sports

Marble Rye Slices Competition
in Fall Softball League

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

F

all isn’t just for football.
League’s original six teams. Shaarey
The Inter-Congregational Men’s Zedek won the league’s first champion-
Club Summer Softball League
ship in 1996.
has a fall version, a six-team league
“Both the summer and fall leagues
that plays a compact six-week
are competitive, but there’s also
TOP: Marble
schedule of five Sundays of reg- Rye won it all great camaraderie among the
ular-season doubleheaders and
players,” Jacobs said. “That’s espe-
in the Inter-
playoffs on the final Sunday.
Congregational cially true in the fall, when you
Fall league organizer Steve
play on the same team with guys
Men’s Club
Atchman does his best to make Summer Softball from other summer teams.”
the teams competitive, mixing
This fall’s Marble Rye team was
League’s fall
and matching players from dif-
made up of Gary Yashinsky and
season.
ferent temples and synagogues.
his sons Joey and Sam Yashinsky,
That’s unlike the summer, when players Steve Flam, Stephen Maiseloff,
represent their temple or synagogue.
Richard Elias, Gary Klinger, Lonnie
Atchman outdid himself this fall.
Pukoff, Nathan Cohen, Justin Bayer,
There was a tremendous amount of
David Banooni, Larry Dell and Steve
parity in the league.
Rosenblatt.
Three teams tied for first place in
“It’s not unusual to have fathers and
the regular-season standings, and the
sons on the same team in our league,”
fourth-place team was only a game out
Jacobs said.
of first place.
So why Marble Rye? Jacobs said the
Marble Rye, Kosher Ribs and the
team name is a homage to a popular
Jeters were 7-3. The Homeruntaschens
episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld.
were 6-4.
The episode’s story line involves a
The Sandlot (2-8) and Bad News
missing loaf of marble rye bread and
Jews (1-9) rounded out the standings.
Jerry Seinfeld stealing the last loaf of
Achtman, by the way, was on the Bad
marble rye sold that day at Schnitzer’s
News Jews.
Bakery from an elderly woman.
Marble Rye and Kosher Ribs each
Ramifications from the theft were
received a bye in the first round of the
part of the show’s finale in 1998.
playoffs, held Oct. 21 at Community
The Inter-Congregational summer
Sports Park in West Bloomfield, thanks league has grown from six to 18 teams
to the league’s tie-breaker formula.
and has been divided into three six-
The Homeruntaschens beat The
team divisions since 2017, with the
Sandlot 13-6, and the Jeters defeated
divisions based on competition levels.
the Bad News Jews 7-0 in open-
Jacobs thinks the division setup is a
ing-round playoff games. Semifinal
good idea.
games saw Marble Rye beat the Jeters
Shaarey Zedek, which “hadn’t come
15-3 and the Homeruntaschens beat
close” to winning another league title
Kosher Ribs 12-10.
since its 1996 championship, accord-
It came down to Marble Rye and the
ing to Jacobs, won the Rosen Division
Homeruntaschens in the playoff cham- regular-season title in 2017 and moved
pionship game, and Marble Rye won
up to the Koufax Division for the 2018
14-8, coming from behind after trailing season.
7-1 in the second inning.
“The competition levels in the
Richard Jacobs is Marble Rye’s man-
Koufax and Rosen divisions are about
ager. He’s had that job since the fall
the same,” Jacobs said. “There’s a big
league’s inception six years ago.
jump in the Greenberg Division.” ■
Jacobs also is the manager of the
Send news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek summer
team, one of the Inter-Congregational

jn

November 8 • 2018

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