JCC Softball Cincinnati

Sorry for the delay this week in blog land 

Here are the updates from this past week

On Field 1 it was team Stu vs. team Micah

Stu for the winners:

Team Solomon starts the season off with a great win against Team Kamrass 14-7.

Team Solomon hit up and down the lineup. The top of the lineup was incredible. Ben “Norm” Charlton set the table going 3-5, David “Tent Man” Wertheim and Adam “The Bad Guy” Cronstein both going 3-3 with a walk. The bottom half of the lineup provided some great offense. Chris “Baby Bump” Kunkel had two hits. Brandon Lindsey “Graham” had two hits and an RBI in his first ever JCC Men’s fast pitch softball game.

Defensively , Ken pitched a great game and fielded his position expertly. Many are saying he is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year. Two very nice sliding catches by Adam Cronstein and everyone’s favorite captain, Stuart Solomon. Big shout out to Zach “Rock’em Zakem Robots” for holding down the catchers spot after never playing there before. (Editor’s note: I always called Zach Zakem “the wild horse” because he was fast and a good runner. But Stu name is way better so “Rock Em Zakem Robots” it will be from now on) 

On Field 2 a mighty clash of Team Wagner vs. Team Wolf

Wes who has still not lost a regular season game as a captain for the winners:

Team Wolf held on for a 10-9 victory against team Wagner. We jumped out to an 8-1 lead after two innings due to timely hitting from rookie Zach Fritzhand and Scottie “The Hitting Machine” Wolf. 

Team Wagner started chipping away in the Fourth, mounting a come back to 10-7 going into the Seventh. They quickly loaded the bases and scored two runs with solid hits by the Hiudt cousins, but with bases loaded and two outs, Team Wolf persevered and got the final out. 

Another stellar pitching performance by Mike Gray led to a super exciting game this week on Field two. 

On Field three it was Team Brafman (minus Brafman) vs. Team Tenenholtz

Rick for the winners:

It was another high-scoring affair on Field 3 as Team Tenenholtz hosted Team Brafman minus their captain. The visitors got off to a hot start scoring five in the first, but the home team tied it up in the bottom of the first and followed up with 6 in the 2^nd to take an 11-7 lead. The bats were hot all night for Team Tenenholtz as Jack Cohen, Mike Rothstein, Bryce Anslinger, Brian Goldberg and Captain Tenenholtz each had three hits en route to a 19-9 victory in 6 innings.

Zach Michelson, who reached base three times, declared the victory illegal. “It is against the rules to end the game when I am next to bat!” Michelson also had a huge catch at first as he laid out to make a grab and kept his foot on the bag.  Captain Tenenholtz said after the game, “We put Zach in training after our first loss. He had to spend all week fielding throws at Camp Rothstein. I thought we were in trouble when Linda Rothstein told me before the game that she was going to have to leave so she didn’t have to listen to Mike complain on the way home. In the end, Zach’s hard work paid off and the Rothstein 10-game losing streak came to an end.”

Also redeeming himself after a tough first week was Bryce Anslinger who flashed the leather at 1B, 2B and 3B. He also scored three runs. “Just don’t ask me to track a fly ball,” Team Tenenholtz’s utility man said.

 It should be noted that once again this is a special game when Howie and Eppy are on the mound going at it. And I heard that former player Richie Katz was at the game as well. 

And last but not least on Field 4 we had Team Fogel vs. Team Grefer

Kyle for the winners:

Team Grefer beat Team Fogel 16-4 in 6 innings. After a horrible first game where we scored two runs and Jimmy Lefton hurt his knee (best of luck on your upcoming knee replacement, Jimmy), we were able to turn it completely around in this game. Sub Tim Trautman stepped in and pitched a nice game only walking one batter and chipped in with a few hits.

Our defense was phenomenal with Will Coleman setting the tone early with a sliding catch in right field and everyone played a clean game with maybe one error combined. Offensively everyone contributed, but Landon Krantz set the table well in the leadoff spot, Zach Mayer hit line drives all over the field, and Gary Grefer, Will Coleman, Oren Shmoel and Howard Goldwasser all had clutch hits.

