From the Statue of Liberty
to the athletic fields,
Detroit teams scored high
at Maccabi.
.
ALAN HITSKY
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
t started before the girls saw the Stat-
ue of Liberty from the bus.
Tooling through New Jersey on the
second full day of JCC Maccabi Youth
Games activities last week the Detroit girls
softball team was gettinga-bitrekless ... and
loud. Four Detroit buses were part of a caravan
of 13 heading for a Circle Line cruise on the Hud-
son River, between Manhattan and Hoboken.
"Hey," they shouted. "Can we get a full page in The
Jewish News?"
"No," I said, "but if you win tomorrow, r11 start the sto-
ry with you."
Unfortunately, they didn't win a game all week, but
the softball team epitomized what the Maccabi Games
were all about. Loud is an understatement. Enthusias-
tic is more than accurate.
In their final game, against Philadelphia, Detroit took
a 4-0 lead in the opening inning, cheering every hit and
every catch. "We're ahead, we're ahead," screamed sec-
ond baseman and cheerleader Carley Meyers. "That's
more runs than we scored in our first three games."
Philadelphia tied the score in the bottom of the first
and went ahead by a run in the second off the slowpitch
offerings of Melanie Stein (in a fastpitch tournament).
But Meyers had a revelation: "Hey, you guys. It's the third
inning and we're still in this game." In the first game of
the tournament, Philadelphia had beaten Detroit 24-2.
Ultimately, Philadelphia solved Stein's arcing pitches
and found a way to hit the ball away from Detroit third
baseman Dana Chaiken. Philly pulled away to a 15-5.
win. For the Detroit girls, however, it was a victory any-
way, warmly applauded by the spectators.
Detroit was also applauded after staying close to tour-
nament winner Los Angeles. While beaten 11-0 and
overmatched by the L.A. pitcher, Detroit kept L.A. clos-
er than most of the competition, and the spirited team
• •
BASEBALL
Detroit's boys baseball team, playing in the 13-14-year-
old division, had a learning experience last year at the
Maccabi Games in Los Angeles, finishing 0-4. Last week,
with seven returning players, the boys turned in a rags-
to-riches story, going 3-1 to win the silver medal behind
a .463 team batting average and sharp starting pitching
from Jeff Granat, Eric Wizenberg, Jeremy Brown and
Jared Shiffman.
The hitting was led by Wizenberg with a .667 batting
average; catcher Ben Mutnick, .571; second baseman/out-
fielder Josh Hoffman, .555; shortstop/pitcher Jeremy
Brown, .529; and centerfielder Greg Fox, .471.
The Detroit coaches were a bit superstitious about the
games. Detroit pounded last-place Monmouth, N.J., on
Tuesday, but because they were seeded second to Los An-
geles, Detroit had to play Monmouth again on Wednes-
day.
Coaches Dave Levine, Marty Stein and Jesse Polan
took the same seats at breakfast they had taken all week,
just to keep their winning streak alive. It must have
worked because Detroit had a 10-run lead over Monmouth
after half the game was played and the mercy rule was
invoked for the second straight game.
Pitcher Jeremy Brown spiked a Monmouth player
while sliding into second base on Tuesday. He was hes-
itant to go and apologize after the player was carried from
the field and asked Coach Levine to go over with him.
Later in the game, Brown was admonished by Coach
Stein about shaking off the signs of catcher Ben Mutnick.
"If you do it again, we're going to tell the batter what's
coming," Stein warned, reminiscent of a scene from the
movie Bull Durham.
GYMNASTICS
Erin Kaufman is a mighty-mite at 13 years old, 4 feet
11 inches and a powerful 113 pounds. A Level 9 gymnast
(two levels below Olympic caliber), Kaufman had plenty
of competition at the Maccabi Games. There were 17 Lev-
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