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JEWISH SPORTS FOUNDATION
Eric Mintz
Temple Shir Shalom
third baseman
Eric Mintz was a
pain in the neck
to opponents this
season in the Inter-
Congregational
Men's Club Summer
Softball League. The 39-year-old chiro-
practor from West Bloomfield was an
outstanding fielder at the hot corner.
He flagged down a hard ground ball
with the bases loaded and nobody out
and turned it into a rally-killing double
play during Shir Shalom's 22-7 win over
Congregation Beth Ahm in the league
championship game.
Ethan Weinfeld
Ethan Weinfeld is
participating in his
fourth and final JCC
Maccabi Games this
week. He's a member
of the Detroit Maccabi
inline hockey team
that's playing in Philadelphia. The
16-year-old defenseman from West
Bloomfield helped the team win gold
and silver medals the past two years.
He played baseball in his first Maccabi
Games. Weinfeld will be a junior this fall
at the Frankel Jewish Academy in West
Bloomfield. He plays baseball and soccer
there.
emple Shir Shalorh
championship team,
Shir Shalom beats Beth Ahm for title.
Steve Stein
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46
August 18 • 2011
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play, we make it," Rosner said.
Besides Rosner, Shir Shalom's ros-
ter this season included David Blume
here's no stopping Temple
(manager emeritus), Mike Cooper, Brian
Shir Shalom in the Inter-
Efrusy, Richard Elias, Scott Emmer, Jeff
Congregational Men's Club
Fox, David Gach, Gary Grossman, Evan
Summer Softball League.
Kaplan (injured list), Eric Mintz, Dan
The West Bloomfield temple won
and Ron Lippitt, Ryan Schneider, Bob
another league championship, its third
Tarnow, Pat Tighe and Howard Whitman.
in a row and fifth in six years, with a
These guys aren't spring chickens.
dominating performance Aug. 7 in the
Players range in age from 33 to older
playoff semifinals and finals at Keith
than 70.
Elementary School in West Bloomfield.
Beth Ahm won a wild semifinal game
The guys beat Temple Beth El of
to get a shot at Shir Shalom in the cham-
Bloomfield Township 23-8 in the semi-
pionship game.
finals and Congregation Beth Ahm of
Down 23-13 to West Bloomfield's
West Bloomfield 22-7 for the champion- Temple Israel No. 2 after three innings,
ship. Both games were stopped by the
Beth Ahm scored eight runs in the
mercy rule.
fourth and 16 runs in the fifth while
"Shir Shalom is a complete team.
holding Temple Israel scoreless and won
There are no cracks in their armor," said
37-23 in a game halted after five innings
Beth Ahm manager/player Marc Soble.
by the time limit.
Since losing 21-11 to Temple Kol Ami of
Soble said his team was drained after
West Bloomfield in its only playoff game
the 60-run game and it was missing one
in 2008, Shir Shalom has been on a tear.
of its best players, but he didn't want to
It has won 33 of 34 regular-season
use those as excuses for not giving Shir
games and all eight of its playoff games.
Shalom a better battle.
Its only loss was a 7-4 setback to Beth
"They're a better team, and it's a dif-
El during the 2010 regular season. Shir
ficult task to beat them',' he said.
Shalom has scored 805 runs in 42 games
The loss to Shir Shalom didn't tarnish
over the past three seasons, an average of Beth Ahm's season.
nearly 20 runs per game.
"Getting to the championship game
Shir Shalom was 12-0 in the regular-
was a little bit of a surprise," Soble said.
season and 3-0 in the playoffs this
"We had a wonderful group of guys.
summer. All 12 league teams made the
They played hard, encouraged each other
playoffs, which once again were single-
and showed good sportsmanship. It was
elimination.
a pleasure playing alongside them."
Experience, depth and talent make
Besides Soble, Beth Ahm's roster
up Shir Shalom's recipe for success.
included Steve Davidson, Steve Edelman,
Most of its players have been on the
Rob Fidler, Fabio Giske, Jason Golnick,
team at least seven years, creating con-
Ashley Israel, Howard Jacobson, Doug
tinuity and chemistry.
and Jeff Kahan, Howie Lupovitch, Ronn
"But that's just part of it',' said manager/ Nadis, Bruce and Jacob Sable, Mark
player Howard Rosner. "We have guys who Weiss and Doug Woll.
can play several positions well, and our
Shir Shalom's recent run of champion-
No.1 through No. 9 hitters could probably ships has given it nine since the league
hit cleanup on most teams in the league!'
was formed in 1996. That's two more than
Softball is as much a game of defense
all the other teams combined. Its three-
as it is offense, and Shir Shalom plays
peat is the first in league history. I 1
great defense.
"When we have a chance to make a
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Contributing Writer
T