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.