Livingston Temple Softball League 06/14/15

Sharey Tefilo Israel (11-0) got off to a slow start this week but after 3 innings were all tied up at 9 with Pinebrook. From that point on TSTI outscored their opponents 8-0 for a 17-9 win. Shutting Pinebrook down was pitcher Mark Licht who had some great defensive plays. The offense was sparked by the hot hitting Jeff Becker who also made some tough line drive catches to help on the defensive side. Umpire Aaron Greenberg, despite being a little under the weather, called a great game and managed to hang in until the final out was recorded. Temple Sinai only had 9 players and Temple Sholom of West Essex took full advantage for their 4^th win of the season with good defense and a balanced attack. Scoring 4 runs in each of the 2^nd through 5^th innings and 8 in the 7^th TSWE defeated Temple Sinai 24-12 with everyone on the winning side getting at least one hit. B’nai Shalom got the best of B’nai Jeshurun in a low scoring affair by a 6-4 margin. Suburban Torah ended AABJD’s 5 game winning streak and now has the 2^nd longest current winning streak in the league with 4 in a row after their 22-18 victory.  

B’nai Brith (9-2) defeated B’nai Abraham 19-4 to remain tied for 1^st in the B division. Home runs by Andrew Kasdan and Ian Rappaport led the way. Steve Weiner also chipped in with a 2-3 performance. Chabad (9-2) broke open a close game with 15 runs in the 4^th inning on the way to a 24-8 win over Temple Emanu-El. In that inning Chabad had 2 doubles followed by 2 triples, a 3 run homer by Joe Boettinger and 2 hits for Mendy Kasowitz including a 2 run homer. Also, John Tishlas was 4-4 with 2 homeruns, 2 doubles and 5 runs scored and a great diving play in LC to pick off a line drive. Mike Giatto had 3 RBI’s, 3 hits including a triple. David Levine was 4-4. Eric Latzman had their final hit which was a 3 run blast. Ner Tamid was tied at 7 with Agudath Israel in the 4^th inning but CAI pulled away from there for a 15-9 win. On offense it was Greg Adlesberg (3-4, HR, 5 RBI’s), Glenn Lieberman (3-4), Charlie Kessler (3-3), James Gurland (2B, 2 RBI). B’nai Or (8-3) won their game against B’nai Israel 17-10 led by Jason Cohen (2B, HR, 5 RBI’S, 2 runs). Also, Craig Rosen had a bases clearing triple, Eric Axler scored 3 times and Scott Charles and Eric Scheingotz belted back to back homeruns. 12 of 13 of B'nai Or's batters scored at least one time. The last game in the B division saw Beth Shalom (8-3) outlasting AABJD/OHR Torah 15-14 in a game that looked like neither team wanted to win. Beth Shalom had a team record 5 homeruns but also an array of errors from their usually sure handed defense. Those mistakes were bailed out with 2 great tag plays at the plate by catcher Jeff Katz on throws from outfielders (Phil Sperling & Justin Friedman) and 3 line drive snares at 3rd (Jeff Wasserman) with the last one ending the game. TBS jumped out to a 5-0 lead but in 2 innings was down 6-5. A 6 run 3rd inning gave Beth Shalom the lead back and solo homeruns from Jon Arnold (3-3) and Zach Cohen put them ahead 13-10 after 5. In the 6th inning Phil Sperling (3 RBI's) had a 2 run homer to stretch it to 15-10 but AABJD/Ohr Torah came back with a 4 run rally which was cut short by Phil's running catch of a line drive in the left center - right center gap. TBS failed to score in the top of the 7th but 3 very hard hit balls in the bottom of the inning were turned into a 1-2-3 inning by the formerly challenged TBS defense. In a game with a lot more close plays than usual, veteran umpire Stu Spraggins got all the calls right as Beth Shalom held on 15-14.  In the win, Doug Netburn (2B, HR, 4 RBI's) and Steve Siegal (3-3, HR, 4 RBI's) led the offense.