JCC Softball Cincinnati

Another picture perfect night for softball last night. What’s more amazing, the Reds winning 11 in a row or not having a single Wednesday postponed by rain and it’s June 22?  

On Field 1, we had Team Stu vs Team Z

Stu for the winners:

It was a great day to be a sports fan in Cincinnati. All 3 of America’s teams, Reds, FCC and Team Solomon, won yesterday. What a time to be alive!

Team Solomon defeated Team Zawatsky 15-7 in a game that never felt in doubt. The team really had their hard hats on and went to work on Team Z. It was great overall defensive effort helping Stuart “MVP” Solomon to his first pitching win. Solomon was quoted after the game ” I really just tried to hit spots and keep the team off-balance.”

Stuart “Captain of the Year” Solomon went 4-5 and scored 5 times. He was robbed of an inside-the-park homer by the ball taking a fortuitous bounce over the fence in left for a ground-rule double. Tyler ” The Natural” Stansbury went 4-5 with several hard hit balls. Andrew ” Mr. 5th Round” Solomon finally showed why he was wrongly rated a 5 going 3-3. Some people are saying his captain and blood relative made a batting stance change which propelled him to make better contact. Additionally, Evan “Logan aka Kevin” Weisser had two big hits along with Oren “Best Basketball Player in the League Yes, better than Mayer” Shmoel was on base twice. Special thanks to Landon ” Everyone’s Favorite Doctor” Krantz for subbing and helping with the win.

We caught up with Commish Ryan Silverman after the game. “I knew this team had it in them. We have the talent to make some noise in the second half.”

Lastly Andrew Solomon had this to say to the ratings committee channeling his inner Kirk Cousins after his 3-3 performance “YOU LIKE THAT!”

On Field 2 we had Team Brafman vs. Team Wolf Machine

Once again Team Wolf found a way to win 11-7. With some timely hitting by Matt Brodof, Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz and Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf they did just enough to get the win. With a makeshift infield Mike Gray pitched a great game getting Team Brafman to put the ball in the air time and time again. The game-winning JCC “hit” was off the bat of Daniel “The Stache” LaCerva, which scored the two go-ahead runs for Team Wolf. 

Not to be overlooked, super-sub Jacob “JZ” Zeidenstein hit two homers over the fence, a double and made at least 3 fantastic catches in LC. Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum would like to thank all of Team Wolf for his workout in LF. At least 10 balls were hit foul or out of play last night. Ryan can now cross training for the Flying Pig off his bucket list.

On Field 3 it was Team Kamrass vs the short handed Team Fogel

Micah for the winners:

A complete team effort was turned in by Team Kamrass in a 20 – 5 victory against Team Fogel.  There was some pregame apprehension with the team missing “Captain Phillips” Micah Kamrass, “Super” James Swan, and Michael “Fear the Deer” Margolis.  But the team responded well powered by a 14-run 3^rd inning.  Everyone scored at least once in the game with Adam “Laundromat Billionaire” Heldman scoring 3 times and Zach “I’m a father now” Mayer crossing the plate 4 times.  Ace Jeff “Fink” Finkelstein turned in a beauty on a sore knee with the defense playing a super clean game in support. 

and Roger for Team Fogel

This is going to be short and to the point…..we stunk!

Not only did we lose in a one sided affair, COREY “I DON’T NEED WARM-UPS” NORRIS took a shot on his hand and had to leave the game. By then the game was in hand for TEAM KAMRASS. No report at press time on his availability for Sunday’s game.

Two notes of interest in the game:

1. The game was delayed about 15 minutes while the second base bag was being fixed. I’ve never seen that in my years in the JCC league.

2. Another oddity that I’ve never seen in the league was when I was at the plate and the ball hit me on the inside of my foot and the umpire asked me if the ball hit me. I said “yes” which it did and he said to go to first base.

In a game where captain JEREMY “THE COMET” FOGEL was vacationing in Madison, Wisconsin, home of THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN NCAA WOMEN’S 2023 HOCKEY CHAMPION, his father JOEL couldn’t get his team in the win column.

Asked afterwards if he had contacted him after the awful game, he said, “BARB (JEREMY’S mother and JOEL’S wife) was texting the entire game until he finally said, “Enough is enough.”…..it was pretty ugly.

Jeremy returns Sunday and will try to get the team back on track. Stay tuned!

