Livingston Temple Softball League 07/19/15

The higher seeded team won every game in the 1st and 2nd round of yesterday's playoffs in both the A and B divisions. During the regular season the visiting teams held a 71-55 advantage for the 126 games played. But this past Sunday the home teams were 12-0 to make up most of the deficit. Top seeded Sharey Tefilo Israel won their first game by a 15-3 margin over B'nai Jeshurun. 4th seeded Temple Sinai edged 5th seeded Suburban Torah 9-6 to set up a meeting with the 1st place team in the 2nd round. For 4 innings STI only led by 1 run at 7-6 but last year's champs scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 5th to take a 15-6 lead. 5 runs from Temple Sinai in the top of the 6th made it 15-11 but that was how the game ended for Sharey Tefilo Israel's 37th win in a row and a 3rd consecutive date in the A division final. In the other half of the A draw, 2nd seeded AABJD defeated B'nai Shalom 15-14 in a game that they led all the way but only narrowly. For the winners, Jay Gertleman and Rafi Abramowitz both homered. 3rd seeded Pinebrook were 14-12 winners over Temple Sholom of West Essex to move into the semifinals against AABJD. Rafi Abramowitz led the way with another homerun and both Marty Moskovitz and Doni Israel had 3 RBI's in AABJD's 18-13 win as they moved into the final against Sharey Tefilo Israel.

In the B division's 1st round, B'nai Brith had no problem with B'nai Abraham in a 25-10 win. The top seeded B division team was led by the strong hitting of Ken Merber, Steve Miller, Ian Rappaport and Paul Velelis. Steve Weiner also batted 1.000 in the win. Jason Crimmins made the play of the game with a back to the plate over the shoulder grab of a long drive in center field to take away a scoring threat from B'nai Abraham. #2 seeded Chabad had a little more trouble in their first matchup getting by 7th seeded B'nai Israel 15-10. Chabad of West Orange got on the scoreboard early scoring 4 in the first. Then the game went back and forth. BI was up by 4 runs in the 4th. In the 5th CWO brought 8 runners across the plate to go up for good. Eric Latzman shut down a possible rally for BI in the 6th. With no one out and men on first and second he picked a short hop at third, stepped on the bag and fired a strike to first for a double play. For CWO: leadoff Donny Kanovsky was 2/3 and scored twice. Jon Tishlas was 3/3 plus a walk and scored 3 times. Evan Bell was 4/4. Jeff Stiel was 3/3 with 3 RBI's and 2 doubles. Peter Gelman didn't walk anyone, scored twice and had a 2 run double in the first. # 3 seed Beth Shalom led the whole way against Temple Emanu-El but some great defensive plays from the E-Men's Gary Lubin and a 2 run HR from Hal Bellovin kept the game close. Beth Shalom finally gained an 11-7 win over a team that they had not beaten in the playoffs for well over 10 years. In the win, Mark Konstandt (3-3, 2 runs), Zach Cohen (2B, 2 runs), Gabe Ollins (2-3, 2 RBI's) and Eric Naggar (2-3 2 RBI's). # 4 seeded B'nai Or was matched against # 5 Agudath Israel in the 1st round and they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. But Agudath Israel led by Paul Aronoff (5-5) were ahead 9-4 by the 4th inning. In the bottom of the 4th and 5th B'nai Or scored 2runs each to cut the deficit to 9-8. While the CAI bats went cold B'nai Or added 6 more in the 6th and won it 14-9. Pitcher Bill Schlosser made 2 putouts, had 3 assists and hit a single, double and triple scored 3 runs and drove in 3 for the winners. Also, Keith Barbarosh ann Todd Gutkin each had 3 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI's. Eric Axler had 3 hits and scored twice. The semi finals in the B division were anticlimactic with the #1 and #2 seeds each winning by 15 runs. B'nai Brith topped B'nai Or 20-5 and Chabad defeated Beth Shalom