34 | JUNE 23 • 2022 

T

he Frankel Jewish 
Academy baseball 
team put an 
accomplishment on its 
resume this season that it 
hadn’t been able to do since 
2005.
The Jaguars won a 
Catholic League division 
championship.
The Intersectional 2 
division had just three teams 
in it and each of the teams 
played only four division 
games, but Frankel coach Joe 
Bernstein said that doesn’t 
take the luster off the Jaguars’ 
title.
“No one can take 
championship away from us,” 
he said.
The Jaguars went 4-0 in 
division games, sweeping two 

games from Detroit Cristo 
Rey (2-2) and Detroit Loyola 
(0-4).
Frankel’s short path to the 
division championship isn’t 
unusual for the Catholic 
League.
“The Catholic League has 
several three-team divisions, 
and they’re in many sports,” 
said Frankel athletic director 
Rick Dorn.
There’s more to the baseball 
Jaguars’ 2022 story than 
winning the division title.
After starting the season 
0-4 and 1-5, they finished 
6-8-1.
“We were playing our 
best baseball as we headed 
toward the end of the season,” 
Bernstein said.
The season stopped May 

13 after a tie with Bloomfield 
Hills Roeper because Frankel 
juniors and seniors went on 
the school’s annual spring trip 
to Israel.
The Jaguars didn’t play 
again until June 3, exactly 
three weeks after the Roeper 
tie, when they lost 15-0 
to Lutheran Westland in a 
Division 4 district semifinal 
game at Plymouth Christian 
Academy.
“We looked like a team that 
hadn’t played in three weeks,” 
Bernstein said. “We only had 
two practices before that 
game.
“The trip to Israel was 
fabulous, of course, but if 
we had played a few games 
during the time we were off, 
I think we would have gotten 

to 10 wins for the season.”
Bernstein said his team 
faced more than its share 
of adversity this season, but 
persevered.
“Injuries and illness always 
hit you during a season, but 
they hit us the worst times 
this season,” he said.
Through it all, Bernstein 
said, the Jaguars had a 
“never-say-die” attitude, 
never complained, refused 
to give up and showed great 
mental toughness.
Perhaps the grittiest of 
what Bernstein called a gritty 
bunch was junior catcher 
Ethan Gray.
“The weather this season 
was terrible. It went from 
20 to 80 degrees. But Ethan 
never asked out,” Bernstein 

SPORTS

Best of Three

Frankel Jewish Academy baseball team wins its first 
Catholic League division title in 17 years.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHOTOS BY LEAH BERNSTEIN

ABOVE LEFT: The Frankel Jewish 
Academy baseball team celebrates 
its Catholic League Intersectional 
2 division championship following 
a May 10 win at Detroit Cristo Rey. 
ABOVE RIGHT: Daniel Bernstein 
(left) and Joe Bernstein chat before 
Daniel’s final at-bat for the Frankel 
Jewish Academy baseball team. 