TIDBITS….

*The oldtimers may remember MARK FAIREMAN…..he recently passed away…..He was always at games with a smile on his face…..one memory stands out…..it was his birthday (the same day as mine) and someone hired a stripper to attend the game……he was all smiles that game!…….

And finally on field 4

Team Wagner vs. Team Lefton

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner took down Team Lefton 19-17 on Wednesday night.  The scoring started early and often for both teams, with Lefton scoring five runs in the top of the 1st and Wagner putting up a six-run bottom of the 1st.  Wagner doubled up in the 2nd inning and led 12-5 going into the 3rd.  Team Lefton battled back throughout the game with four combined homers by Matt Leader and Anton Loon (2-each) and solid hits from Jimmy Lefton, David Weil, and Peter Brownell.  Team Wagner stayed aggressive on the basepaths and had solid hitting contributions from Ian Conwell, Mark Franklin, Jerry Kirzner, Howie Schwartz, and AJ Goldhoff.  Cam Kirzner and Brad Wagner also contributed defensively. 

Team Wagner takes on Team Kamrass on Sunday.  The game will be aired on Fox19 with Deion Sanders and Otis Nixon on the call.

Team Lefton takes on Team Zawatsky on Sunday.  The game will be aired on PBS with Skip Bayless and Woody Paige on the call.

League Notes

Once again thanks to league sponsor Big Gig Franklin on sponsoring not only the league, but also Wing Night last night

A huge week for birthdays: Mike Margolis, Marc Brafman, Joel Buckley, Jared Kamrass and Mike Kahan

An assist to Adam Cronstein on my glaring omission on not mentioning the passing of JCC softball legend, The Iron Sheik ,last week. While everyone knows about how he became the WWF champ in 1984 (only to lose it to Hulk Hogan), what isn’t as well known is that he was a star pitcher on some great JCC teams in the early 90s. It was on the softball field that he acquired his love of trash talking which translated to Twitter where he was a fabulous follow.   Roger will now be marking up all of his WWF cards to .25 cents

I bumped into both Ryan Small and Bryce Anslinger at the Zoo LaLa fund raiser last weekend. It was great to catch up with both guys but it was a little hard to talk to Bryce since so many people kept trying to feed him leaves and other giraffe food.

Camp Wildbrook has started once again this week. I’m happy to report the camp looks the same as it did when all of us went there. 

Joel Fogel and I were both talking about how this week going to Reds games just felt different. Jacob and I went on Monday (The Votto game) while Joel went on Tuesday (The TJ Friedl game) and we both remarked how no one left, the crowd was into it from the jump and even the pizza chant wasn’t as loud as it used to be because people actually cared about the outcome and not just getting pizza. I have no idea if the Reds can keep this up but I can tell you that they sure are fun to watch.  “Where ya gonna go”?   One other note on the Reds now that they have DFA’d Wil Meyers…is there any position player that you don’t root for? Jon Spears and I were talking about this the other day. I can’t remember a Reds team where if this or that guy came to the plate you’d almost want to boo them for one reason or another. (Moose, Punisher Jr, Brandon Larson, Willie Green, Jim Edmonds come to mind)  There is no one that I feel that way about on this team. That might be the first time ever.

It was pointed out to me that currently the City of Cincinnati is on something like a 25 game winning streak if you factor in FCC and the end of the Bengals regular season and the Reds 11 game win streak. 

Roger is putting in orders for all current Reds bobbleheads. Get in line he says.

See everyone on Sunday

Marc

It was a late night for Team Wolf after they beat a stubborn Team Grefer. Here’s Wes for the victors:

Team Wolf improves to 10-0 this season in a 11-8 battle against team Grefer. Somehow these two teams always play a close game and this was no different. 

After jumping out to their trademark early lead, it was 6-1 by the end of the second inning. Team Grefer just wouldn’t go away, trading scores with team Wolf until it was 11-6 going into the bottom of the sixth. Both shortstops, David Wertheim and Wes Wolf, seemed to be exchanging highlight reel plays throughout the game. 

With two outs in the sixth, Team Grefer’s top of the order came through for two runs. After a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, the window was cracked open, but Mike Gray and the Team Wolf defense came through in the bottom of the seventh to slam it shut. This team keeps on fighting, through injuries and close games, and shows no signs of slowing up. 