League notes:

Happy birthday to Rick Lefton and former player Mark Wolf. 

Brad Gallop fooled his professors long enough to graduate from UC. Congrats, Brad.

Let’s all wish Jimmy a quick recovery from his knee surgery.

It was Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley’s anniversary this weekend

Please sign up for the J Classic if you’d like to play golf, tennis or pickleball.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out the link of Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend’s son who started his own clothing line. The link to the clothing line is coolbeanz.shop and the link to the story is on WLWT. Just search cool beanz. 

And now the Lance McAlister random notes portion of the blog:

The Reds might be a .500 team until they get some guys healthy, but man it’s worth turning in every night to see Elly play. Joey was amazing at the plate in his prime and it was fun to see Jr. or Adam Dunn try to hit a ball into the river, but I don’t remember being this excited about a player on offense, defense, on the bases, brushing his teeth, etc. since Eric Davis in the late 80’s before he got hurt all the time. I don’t believe he actually threw the ball 106 the other night, but hey, why not?

How come NBA teams can have music playing all games with people on the PA saying DEFENSE as loud as possible, and yet college schools won’t or can’t do it? 

I have mentioned this before but I have no idea how real coaches sleep at night or ever. Coaching Jacob in little league ages me by the day and I’m not even the head coach (to say nothing about having to coach Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen in our league). We are struggling as a team and I get more worked up than the kids who generally just want to go to Skyline or Rhino’s after a game. 

It’s amazing that Howie and Eppy, Jerry etc. are still out here playing each week, but how about Neil Young and Crazy Horse and the Rolling Stones both going on tour again last week. And amazingly still sounding pretty darn good! I woke up the other day with a leg cramp and it’s still bothering me and I didn’t play a 2 hour concert.

Is there a bigger waste of time in life than watching the NFL draft? It’s bad enough on TV, but I couldn’t imagine going to it in person. That said, I hope that Cincinnati gets it one of these days. It would be good for the city.

At what age are you too old to A) buy a concert T-shirt and B) wear it? 

I have to admit I’m sort of excited to watch Mike Tyson fight on Netflix.

And finally Roger called me, not once, but TWICE this week to tell me he picked up some cheap used hats, shirts and underwear this weekend at a flea market. He was very proud of his purchases and the deals he got from them. So if you are in the market for a starter jacket from the Charlotte Hornets or a NKU T-shirt, Roger has you covered.

Let’s hope for a return of all the hostages soon. Keep Israel (the people not the leadership) in your hearts.

Marc

Wednesday’s games took a toll on the legs of a couple veterans. Team Grefer lost their starting pitcher, Jimmy Lefton, to a season ending knee injury. When asked about the injury, Jimmy said, “In my first at bat, I ran to first tweaked my knee and had to do the Lessure shuffle the rest of the way.” Surgery is scheduled for May. I know we all hope to see Jimmy back in action.

Yitzi Creeger also sustained a leg injury. Reportedly, the injury, a pulled hamstring, was sustained when Yitz lined up all his kids and tried to jump over them. We hope Yitz is back in action soon.

A windy (and sunny)  start to the season on Wed. night caused some interesting fielding plays. But it sure was nice being out on the fields again.

On Field one we had Team Brafman Vs. Team Wolf. 

Weston for the victors: 

Team Wolf starts the season off on the right foot with a 12-5 “closer-than-the-final-score” style game with Team Brafman. It was a back and forth battle as a 5-5 tie game heading into the top of the seventh, when Tyler Wolf (batting last due to the first implementation of his namesake “Late Arrival” rule) led off by beating out a grounder to short, Super-sub Catcher AJ Goldhoff reached on a fly ball to center, then Wes Wolf broke the tie with a 2-run triple to center field. Team Wolf went on to score 7 total runs that inning with big hits from Eli & Steve Z, Ian Conwell and many more. Eddie Gallop kept the offense afloat early in the game with hits in his first two at-bats and Mike Gray picked up right where he left off last year with a strong outing despite a tough first game from his defense. 

