sports
Al Yendick, Michael
Klinger, Mitch Kline,
Steve Achtman and
Michael Betman
at the Inter-
Congregational
Men’s Club Summer
Softball League’s
awards ceremony
1958-2018
Another Fall Title
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
Hillel Day School
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Thursday, November 16, 9:30 a.m.
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November 2 • 2017
jn
he Homeruntachens did it
again.
They won their second con-
secutive Inter-Congregational Men’s
Club fall softball league championship
Sunday, defeating Kosher Ribs 14-5 in
the playoff title game at Drake Sports
Park in West Bloomfield.
It was a long, cold day for the play-
offs, but nobody complained, said
league organizer Steve Achtman.
The playoffs were scheduled for the
previous Sunday, when the weather
was almost summer-like. But league
games were postponed Oct. 15 follow-
ing heavy rains, pushing the final week
of the regular season and playoffs
back a week.
“Except for Oct. 15 and Sunday,
the weather was great all fall,”
Achtman said.
It certainly was a good fall for
the Homeruntachens, who plowed
through the five-week, 10-game
regular season and playoffs winning
10 of 12 games.
“I think the key to our success is we
don’t take things too seriously,” said
Homeruntachens player-coach Ben
Watson. “We’re a bunch of guys who
don’t want to stop playing softball for
the year when summer is over.”
Fall league rosters have some turn-
over each year because one of the pur-
poses of the league is for players from
different temples and synagogues to
get to know each other.
Ten of the 13 players on the
Homeruntachens’ roster were back
from 2016 including Watson, 27, and
his older brothers Andrew, 35, and
Jason, 29. Ben Watson is the youngest
of six children in his family.
The Homeruntachens suffered their
lone regular-season loss and tie this
season when two of the Watson broth-
ers were absent.
Also on the roster: Brad Goldman,
Grant Kravitz, Adam Eisenberg, Garret
Segal, Gregg Schultz, Kevin Ptocsky,
Jonathan Frohlich, Adam Ossipove
and Ross Niskar.
The league’s final regular-season
league standings: 1. Homeruntachens
8-1-1, 2. Marble Rye 7-3-0, 3. Jeters 4-5-
1, 4. Kosher Ribs 4-6-0, 5. Bad News
Jews 3-6-1, 6. The Sandlot 2-7-1.
Kosher Ribs defeated the Bad News
Jews 11-3 and The Sandlot beat the
Jeters 16-4 in first-round playoff
games.
Homeruntachans beat The
Sandlot 17-3 and the Kosher Ribs
sliced Marble Rye 9-5 in semifinal
games, setting up the championship
game.
This was the fifth season for the
fall league. There have been six teams
each season.
“It was a good season,” Achtman
said. “It looked like everyone had fun.”
AWARD WINNERS
Michael Klinger from Temple
Israel No. 6 was the winner of the
Inter-Congregational Men’s Club
Summer Softball League’s Jeff Fox
Sportsmanship Award.
The other nominees were Loren
Blumberg (Temple Israel No. 1), Kenny
Walters (Temple Israel No. 2), Brad
Rosen (Temple Israel No. 3), Kevin
Ptocsky (Temple Israel No. 4), Howard
Wintman (Congregation Shir Shalom
No. 1), Evan Kline (Shir Shalom No. 2),
Jeff Sandler (Adat Shalom Synagogue
No. 1) and Marc Wasser (Adam
Shalom No. 2).
Also, Gary Yashinsky (Congregation
B’nai Moshe), Bruce Sable
(Congregation Beth Ahm), Scott Litt
(Congregation Shir Tikvah), David
Banooni (Congregation Shaarey
Zedek), Andrew Broder (Temple Beth
El), Steve Dines (Temple Kol Ami/
B’nai Israel) and Shalom Michlin (Bais
Chabad Torah Center).
The annual award is named for a
former Shir Shalom player who died
Dec. 22, 2011. Jeff Fox was loved by his
teammates because of his sportsman-
ship and team spirit.
Mitch Kline from Shir Shalom No. 2
was the winner of the Michael Yendick
Pure Heart Award, presented for 17
years in memory of a former longtime
B’nai B’rith Great Lakes Region softball
league player who died in 2000.
The B’nai B’rith league disbanded
after the 2016 season and many play-
ers joined the Inter-Congregational
league.
Al and Bernice Yendick, Michael's
parents, were at the award ceremony
along with Inter-Congregational
league directors Steve Achtman and
Michael Betman.•
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