After lousy weather Sunday, Ryan called in another favor and…voila!…another perfect night for softball.

 Before we get to the recaps, I know most of you know this but a sad week here at JCC softball central as friend to the league and friendly face to all who knew him, Jeff Elkus passed away over the weekend. While Jeff never played in the league, a bigger sports fan you could never find. He was a fixture at the J and events around the JCC for many years. I hope the Reds keep winning in his honor this year. 

Now onto the recaps:

On field 1, we had Team Lefton vs. Team Kamrass

Micah for the winners:

Playing with just 9 because Jordan Skinner took a ball off the face in warm ups (but stayed to cheer us on and watch with the use of just one eye), Team Kamrass came from behind to avenge its first half loss against Team Lefton by a score of 11-6. Other than a ball over the fence by super sub Josh Kotzin, Jamie silenced us through the first 5. Pedro Cerrano woke up our bats in the 6th, where we put up a 9 spot. Kamrass and Raskin started the rally, and the biggest hit was a blast from David Solomon that bounced to the fence. Ben Margolis also had a beautiful bunt hit. Fink came out with the lead in the bottom of the 6th and struck out two, and then was lights out in the 7th to put the game away. The defense was sharp across the board tonight, especially with just 9 guys. We had lefties at short and third, and they both availed themselves well. “This was step one of two on our revenge tour,” said Captain Kamrass. “We can’t wait to get Wolf in a few weeks.”

On Field 2 it was Team Zawatsky vs. Team Brafman

For the second time this year without their captain, Team Brafman run ruled a team winning 18-3 for their 3rd win in a row. A 13-run first inning highlighted by a grand slam by Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan was the big hit. Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley, Eric “the Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen and todd “the Mayor” Wasserman also contributed with multiple hits each. “Everyone on the team got hits and Eppy pitched a great game,” Dee Harris said post game. “Our defense continues to play great behind Eppy.  I think it would be better for Captain Brafman to continue to stay away from our team moving forward.”

Next week Team Brafman tries their hand vs. the Big Wolf Machine

On Field 3 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Wolf

Team Wolf won 11-8 to remain undefeated. 

Finally on Field 4 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Wagner

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner took down Team Solomon 9-6 on Wednesday night in front of a crowd of four mothers, five babies, and two dogs.  Team Solomon jumped ahead with two runs in the top of the 1st, but Team Wagner tied it in the bottom of the 2nd and never looked back.  As our good friend Dan Hoard would say, the coffin nails for the victors came in the top of the 7th when Captain Wagner (who can’t make a good throw if his life depended on it) and Chris Kunkel hit back-to-back homers.  Wagner’s was more of a triple (his 2nd of the day) with an error.  Kunkel cleared the left-field fence.  Other big hits came from John Spears, Jerry Kirzner, and Matt Grindle.  Grindle executed a great bunt for a hit late in the game.  Defensively, Josh Rosen made an early case for the catch of the year off the bat of Harry Meisner.  Meisner crushed a Howie Schwartz pitch to the deepest part of Field 4, and Josh Rosen got to the fence in time to reach over and take the homer away from Harry.

Wagner takes on Team Lefton next Wednesday.  That game will be televised on PBS with Van Earl Wright and John McEnroe on the call.

Solomon takes on Team Zawatsky next Wednesday.  The networks are still bidding on that game, but Max Kellerman and Gene Okurland will be in the booth.

League notes

As Ryan mentioned earlier, good luck to Scott “Dire” Wolf on recovery from surgery on his broken finger. Get better soon, Scott.

Former league batting champ and all round good guy Taylor “May the” Schwartz Be with you got engaged over the weekend in Chicago. He reports that the Lincoln Park Softball league doesn’t hold a matzah ball to our league. 

Is there a more random fan/team than AJ Goldhoff rooting for the Denver Nuggets? After they won the NBA title he posted numerous pictures of him in his old Alex English, K-Mart and Kiki Vandeweghe jersey’s. Congrats on the title, AJ.

Last night at the Silver Spring House, Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner surprised and impressed Jacob and me with his knowledge of random Reds who have worn the number #43 (which is Jacob’s number). This was off the top of his head, not looking it up. Our favorite was Tim “We all live in a Layana Submarine.” I honestly couldn’t tell you the numbers of most of the current Reds.

