Extraordinary care close to home ST. JOHN IVACOMB-OAKLAND HOSPITAL Last year's champs Temple Israel No. 2 show off their trophy. • High Quality Orthopedic Care • Leader for Weight Loss Surgeries • Top Hospital for Cardiovascular Care Sunday Softball! I Steve Stein Contributing Writer T A S[JOHN PROVIDENCE. Believe in better stjohnprovidence.org 267 S Lightner Road Port Clinton, OH 43452 Only 20 minutes west of Cedar Point! 1-800-521-2660 brive-Thru Safari Feed the animals and enjoy fun shows! Some animals exhibited in pens $2 00 Off $49.95 Carload Children's Ticket (4-6 years) JCN3 JCN2 Up to 6 people) I JCNc I 1 I Provide e mai address to redeem th s coupon Valid for up to 6 people with coupon • May not be used in combination with any other offer africansafariwildlifepark.com 62 May 14 • 2015 he InterCongregational Men's Club Summer Softball League will be celebrating a sweet 16 this season. No, the league isn't 16 years old. Founded in 1996, this is its 20th season. Sixteen is the number of teams in the league, the most in league history. Four new teams have joined since last year. B'nai Israel Synagogue will be playing in the league for the first time. Young Israel of Southfield is returning after an absence of a few years. Congregation B'nai Moshe has its own team. Its play- ers formerly were on the Temple Kol Ami team. Congregation Shir Tikvah now has a second team. Adat Shalom Synagogue has two teams and Temple Israel has three teams. The other teams are Bais Chabad Torah Center, Congregations Beth Ahm and Shaarey Zedek and Temples Beth El and Shir Shalom. Chuck Freedman, who runs the league along with Commissioner Michael Betman and Steve Achtman, thinks he knows the league's secret for success. He's personally seen the league dou- ble in size from eight to 16 teams since he first played in 2007. "We're a league of friendliness and camaraderie," he said. "We're competi- tive, of course, but we walk on the field as friends and we leave the field as friends. And sometimes we go out for breakfast afterwards:' Besides spanning the breadth of the Detroit-area Jewish community with teams made up of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews, the league is a place for players of all ages. Players must be at least age 18. There are players in their 20s through 70s. Freedman pegs the median age as early 50s. The league has expanded to a second venue this season because there will be more games. Games will be played Sunday mornings starting May 17 on all three diamonds at Community Sports Park as usual and diamond No. 2 at Drake Sports Park also will be used. Both parks are in West Bloomfield. Each team will play 15 regular-season games including four double-headers and everyone will make the single- elimination playoffs. Aug. 9 is the final Sunday of the reg- ular-season. Two rounds of the playoffs will be held Aug. 16, knocking the field down to a Final Four. Semifinals, championship and third- place games will be played Aug. 23 at Community Sports Park. In addition to determining a league champion, the postseason always fea- tures a brunch where players and fami- lies from all the teams eat and shmooze and watch the annual presentation of the Jeff Fox Sportsmanship Award, named in memory of a beloved Shir Shalom player who died in 2011. Another annual highlight of the league season is a fundraiser for West Bloomfield Relay for Life. This year it will be July 5, when no league games will be played because of the holiday weekend. For a minimum $5 donation to Relay for Life, league players can compete in a pickup softball game at Community Sports Park. Temple Israel No. 2 is the defending league champion. Temple Israel No. 1 was the champion in 2013. For both teams, it was their first league title. An 11-3-1 regular-season record in 2014 gave Temple Israel No. 2 the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Temple Israel No. 2 beat surprising Shaarey Zedek 19-9 in the playoff semi- finals and equally-as-surprising Adat Shalom No. 2 7-1 in the title game. Adat Shalom No. 2 stunned 10-time league champion Shir Shalom 7-4 in the semifinals. Shir Shalom rebounded from the loss to beat Shaarey Zedek 12-8 in the third-place game. Seeds didn't matter in last year's playoffs. Adat Shalom No. 2 was the No. 8 seed after a 6-9 regular season and Shaarey Zedek was the No. 10 seed after going 3-12 during the regular season. Temple Israel No. 1 didn't success- fully defend its championship last year, but its 12-3 record was the best in the league during the regular season. ❑ Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com .