Team Brafman battled despite missing some of their top players, playing great defense with gale force winds coming in from left field.  (Capt Brafman would like to add that rookie Steven “Shap” Shapiro had his first hit in the league.) And playing slightly out of position Jamey Drennan made two very good catches in RC

On Field two it was Team Harris vs. Team Grefer 

Roger reports in for Team Harris:

TEAM HARRIS 12

TEAM GREFER 2………six innings…..

After a horrible weather day a week ago, it was worth the wait for TEAM HARRIS……..

After falling behind 2-0 in the early innings, TEAM HARRIS, under the leadership of first year captain GRIFF HARRIS, plated eight runs in the bottom of the third inning and never looked back in winning in a ten run rule after six innings, 

12-2….

The offensive explosion was a pleasant sight, but veteran pitcher, MARK WEISSER, pitched a gem with son, EVAN WEISSER, calling the pitches in only a way a father would love.

The defense was sparkling led by DAVID “DEE” HARRIS, the captain’s “old” man, who after a couple of misplays early in the game, was as solid as solid could be.

“I was told by my son that I’d be playing shortstop this week to help better our defense with who we had available and I didn’t want to let him down. I went back a long time ago when I was a camper at the JCC and my counselor, ROGER ROSENTHAL, yes that ROGER ROSENTHAL  taught me everything I needed to know at shortstop,” HARRIS said after the game.

HItting stars included, ANDY GOLLIN, the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN graduate, EVAN WEISSER, JZ ZEIDENSTEIN delivered key hits, but at the end of the day, it was a total team effort from everyone.

Captain GRIFF after the game…..

“I was pleased with my first official game as a captain. I couldn’t sleep last night at all and was up trying to make out that perfect line-up card and defensive assignments. I ended up finally getting to sleep only to get up up in the early morning hours and saying to myself, ‘this is game day'”

Rookie DAN BERNSTEIN after the game…..

“I loved it! I was really looking forward to last week, but the wait was worth it. I had a great time and the guys on the team seem really nice, but does Roger ever shut-up?

Finally, 

DEE HARRIS after the game……

“I’m super proud of my son on how he handled himself in his first game as a captain. He’s learned a lot about the league coming to games for years. I think he’s only going to get better and better as time goes. He’s an old chip off the block just like his father.”

TEAM HARRIS gets two weeks off due to a holiday and a bye, but don’t think for a minute they’ll have a break. “We’re going to hold practice (who needs practice?) a few times during the break and not rest on our laurels from this victory. I want to get better and better each week.”

TIDBITS…….

The rumors are true…..ROGER ROSENTHAL and his lovely wife, Carol, were in New Jersey this past weekend attending the DAYS OF OUR LIVES fan event…..that’s right! 

Roger was amongst the stars chatting it up and trying to get as many Facebook friends as possible.

Rookie BROCK FOWLER, an Ohio University graduate, was the only rookie to attend the after-game meal at a popular restaurant. Once again, STEVE “EPPY” EPPSTEIN showed his generosity by treating those that showed up, chicken wings and everything else…..

And finally, MARC BRAFMAN drove ROSENTHAL to the after-game meal with son, JACOB, in the back seat. ROSENTHAL asked who won the Xavier/UC game that day and when JACOB said that Xavier had one, there was a loud YES from a certain individual…..guess who?

On Field three it was the sun vs. Team Fogel and Team Kamrass

Jeremy for the winners:

Team Fogel took on Team Kamrass in an affair that was largely impacted by swirling winds pushing hits deep into the outfield and a glare from the sun that impaired vision more than staring at the eclipse. In a back-and-forth effort, Team Fogel prevailed over Team Kamrass by a score of 14-13. Lots of defensive plays all around that set the tone, but notable diving stops by Joel Buckley at shortstop and snags by Pete Soltesz in left field stopped rallies from ever starting or from continuing on. On the offensive side, big contributions all throughout the order kept consistent threats alive. A couple of key two-out RBIs by rookie Sam Klinkowitz were the difference in this one. Team Fogel anxiously awaits their next instant classic in the second half with Team Kamrass. No shortage of drama in any of the matchups between these two teams.