I bumped into the “Minister of Fun” Dave Cohen at the Dead and Company show at Riverbend on Tuesday night. It was great catching up. Not so great, he had just bought the new tour shirt and put it on. Note to you kids out there. Don’t be that GUY!! (Name the movie, win fab prizes)

Once again it’s Wing Night on June 21 at the Spring House. Please plan on coming

Apparently the Reds are now calling themselves “America’s Team.” I love what they are doing and how they play the game, but really…America’s Team? For beating the Cards and Royals who Team Wolf could beat? Let’s see how they do vs. Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore and San Diego the rest of the month. One more note on the Reds: I don’t think Votto coming back will hurt them at all. Move Steer to LF keep Votto hitting 6-8 in the order and also have him DH from time to time. Senzel can become the new Newman and play a few spots, send Jose “Punisher Jr.” Barrero back to Louisville and flat out release Wil Myers. I don’t want to see Wil Myers ever playing again, and I can’t stress that enough. No way should he take away at bats from Benson, or any of the young guys. Votto gets the benefit of the doubt.  Last point on the Reds. Jason Williams from the Enquirer wrote that Votto is the reason the Reds should never give out big contracts. That is wrong. The Reds can and should give out big contracts, then build a team around that big contract. They didn’t learn that lesson with Jr. and for the most part didn’t learn with Votto. I 100% blame ownership and place zero blame on the players.

Roger will be selling Las Vegas Golden Knight’s posters at the game on Wednesday. Make sure to get there early to get one.

See everyone Wednesday night.

Marc 

I take full blame for the weather yesterday. For 9 weeks I’ve been gushing about how great the weather has been. So please blame me for the rain and wind yesterday. Also, in my next life I want to grow up to a TV Weatherman. They never have to be right, they are almost always wrong and no one seems to care. 

On to the action on the field. 

On Field 1 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Wagner

Team Brafman won 12-4 or something like that. Super Sub JZ hit two 2-run homers and Joel “Hallelujah”  Buckley set the table by going 4-4 and making three amazing plays in the field. Captain Brafman had a couple of hits and 3 RBI’s. Dee Harris continued his strong season at the plate, while Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman also came through with a big RBI single. On defense besides Buckley, Griff Harris, “The Hebrew Hammer” Ryan Baum Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan and Alex Kraus all flashed the leather for Team Brafman. “Winning two in a row I believe is what you call a winning streak,” team leader and sage vet, Eppy, said post game. “I’m just trying to keep the ball over the plate and let my defense work for me.”

Team Brafman looks to make it three in a row Wednesday vs Team Zawatsky 

On Field 2 we had Team Kamrass vs. Team Grefer

Micah for the winners:

Team Kamrass topped Team Grefer 8-6 in a rain shortened six inning game. It was a real back and forth battle. Fink stayed sharp with the weather, and the entire team played great defense. The defensive highlight was a RCF-SS-C double play to kill a rally. Team Grefer led 6-5 at the end of the 5th. Eric Goldstein had a blast to left in the top of sixth and Team Kamrass went up 8-6. Fink retired the heart of the order 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth before the umpire mercifully called the game. It was good to start of the second half the same way we played most of the first half, finding ways to win close games.

On Field 3 we had the Big “Wolf” Machine vs. Team Stu

Wes once again for the winners

Team Wolf improves to 9-0 this season with another stellar performance. This time, beating the talented Team Soloman in the rain with a 12-2 fifth inning run rule. By that time, the rain had picked up and all seemed pleased to get to dry land. 

Team Wolf jumped out to its trademark early lead with 3 in the first and 6 more in the second inning led by 2 RBI doubles from Mike Gray and Tyler Wolf. Keith “The Hose” Kombrinck had a career day highlighted by two run-scoring leadoff singles, and a perfect throw from catcher, to catch Stu Solomon (who was 2-2 w/ an RBI) stealing second base. 

Mike Gray led the way with another stellar performance on the mound, bringing a shutout into the fourth inning. His intensity, accuracy and leadership, combined with Team Wolf’s consistent defense has proven to be a winning formula this season. 

Finally on Field 4 we had team Fogel vs. Team Zawatsky

Roger for Team Fogel

TEAM FOGEL       16

TEAM ZAWATSKY 6

Playing for the first time in bad weather this season, TEAM FOGEL, jumped out early and often and never looked back as they defeated TEAM ZAWATSKY, 16-6, in a shortened five-inning game.

