the s orts aoe >> SPONSORED BY THE MICHIGAN 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 SAVE THE DATE THE MICHIGAN JEWISH SPORTS FOUNDATION'S HALL OF FAME INDUCTION DINNER MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2011 CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK HONORING MITCH ALBOM IRVING "PRO" Bow BRUCE SEID RICK SEID HENRY "HANK" WINEMAN 2011 ALVIN FOON HUMANITARIAN AWARD RICHARD BERNSTEIN SPECIAL RECOGNITION JEWISH WAR VETERANS' JOSEPH BALE POST JEWISH NEWS ATHLETES OF THE YEAR ELIZABETH GELB AND STEPHEN SLOBIN ARI CICUREL, BILL HERTZ MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP For ad book, sponsorship opportunities and ticket information, contact David Blatt at 248.592.9323 or dblatt@michiganjewishsports.org $ 10,000 PLATINUM PRESENTING: TABLE OF 10; NAME & LOGO ON PROGRAM COVER; FULL COLOR BACK COVER; RECOGNITION AT GREENBERG GOLF EVENT: MORE!! $7,500 GOLD DINNER: TABLE OF 10; NAME & LOGO DESIGNATION ON PROGRAM COVER; FULL COLOR INSIDE FRONT COVER; RECOGNITION AT GREENBERG; MORE!! $5,000 BRONZE: SEATING FOR 6; FULL-PAGE AD & RECOGNITION IN PROGRAM; RECOGNITION AT GREENBERG GOLF EVENT $2,500 BENEFACTOR: SEATING FOR 4; HALF-PAGE AD & SPONSOR RECOGNITION IN PROGRAM $1,500 PATRON/INCLUDES: SEATING FOR 2; HALF-PAGE AD & SPONSOR RECOGNITION IN PROGRAM FULL-PAGE AD (7.5x10) AT $750 • HALF-PAGE AD (4.75x7.5) AT $500 QUARTER-PAGE AD (3.75x4.875) AT $300 • EIGHT-PAGE AD (3.75x2.435) AT $150 TRIBUTE LINE AT $125 EACH • BACK COVER AT $2,000 • INSIDE COVERS AT $1,750 DINNER TICKETS: YOUTH: $36 (AGES 16 & UNDER) YOUNG ADULT: $75 46 August 18 • 2011 (AGES 17-35) ADULT:$ 175 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 Send news to sports@thejewishnews.com . Contributing Writer T