. Here are the quick recaps from those games on July 2:

First up was Team Stu vs. Team Fogel:

Team Solomon remains unbeaten in the second half after a thrilling 24-17 win over Team Fogel on Field 3.

It was an eventful start to the game: Stu took a hard comebacker to the ankle during a rough first inning on the mound, then hit a home run in the bottom half to help put his team up 6-5. Jeremy Fogel answered back with a shot of his own over the fence in the second before we regained the lead at 9-8.

Jeremy Dock set the tone defensively going airborne for the first out of the game on a well hit ball to right field, and Steven Shapiro held things down with strong play in left. 

Fun note from the book: sub Adam Cronstein added an ultra-rare two-RBI bunt double for Team Solomon.

We plated 6 runs in the third but the Fighting Fogel’s rallied right back – Jeremy’s second homer helped tie it up at 15, and they briefly took the lead at 17-16. Captain Stu ultimately scored the go-ahead run, then crushed another HR (this one prophesied by Jimmy Lefton) for insurance in the sixth – our third 6-run inning of the game. Clutch defense and pitching prevailed late as we held on for the win.

Offensive shout outs to Be”jammin” Charlton 3-4 and Matt “Mr. Government” Brodof going 4-5 scoring 4 times. 

Also, a big Happy Birthday (on July 3rd as I am writing this) to Eli Gould and my Mom, Julie Solomon.

Next Team Groh CRUSHED Team Brafman 19-1

Ken for the winners:

Pete Soltesz doubled in two and came around to score to put Groh up 3-0 after 1. In the 2nd Tyler Stansbury tripled in Jon Ruben and Danny Meisterman and then scored on a Dee Harris SF to make it 6-0. Brafman scored 1 in the top of the 3rd and were led by Mike Rothstein and Yitzi Creeger, who both went 2-2 but Team Groh put the ball just out of reach and had a bunch of singles en route to a 9-run 3rd and added 4 more in the 4th inning to cap the scoring. Tyler, Dee, Pete, Chris Van Holle , and Jon all had 3 hits in the win. 

Team Wolf vs. Team Wagner

Wes for the winners:

This week, Team Wolf pulled out a come-from-behind win vs Team Wagner. After a slow start by Team Wolf, Wagner pulled out to a 7-3 lead after 4 innings. Finally, the bats came alive, and Team Wolf tied the game 7-7 in the bottom of the 5th. Wagner quickly rebounded with 4 in top 6, making the game 11-7. Team Wolf wasn’t done, and put together a 6-run rally in the bottom of the 6th inning, pushing the score to 13-11. Howie continued his resurgence with a 1-2-3 7th inning to nail down the win. 

Overall, a well-played contest turned into a see-saw game with momentum swings galore. Team Wolf came out on top to move to 2-1 in the second half. 

Finally Team Simons took on Team Grefer

It was hot and muggy as team Simons took the field first against team Grefer. Team Simons allowed 11 runs to score in the first two innings of the game and were down 11-3. It looked bleak, it looked dire, it looked like team Simons was going to get a whipping for the ages.  Then, a huddle was called at the top of the 3rd inning and an agreed upon defensive formation was revealed bordering on bush league psych-out stuff. Team Simons kicked, scratched, and clawed their way back to a 3-run game, all the while, holding team Grefer scoreless. It was the bottom of the 7th and pitching Guru Mark Weisser kept the game close with an 11-8 score favoring team Grefer. Suddenly the hit parade came and did not stop until David Wertheim delivered the knockout, walk off blow winning the game 12-11 on a deep drive to right. 

And now for this week:

On Field 1, Team Groh vs Simons

Marc For the Winners:

In what can only be described as a pitchers duel, team Groh locked horns with team Simons for 7 innings. The defense for both teams played an excellent game, but team Simons was able to hold a 4-3 edge going into the 9th inning. With a runner on first and Stansbury coming to the plate with two outs, team Simons decided to intentionally walk him and Sam Castellini hit a rocket to left that was caught on the run by Scott Friend sealing a second straight victory for team Simons. 

On Field 2, Wolf Vs. AJ

An amazing win for the Goons last night as we took out Team Wolf 14-4 in 5 innings. It felt like it had been forever (3 weeks) since we played last, and the team responded well with consistent offense and stout defense.

The biggest standouts in the game were Ian Segall who had a triple, two doubles and 4 RBIs, and Eric Cronstein, our super sub of the game who had two triples and a double with 4 RBIs as well. As I said above though, we had great team defense all over the field which was the main contributor to the victory.

We will look to keep it rolling next week against Team Wagner.

On Field 3 it was Team Fogel vs. Grefer

Keith for Fogel 

Keith Kombrinck here reporting on Team Fogel win #5 with an 11 – 8 victory over Team Grefer.

They Do It With Mirrors. Not an Agatha Christie book, but Team Fogel exploits.