Both BRANDON “GAMECOCK” WRONKER and captain JEREMY “THE COMET” FOGEL blasted homeruns back-to-back over the right field fence.

It is believed that this feat hasn’t been done since the late 70’s…..if you want to know for sure, ask either GARY GREFER or RICK LEFTON….they’re the historians for the league.

It should also be pointed out that WRONKER’s parents were visiting from Atlanta and his father video taped the shot. Also it should be noted, his wife and mother were late getting to the game and missed it.

“That was my first homerun over the fence in my 25 years of playing softball or baseball and my mother missed it, he said afterwards. “I guess she and my wife had to make sure their make-up was just right before going to the game.”

Everyone on the team except ROGER “X MAN” ROSENTHAL got hits and added to the offensive explosion.

“Hey, someone has to make outs and I’m pretty good at it. I’ve been hitting the ball well, but like anyone in a hitting slump, the ball tends to find someone. Maybe I’ll ask MATT “THE BEARCAT” MILLER for some hitting tips and see if he can help a teammate out. I wonder if he wants to help a XAVIER fan out.”

COREY “DON’T CALL ME CY” NORRIS pitched a nice game and was helped by a stellar defense.

TEAM FOGEL has a bye this coming week and rumors are flying that the team will go see the movie, THE BAD NEWS BEARS, on how not to play softball.

LEAGUE NOTES

1. Since MARC BRAFMAN always talks about the CINCINNATI REDS, let me talk about the XAVIER UNIVERSITY baseball team…..they not only knocked off a top ten UCONN team in the BIG EAST title game to win an automatic bid to the NCAA, but they also knocked off highly regarded VANDERBILT on their home field to stay alive in the tournament. They lost the next game and were eliminated.

2. MARC BRAFMAN bought a bobblehead from me and actually paid me right away…..miracles do happen!

3. KEN GROH wanted to play Sunday so badly, that he hired a private jet to bring him home from Philadelphia…..

4. Recently, I asked ADAM CRONSTEIN’s oldest son if he had a temper like his father. “Sometimes” was the reply from young Cronstein.

5. The NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS are winding down…..can anyone other than a few people in the league (you know who you are) tell me who the two teams left are?

Is this an actual rule and, if so, why? Yesterday during the rain we had league mascot, Jacob Brafman, move our bats under the cover of the concession stand to keep them dry in between innings. But after the 2nd or 3rd, the ump told us we couldn’t do that. Does he think we are pulling a Chris Sabo and corking our bats?

A big shout out to Rabbi Yitz, first on getting back onto the field, but also on the marriage of his son, Schneur, two weeks ago (sorry for the delay). Also attending the wedding and reporting that it was a lot of fun was the “Minister of Fun,” Dave Cohen.

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim has been in the news of late for all of the amazing promoting and jobs his dad’s company, Five Iron Rentals, is doing these days. David runs a great crew and has been on the news promoting all of the festivals and events they are involved in. Keep up the good work since once again you’ll be writing about the 4-5 best team in college football this season. 

No one has played more baseball/softball over the last 50+ years than our guy, Scott Wolf. It’s hard to imagine anyone breaking their finger on a catch like he did last week. Get better soon, Scott.

Mark “The Bruiser” Wolfe’s daughter and my dad share a birthday, or very close to it. So, for some reason my dad finds his way over to their house each year for Mark’s daughter’s birthday party. This year they even baked him a cake which he shared with the kids. Thanks Mark, now I have to do the same.

Speaking of parents it’s always great to see parents and wives at the games. It’s especially amazing when they come out and watch us in the rain. 

A reminder that June 21 is Wing Night at the Silver Spring House. Please plan on going.

In this week in the Reds. It’s Elly time isn’t it? I have no idea if he is the next Eric Davis or the next Billy Hamilton. All I know is that he is must watch TV when he comes to the plate. I don’t know if I can remember in 5 games a guy beating out a grounder to 1B, scoring on a ground ball to the SS with the infield in or scoring from 1st on a double to the gap. And if JR House, the Reds 3rd base coach, hadn’t gotten in his way scoring easily on that play. All I know is this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting (if not good) team to pay attention to the rest of the way. And god help David Bell if he is forced to play Wil Myers any more this year. 

See everyone on Wednesday.

Marc