And last but not least in the game of the night on field 4 Team Wagner took on Team Tenenholtz

Brad for the victors

Team Wagner defeated Team Tenenholtz 23-16 at the friendly confines of Field 4.  The victors took an early lead, but Team Tenenholtz battled back multiple times to tie the score.  Team Wagner had a 15-14 lead going into the 6th and added some much-needed Geico Insurance runs in the top half of each of the 6th and 7th to prevail.

Michael Askin, Bob Pelberg, Anton Loon, and the three Hiudteers (Zac, Daniel, and Joey) had key hits: Corey Norris, Brad Wagner, Landon Hawkins, Matt Leader, and Mark Levine all brought in important runs.

Rookie Landon Hawkins had the web gem of the day with a great catch at SS to end a rally. 

After a break next week to dip our fingers in the wine while describing the awful ten plagues, Team Wagner takes on Team Wolf on Field 2; that game will be aired on PBS with Jose and Ozzie Canseco on the call.  Team Tenenholtz takes on Team Brafman; Lord Alfred Hayes and Gorilla Monsoon will be on the mic for that battle.

A reminder that we are off this week due to Passover. See everyone once again on May 1.

League Notes:

Speaking of Passover if you need baked goods for your seder, look no further than Sweet Butter Bakery Sweet Butter Bakery (sweetbuttercincy.com)

The J Classic is coming up. It’s an amazing event that was started years ago in honor of Shorty Adams’ dad. J Classic – Mayerson JCC I believe Ryan and Anton are the defending pickleball champs. Please consider signing up and supporting the JCC. 

A couple of college announcements this week. Congrats to Corey Norris’s daughter for choosing Michigan St. much to the chagrin of her mom who wanted her to go to Maryland.  And congrats to Jerry Kirzner’s granddaughter who is going to Tulane next fall.

Happy birthday to Josh Rosen 

While the Reds can’t hit at the moment due to the flu and the fact they have to play Jonathan India every day I do love watching them run the bases. It’s ironic that former Cards and Royals manager Whitey Herzog died this week because he would love how much the Reds steal. Hopefully this will continue to pay off for them if/when they ever get on base. 

Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman and I were texting last Sunday during the Billy Joel CBS Special until they for some reason cut Piano Man off at the end. Is this the Heidi game part two (if you don’t know what I’m talking about look it up)? Not sure how you can start a program late due to the Masters, and then when the guy is singing his most popular , if not best, song you cut it off to go to the local news. You couldn’t have waited 2 more minutes. By the way Todd claims his favorite Billy song is Tell her About it and his favorite album is The Bridge.. The Doctor of Style David Weil did tell me he once saw Billy Joel open for Deep Purple and Foghat and when he started to play Piano Man the fans at the Cincy Gardens who were not there to see him booed. He (Joel) then told all of the fans to F-off. It would have been fun to see acts in the 70’s.

My office at UC overlooks the back of Fifth Third Arena where some of the basketball players park (illegally). I have turned our own Matt “No I am not related to Wes”  Miller into a traffic cop. I text him when the parking po-po is outside and sometimes the players hurry up and move their cars. Or as was the case this week they got a boot to which Matt replied, “I tell those dopes not to park there it’s on them now.”

And one final note on college basketball. I find it amusing that people are all up in arms about Caitlin Clark’s starting salary in the WNBA. All these people claiming to be upset by the WNBA must be asked to name 5 current WNBA players and who won the last title. If you can answer those two questions you have a right to complain about their salary. If you can’t shut your yap, go to a game and support the ladies starting this season.

RIP to Dickey Betts from the ABB. Next week I will report on a story that Eddie Gallop has about seeing them that he promised is entertaining. 

And last but not least while Roger mentioned it in his recap it does bear repeating that he and his wife went to a Days of our Lives convention. I believe it went something like this for Roger and all of their fans: SNL’s Greatest Moment #71 (youtube.com)

Have a nice Passover everyone keep Israel in your thoughts.

