August 15 • 2019 27
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Karen Gordon and Matthew Bassin were
the recipients of awards presented annually
in the Inter-Congregational Men’
s Club
Summer Softball League.
Gordon, who plays for the B’
nai Israel/
Temple Kol Ami team, was presented the
Jeff Fox Sportsmanship Award. Bassin, who
plays for the Congregation Shir Tikvah team,
received the Michael Yendick Pure Heart
Award.
Each team selects a nominee for the Jeff
Fox Award, and the winner is selected at
random.
The other nominees for the 2019 award
were Joey Lebovic, Roger Lewis, Eric Woolf,
Matthew Chasnick, Steve Rosenblatt, Paul
Blatt, Ryan Columbus, Jeff Katzen, Dale
Zahm, Adam Eisenberg, Mike Feld, Nathan
Cohen, Mike Lipson, Michael Bloch, Alex
Vinter and Les Finklestein.
The Yendick Award winner is selected by
league umpires.
Matthew Bassin and Karen Gordon
The Detroit and Boston 16U baseball teams got together to play unofficially.
PHIL ARNOLD
At the Maccabi Games last week, the
Detroit 16U baseball team, coached by
Rabbi Jason Miller, was eliminated from
the tournament as was the Boston 16U
team. Miller met the coach, Aidan Arnold,
on the bus going back to the JCC.
“I already knew three of his players
since they’
d been sleeping in my base-
ment on air mattresses all week,” Miller
said. “We decided that we’
d play a friendly
‘
consolation’
game against each other.”
Burt Hershe, the umpire director for the
Maccabi Games, arranged for umpire Mark
Cooper to be the umpire for the game. The
two teams played for three hours on an
open field at Founders Sports Park on 8
Mile Road.
“It was a very fun game that both
teams took seriously but also had a lot of
fun with
. The two coaches, Aidan and I,
became friends and the players interacted
with each other very well,” Miller said. ■
True Sportsmanship
with a bachelor’
s degree in sociology
after a two-year basketball career
with the Spartans that included being
a member of the 2010 Final Four
team and winning two Big Ten regu-
lar-season championships and a Big
Ten tournament title.
He’
s the first known Division I
college basketball player diagnosed as
being on the autism spectrum.
Now a high-functioning autistic
person, and a husband and father of
two boys ages 4 and 1, Ianni speaks
year-round at schools, universities,
businesses, conferences and summer
camps. He’
s become one of the most
sought-after motivational speakers in
the country. ■
CHUCK FREEDMAN
The Stats
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Each of the three division winners was a Temple Israel team. Temple
Israel No. 2 won the Greenberg Division, Temple Israel No. 3 won the
Koufax Division and Temple Israel No. 4 won the Rosen Division.
The three division champions had a combined 36-11-1 record for a
.750 winning percentage.
The six Temple Israel teams in the league had a combined 65-30-1
record for a .667 winning percentage.
Only one of the six Temple Israel teams finished below .500.
Four of the six Temple Israel teams in the league are in the Greenberg
Division. Temple Israel No. 3 will move up to the Greenberg Division
from the Koufax Division next season because of its Koufax Division
regular-season championship, which means five of the six Greenberg
Division teams will be from Temple Israel.
Because of multiple rainouts this summer, the playoffs in the weekly
league were reduced from three weeks to one week and the planned
double-elimination post-season competition became single-elimina-
tion. Each league team was able to play its scheduled 16 regular-sea-
son games.
The top two teams in the six-team Greenberg and Koufax divisions
and the top team in the five-team Rosen Division each will get a
first-round bye in the playoffs. Teams without a bye must win three
games in one day to capture their division playoff championship. Each
division championship game will be at 11:40 a.m. Aug. 18 at Keith
Sports Park in West Bloomfield.
3
The Inter-Congregational Men’
s Club Summer Softball League regular season
came t
o an end Aug. 4. Next are the playoffs Aug. 18, with all 17 teams in the
three divisions participating.
Here are some numbers from the regular season:
36
65
1
4
16
2
Victor Uzansky — Ben Uzansky’
s father —
also plays for the Temple Israel No. 2 team.
Ben Uzansky makes contact. He plays for
the Temple Israel No. 2 team.
CHUCK FREEDMAN
CHUCK FREEDMAN