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MARTIAL ARTS

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Temple Shir Shalom team members and their families celebrate.

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2219 Cole Street

Steve Stein I Contributing Writer

T

emple Shir Shalom has
won 11 championships in
the 20-year history of the
InterCongregational Men's Club Summer
Softball League.
Perhaps the most unexpected title came
this summer.
Tied 5-5 with Congregation B'nai
Moshe in the bottom of the eighth
inning in the playoff championship
game at Community Sports Park in West
Bloomfield, Shir Shalom won 6-5 on a
walk-off walk to Dan Lippett with two out
and the bases loaded.
Walks are rare in slow-pitch softball.
Walk-off walks rarely happen.
"I thought we'd be competitive this sea-
son. I didn't think we had a championship
team" said Shir Shalom player-manager
Howard Rosner.
Shir Shalom hadn't won a league cham-
pionship since 2012. In 2015, it went 13-1
during the regular season, earning the
No. 1 seed for the playoffs, and won four
straight post-season games.
Defense was Shir Shalom's forte. It
allowed only 78 runs in 18 games for an
average of 4.3 runs per game. It outscored
its opponents 218-78, an average of 12.1
to 4.3 per game.
Rosner said outfielders Jaryd Elias
and Michael Cooper played crucial roles
in Shir Shalom's stingy defense. Elias
improved tremendously in his third year
on the team and Cooper, a veteran, "is in
the best shape I've seen him in 15 years,"
Rosner said.
Shir Shalom was one of the league's
older teams. Rosner said except for Adam
Fox and Elias, who are in their 20s, the
rest of the team are at least in their 30s.
Fox, who was Shir Shalom's bat boy
when he was a youngster, is the son of
the late Jeff Fox, a beloved former Shir
Shalom player who died in December
2011. The league's annual sportsmanship
award is named for him.
Also on the Shir Shalom roster were
Michael Bloch, Richard Elias, Howard
Wintman, Gary Grossman, Ron Lippett,
Scott Emmer, Pat Tigue and Bob Tarnow.

Birmingam MI 48009

B'nai Moshe, a first-year team, got off
to a quick 3-0 lead over Shir Shalom in
the top of the first inning of the cham-
pionship game on a three-run homer by
Sam Yashinsky. But it scored two runs in
the next seven innings.
"That was a tough loss" said B'nai
Moshe player-manager Joey Yashinsky.
"We're going to think about that game all
winter"
B'nai Moshe went 10-4 during the regu-
lar season and finished in fourth place
behind Shir Shalom, Temple Israel No. 2
(12-2) and Temple Israel No. 1 (11-3).
A thrilling 12-10 win over Temple Israel
No. 2 in the playoff semifinals sent B'nai
Moshe into the championship game.
Down 10-6 in the top of the seventh,
B'nai Moshe scored six runs to win. Joey
Yashinsky's two-out, three-run homer put
B'nai Moshe ahead for good.
Also on the B'nai Moshe roster were
Gary Yashinsky, Gabe Yashinsky, Iry
Kriszenfeld, Michael Ross, Michael
Lipson, Paul Margolis, Matt Weingarden,
Jerry Katzman, Aubrey Topper and
Stephen Maiseloff.
"We were a very tight-knit group.
Everyone really pulled for each other"
Joey Yashinsky said.
"There's nothing better than taking the
field with my dad (Gary Yashinsky). Me at
short, him at third and, if anything gets by
us, my brother Sam (a former University
of Michigan pitcher) backing us up in
leftfield."
Several B'nai Moshe players formerly
played for Adat Shalom because B'nai
Moshe didn't have a team.
"It felt great for a lot of us to represent
B'nai Moshe after being longtime mem-
bers," Joey Yashinsky said. "(B'nai Moshe
executive director) Steve Fine offered
great support to the team:'
Shir Shalom beat Adat Shalom No. 2
10-0 in the other playoff semifinal game.
Adat Shalom No. 2 had a good playoff run
after going 9-5 during the regular season
and finishing in sixth place. *

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com .

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October 22 • 2015

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