Praying Far A

he men's clubs of six
synagogues have bat-
tled it out on the basepa-
ths this summer in the
Inter-Congregational
Men's Clubs Softball

League.
The league began its season on
June 2 and has games scheduled
through Aug. 25. Each team has
a six-game schedule with games
spread out — about every other

Sunday morning — through the
summer.
After four years of attempts to
organize a Jewish congregation-
al softball league ended with just
a few sporadic games being
played on a very informal basis,
the new league emerged with the
help of Adat Shalom member
Brad Silber.
Mark Rafsky, president of the
Beth Achim Men's Club, is ec-
static. "Some of us have
been trying to get it
started for several
years, and Brad was
successful," says Raf-
sky.
The synagogues in-

Left:
Keith Sirlin sprints for third
base as Rob Winer
backhands a grounder.

Below:
Keith Sirlin takes a mighty
swing.

/ -

eluded in the new league are Adat
Shalom, Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses, Beth Achim, B'nai Moshe,
Shaarey Zedek and Temple Is-
rael.
Games are played Sunday
mornings at North Farmington
High School, with High Meadows
Middle School as a backup.
There is a lot of informality to
the league. There are no fees to
pay, no playoff or championship
games and no trophies. Games
are played without called balls
and strikes and players umpire
their own games.
"It is real laid-back," says Neal
McPherson, captain of the Tem-
ple Israel Brotherhood team. "A
lot of the guys are tired of softball
leagues that are just too orga-
nized."
Players belong to their syna-
gogue men's club or temple broth-
erhood and must be at least 18
years old to participate. Although
the average age of the players is
mid-30s, there are some 60-year-
olds playing in the league.
A few of the older players bring
the wooden bats of their youth to
the games. "Some of the wooden
bats are older than I am," says
Silber.
"This is softball the old-fash-
ioned way," says B'nai Moshe
team co-captain and manager
Michael Betman. "You just play
your games and have fun."
Silber adds, "We play a low-
pressure, low-anxiety kind of
game."
A wide variety of professions
are represented on the field: den-
tists, lawyers, firemen, insurance
salesmen, chiropractors and even
a rabbi — Aaron Bergman of
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses.
"Sunday morning softball," Sil-

Michael Beresh of Beth Achim adds style to the pitch.

ber says, "is a good way to meet
the members of men's clubs from
other shuls and have a good
time."
All of the men who show up get
a chance to play. Every player is
put into the batting lineup and
fielding positions are rotated.
Occasionally, there is some dif-
ficulty getting enough players to
show up, says Betman. "On Sun-
day mornings, people want to
spend time with their families."
Even the Temple Israel team,
drawing from a temple member-
ship of close to 3,000 families,
sometimes has difficulty round-
ing up enough players, according
to McPherson.
Alan Kideckel of the Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses team is
hopeful that the league will grow
and turn into something more of-

ficial.
Beth Achim's Rafsky agrees.
"We have the basis for the be-
ginning of a formal league," he
says. "As the league continues to
grow, we could end up setting up
a 35-arid-older league, in addition
to a younger league."
For next season, Silber hopes
to add an additional team or two
and a few more games to each
team's schedule. "But we don't
want to add too much. People
have other things that they want
to do on Sunday mornings."
McPherson is cautious about
expansion. "I'm all for competi-
tion," he says. "But this is more
of a brotherhood-based league.
The purpose is not to be all that
competitive. The danger of a for-
mal league is that we might lose
some of the marginal players."

Six congregations trot out their
best on the bases.

YAACOV D. SCHOLAR SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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