JUNE 1 • 2023 | 31

SPORTS

T

he Inter-Congregational Men’s Club 
Summer Softball League is back for 
its 28th season with a new look.
With the loss of the Temple Shir Shalom 
No. 1 team giving the weekly league 13 
teams, there are now two instead of three 
divisions.
Each team has about 13 or 14 players, 
including subs.
“
A league committee that was put together 
to examine our division setup met during 
the winter and came up with a two-division 
recommendation,
” said Michael Betman, a 
league founder and co-commissioner this 
season with Mitch Kline.
Gone is the Rosen Division, the bottom of 
three divisions. The Greenberg and Koufax 
divisions are back, with six teams in the 
Greenberg and seven teams in the Koufax.
League standings last year and team 
histories were taken into consideration by 
the committee in setting up the divisions, 
Betman said. The schedule was set up so 
inter-division games would be competitive.
“Our goal always is to make games fair 
and fun,
” Betman said. “These changes made 
sense.
”

The weather hasn’t exactly cooperated so 
far this season.
Games were played April 23, opening 
day. Then games April 30 and May 7 were 
rained out and no games were played May 
14 because of Mother’s Day, a longtime 
league tradition.
Play finally resumed May 21. There 
were no games played May 28 during the 
Memorial Day weekend.
“We still plan to play 20 regular-season 
games,
” Betman said. “We built in two rain 
dates, and now we’re going to have to use 
them. The first one is July 2. The second 
one is July 30. We’re good as long as we 
don’t get any more rain.
”
The double-elimination playoffs will begin 
Aug. 6 and conclude Aug. 20. Each team will 
make the playoffs.
Games will be played once again at Drake 
and Keith sports parks in West Bloomfield. 
Parking lot work at Drake caused a bit of a 
scheduling nightmare last season because 
games couldn’t be played there until June.
In an era when many recreational softball 
leagues are rapidly constricting or disappear-
ing, the Inter-Congregational league remains 
strong. The league is down four teams since 
pre-pandemic, but it has stabilized.
How is it hanging in there?
“Couple reasons,
” Betman said. “Guys 
like to play softball with their friends each 
Sunday during the summer. And this is a 
league for everyone, no matter how athletic 
you are.
”
Then there are inspirational stories each 
season like the 2021 Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek team.
Shaarey Zedek won the inaugural league 
championship in 1996 with six teams in the 
league, then went 25 years without a title.
During the summer of 2021, it finished in 
third place in the five-team Koufax Division 
with an 8-11-1 record and lost its first game 
in the double-elimination playoffs. Then 
it won five straight games and the division 
playoff title.
Four of the five victories came on one day, 
a scorching August day. The final two wins 

were against Temple Israel No. 3, which beat 
Shaarey Zedek in its playoff opener.
Shaarey Zedek didn’t even play the pre-
vious season, opting out because of the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
All three playoff champions from last sea-
son are back. They are Temple Beth El No. 
1 (Greenberg), Temple Israel No. 1 (Koufax) 
and Congregation Beth Ahm (Rosen). Each 
went 3-0 in the playoffs.
Post-season awards come at season’s end. 
Last year’s award winners were Richard 
Elias from Temple Shir Shalom No. 1 (Jeff 
Fox Sportsmanship), Andy Broder from 
Temple Beth El No. 1 (Michael Yendick 
“Pure Heart”) and Bob Tarnow from Temple 
Shir Shalom No. 1 and Jerry Beigler from 
Temple Beth El No. 1 (Steve LeVine).
The Steve LeVine Award is new, named 
for a former league player who played several 
sports despite losing his dominant arm to 
cancer at age 14. He died in 2021 at age 58.
The Jeff Fox Award, presented since 2012, 
honors a former Temple Shir Shalom player 
who died in 2011.
The Michael Yendick Award was presented 
originally in the B’nai B’rith Softball League, 
beginning in 2001. The league folded in 2017 
and several B’nai B’rith players moved to the 
Inter-Congregational league. 

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

INTER-CONGREGATIONAL MEN’S CLUB SUMMER SOFTBALL LEAGUE

Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer 
Softball League is back with one less division. 
Summer Softball

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Inter-Congregational 
standings after 
two weeks of the 
2023 season:

GREENBERG DIVISION
* Temple Israel No. 2 — 3-1.
* Temple Israel No. 6 — 3-1.
* Temple Shir Shalom No. 2 — 3-1.
* Temple Beth El No. 1 — 2-1-1.
* Temple Israel No. 1 — 0-3-1.
* Temple Israel No. 5 —- 0-4.

KOUFAX DIVISION
* Congregation Shir Tikvah — 4-0.
* Congregation Shaarey Zedek — 3-1.
* Adat Shalom Synagogue No. 1 — 2-2.
* Congregation Beth Ahm — 2-2.
* Temple Shir Shalom No. 3 — 1-3.
* Temple Israel No. 3 — 1-3.
* Temple Beth El No. 2 — 1-3.

Michael Betman (right) with Steve 
LeVine Award recipient Jerry Beigler.

