Livingston Temple Softball League 08/07/16

What seemed like the longest season we’ve ever had finally came to an end Sunday with perfect softball weather. In the A Division #1-#5 semi-final AABJD was down 6-3 in the 5^th inning in a game that looked like it could go either way. But as they usually do, Sharey Tefilo Israel found a way and scored 3 in the 5^th and 9 in the 6^th to win it 18-3. In the win, Mark Licht and Jason Grebin had 4 hits each while Steve Weissman and Dave Pressel had 3 apiece. The other semi-final was #2 Pine Brook vs. # 3 B’nai Brith and it was B’nai Brith jumping out early to a 9-0 lead. But Pine Brook closed the gap and made it close until a late surge in the visiting 6^th put BB up by 9 again as they held on for the 22-16 win. For BB, shortstop Alex Lee was 5-5 and 7 players on the team scored at least 2 runs. On defense Paul Veleleis made a lot of plays in the outfield to help hold off Pine Brook. In the A Division final STI jumped out to a 5-0 lead over BB and never looked back winning it 19-4. Ken Gorman led the attack with 4 hits. There were 3 hits each from Eric Rothfeld, Matt Katz, and Mark Licht. Jeff Becker had a homer in the win. On defense Eric Rothfeld threw out a runner at home from deep right field to end the 4^th inning. Jeff Gaier tagged out 2 runners at the plate.

In both B Division semi finals the visiting teams were giving away runs early. #3 B’nai Or fell behind #2 B’nai Jeshurun 10-1 after 1 inning and chased TBJ the whole game but slowly got it to a very tight 15-14 deficit while leaving the tying run at 3^rd in a 6 run 6^th inning. Final score TBJ 18, B’nai Or 16. Pitcher Scott Dodek had 4 hits for the winners. In the loss, Keith Barbarosh was 5-5 with a 2 run single, a run scoring triple, a 3 run homer and a grand slam (10 RBI’s). Jason Cohen had 3 hits and 4 runs. The other B Division semi final was #5 B’nai Israel vs. #8 AABJD/Ohr Torah and B’nai Israel had an early 7 run lead never looking back in a 16-9 win. In a very high scoring B Division final TBJ was ahead of B’nai Israel 20-15 in the bottom of the 6^th. They then proceeded to score 10 runs without recording an out. The final blow was a 2 run homer by Jason Miller to end the game. Also in the win, Dave Stecklowe scored 5 times and knocked a tape measure homerun that plated three. Final score TBJ 30, B’nai Israel 15.