Marc

Greetings, everyone! As we start getting ready for softball, I figured it was time for the first blog post of the season coming to you live from cloudy Hilton Head Island.  This will be the offseason version with the season preview coming next week. 

I hope everyone had a nice off season and is healthier than the Reds coming out of spring training.

First, and I’m sure there were a lot more, here are guys that celebrated birthdays since last year: (sorry if I missed yours these are the ones that came across my desk)

Jeff “the Natural” Weisbrot

Former league MVP, Mark”Big Blue”Tenenholtz

Rabbi Yitz

Former league all-star, Weezy Lefton

Everyone’s favorite sister, Brooke Fogel

Everyone’s favorite league wife and mom, Laurie Lefton

Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman

Scott “Shorty” Adams

AJ Goldhoff

Former league Commish, Ryan Kirzner

Duffy Wolf 

Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen

Dr. Bob Pelberg

Jimmy Lefton

Mark “Bruiser” Wolf

Alex Kraus

Matt “no, I am not Wes Miller’s Son” Miller

Mr. Fun, Gregg Harris

Danny Grefer

Handsome Sam Castellini

Josh Lisman

Greg “Follow the” Leader 

Corey Norris 

Z also celebrated a birthday 

Random league notes

I know this is way late, but thanks to all of you who ran in the Oy Vey 5K. We broke the record this past year and I hope to do it again next year. So, expect me to bug you all once again.

Jamey “the Rookie” Drennan welcomed a baby girl this off season. Congrats to Jamey.

David “D-Sol” Solomon also became a new dad this offseason.

And I believe Alex Kraus and Jared Kamrass did as well.

Way WAY Back at the end of UC’s football season, Cam Kirzner was selected for the kick for cash and he became only the 2nd person all year to make the field goal. $1,000 bucks for going to a UC game. Not a bad Saturday!

As we all know Albert Weisbrot likes to sing the National Anthem at sporting events around town. He’s a UC Season ticket holder, yet somehow still enjoys singing at XU games. I hope it was way off key like Carl Lewis back in the day.

Has anyone ever seen Mr. Mike and Pat McAfee in the same place at the same time? They look more and more alike by the day.

A big thank you to Rick Lefton who has been on the softball commission for 24 years on and off. Thanks for everything you do for the league and the JCC in general.

I was talking to a buddy of mine who lives in Atlanta and they have a modified fast pitch league there as well. He told me they have an 80-year-old pitcher, so Howie and Eppy you’ve got something to shoot for. 

Zach Michelson was the first person to sign up for the league this year. Not sure what that means other than that Zach was logged in and ready to go at 12:01. 

I have never rooted more for a player whose team I have zero interest in than Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Can she teach the UC point guards how to pass like she does? 

It’s going to be even MORE Fun this year to watch OSU with all the Yankee money they spent on NIL this off season still not win the National title and still finish 4-5 in the country. (Although I am a little bitter about losing Caleb Downs) 

Going to Opening Day is fun and we all love seeing GABP packed but when it’s two outs and the top of the 9th and I’m the only one standing in my entire section to get the last out since no one there even realized that it was the 9^th, I could do without those “fans.” I did enjoy the guy in the Puig signed jersey sitting in front of me betting on his phone all game. And yet Pete is still suspended. 

Am I the only dad of a little leaguer who finds it insane to spend $300+ on a bat? I love Jacob, you guys all love Jacob, but he isn’t the next Joey Votto.

Speaking of Votto, I wish we could banish to Pittsburgh or maybe the South Side of Chicago all of the Reds fans who don’t understand why the Reds let him walk this off season (with $7 million dollars). He wasn’t good the last two years, they have no place to play him, and they want to get younger. It’s as simple as that. Father Time never loses.

Finally, if you are ever fortunate to get a call from Roger make sure you have a good 10-45 minutes to talk. And that includes listening to his messages. Roger is like the guys in the Progressive commercials who are turning into their parents but without kids or parents. He’s just that guy 🙂 But that’s why we love him. Don’t ever change, Roger!!

The league preview will drop sometime this weekend can’t wait to see everyone out at the field next week.

Marc