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Shir Shalom No. 2 shows off its Rosen Division championship trophy.
Softball Champs
Show Compassion
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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32
September 7 • 2017
jn
2201620
t was an easy decision. And a
unanimous one.
Temple Shir Shalom No. 2’s
players agreed to change the time of
the team’s InterCongregational Men’s
Club Summer Softball League Rosen
Division playoff championship game
Aug. 20 to allow a player from the
opposing team to play.
Instead of starting the game at
10:20 a.m. at Community Sports Park
in West Bloomfield, the game began
at 8 a.m. A player from Congregation
Shaarey Zedek couldn’t play if the
game was at the original start time
because of a family commitment.
“It’s very important to us that we
always represent Shir Shalom’s values,”
said Shir Shalom No. 2 coach Mitch
Kline. “We’re friendly and supportive.”
League director Steve Achtman
worked with West Bloomfield Parks
and Rec and the game’s two umpires
to make the time switch.
“We look out for each other in our
league,” Achtman said.
Shir Shalom No. 2 beat Shaarey
Zedek 13-7, leading the game from
start to finish, but the final score took
a back seat to brotherhood.
“One of best things about our
league is getting to meet and know
players from other synagogues,” Kline
said. “It isn’t all about winning softball
games.”
Shir Shalom No. 2’s roster included
Kline and his son Evan Kline, Dan
Cohen and his sons Jared Cohen and
Seth Cohen, synagogue director Andre
Douville and his son Zach Douville,
Rabbi Dan Schwartz, Rabbi Michael
Moskowitz, Scott Hutten, Dave
Raminick, Dan Krauss, Brad Golder,
Michael Weinberger, Paul Gedrich,
Lonnie Meyers, Alex Vinter and Glenn
Scher.
“This was only our second year as a
team, so we’re proud of our champi-
onship,” Mitch Kline said.
With a record 18 teams in the
league this summer, the league was
split into divisions for the first time.
There were three divisions with six
teams apiece, based on competition
levels.
‘DETROIT HUSTLES HARDER’
Detroit had two 16U basketball teams
— Detroit Blue and Detroit White —
at the JCC Maccabi Games & ArtsFest
in Miami.
“Neither team came home with a
medal, but both showed tremendous
fight, representing their ‘Detroit
Hustles Harder’ warm-up shirts well,”
said co-coach Jeremy Fishman.
The Blue team, comprised of all
Detroit players, included four-year
Maccabi Games athletes and captains
A.J. Gilbert and Evan Vine, who led
the Detroit delegation through the
opening ceremonies. Gilbert and Vine
played in every year of their Maccabi
Games eligibility.
The team also had a three-year
player, Mitchell Sherr, and two-year
players Ari Yaker, Ari Singer, Jackson
Blau and Blake Zamler. The sole rook-
ie was Ryan Otis.
The White team had six Detroit
players and two players from other
delegations. Detroit players included
three-year athlete and team captain
Mac Bauer, two-year players Sam
Zack, Justin Yaker and Max Goldstein,
and first-year players Ryan Lipman
and Dylan Bolton.
The White team was joined by Eli
Keyser-Hirsch from Springfield, Mass.,
and Ben Merritt from Hartford, Conn.
The Blue team went 2-2 in round-
robin games playing a grueling sched-
ule. The White team was 1-3, losing
two games by a combined six points.
From there, the Blue team went to
the upper bracket and the White team
to the lower bracket.
Each team lost in the first round to
the eventual bracket champion, but
the Blue team’s finish (eighth place)
was the best by a Detroit U16 basket-
ball team since 2014.
Fishman and his father Jefrey
coached the two Detroit teams. •
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