Besides having too many players who look like yours truly – ectomorphs, Team Fogel defeated another team of players who look like softball players, big guys.

Team Fogel plated two in the first on a two-out drive to left center by Josh Rosen. Jamie Kurtzer then held Grefer’s hitters in check in the bottom of the inning. Then the “big inning” occurred for Team Fogel. Hits by Nick O’Brien and Brad Gallop preceded a smash by Norm Frankel over the left fielder’s head. Jamie, Keith and Landon Krantz singled, and Jeremy drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly. Team Fogel then led 7 to 1. Team Grefer came roaring back with singles by Kyle Grefer, Landon Hawkins, Oren Shmoel and a drive by Ryan Silverman.

In the middle innings, Team Fogel managed to plate a few more runs despite some outstanding catches by Silverman in left-center and Grefer in right-center. At that point, this reporter believed that we were losing 11 to 8 because the score flag that was nearer to our bench read 8 and the one that read 11 was the color of our opponent’s shirts. I was then surprised to learn in the last inning that we were up 11 to 8. So much for this reporter’s astute observations!

I did note that the Fogel infield of Krantz, O’Brien, and Gallop made enough good plays to seal the win – all lean players!

Finally on field 4 it was Team Stu vs. Team Wagner:

Team Solomon kept its momentum going with a 22-13 win Wednesday on Field 4. The Brad-less Team Wagner made it close over the first few innings before the boys in baby blue pulled away in the second half.

Stuart “Little” Solomon got things started with a home run, his fourth this year and third in the last two games, to tie it up at 2-2 in the bottom of the first. Everybody in our lineup reached base safely, with 10 out of 11 guys scoring at least one run.

Dan “Glover” McGrath made his long-awaited return to the diamond and was a vacuum in his rehab assignment at first base. He also finished 3-3 at the plate with a fielder’s choice and 4 runs, losing 0 USD to his patented “Pop Up Jar.”

Fielding continues to be a calling card for Team Solomon, making great reads and relays for clutch defensive stops all season long. Alex “Winter” Kraus completed two more putouts at home plate to add to his impressive campaign behind the dish. 

Team Solomon looks to make it five wins a row next week on Field 1 against Team Groh while Wagner visits Goldhoff on Field 3.

League Notes:

Happy birthday to the following:

Commish Adam

Brandon “Big Bad” Wolf

Eric “Jeter” Goldstein

Riley “the Big Man” Able 

Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn

Danny Meisterman

Jacob “Dentist to the stars” Stadiem

And last but not least Danny Gilbert

Mazel Tov to Jeremy Fogel for getting engaged.

A sad week for any of us born before 1980. 

First Theo Huxtable, then Ozzy and today “The Hulkster” Hulk Hogan. I was a HUGE wrestling fan and while I always liked Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair more, I sure enjoyed watching him over the years. A testament to him is that he was the best good guy and bad guy of all time. Since I know 90% of you don’t care, I won’t post any Youtube clips but two of my favorites are when Andre The Giant challenges him at WM 3 (the famous Pipers Pit) and then when he joins and creates the NWO in the mid 90’s. The fans’ reaction to him turning into a bad guy is worth your time. (The announcers should have gotten an Emmy for their over-reaction as well) 

I have no clue if the Reds should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. I just know they are a 500 team that is wasting ALL of the pitching and Elly who are all on rookie contracts. That to me is the most frustrating part of this front office.  

It’s not often that I agree with the Bengals on anything when it comes to money but I have to say I agree with the Bengals stance on both Hendrickson and Stewart (especially Trey). How many of us can sign a contract (go back and look at his smiling face) then when you don’t like it can demand a new contract with one year left on your deal. If he was 27 and not 30, I’d be 100% on board with the Bengals over paying him but he isn’t, is awful against the run and will be 31 when the season ends. Play out your deal or except a shorter term extension then go out and make HUGE bucks somewhere else next season. I just feel bad for Taylor and Joey B who have to constantly answer for questions they are not a part of.

A pre-emptive thank you to Mr. Mike Creemer and Anne Goldstein from the J for taking out a couple of kids including my daughter Maya to the Maccabi games in Tucson. Bring home a winner for Team Cincinnati. And if you all have kids that want to play in the next couple of years let them know. Over 800 kids will be competing and it sure sounds like an amazing week!

Reminder that Jewish Night is coming up at FCC. Go on the J Website to buy tickets. 

Finally, Roger is selling both the Star Wars Reds and the Race Car Reds bobblehead on his web site. The fact that the Reds had to create those because they have no other player that anyone would want is a pretty big red flag on the talent on the team. I still wish they would do random scrub bobbleheads. Who won’t want a Jose Peraza or Buck Farmer bobblehead

Keep the rain away I haven’t played in a month! See you all on Wednesday.