SEPTEMBER 28 • 2023 | 41
J
N

T

emple Beth El No. 
1 repeated as the 
Greenberg Division 
playoff champion in the weekly 
Inter-Congregational Men’s 
Club Summer Softball League.
Last year, Beth El’s story was 
about a new team, and a team 
not from Temple Israel, win-
ning the Greenberg playoff title. 
Temple Israel teams had won 
the first five Greenberg playoff 
championships. 
This year, Beth El’s story 
is about a spectacular catch 
by right-centerfielder Jordan 
Fershtman that ended what 
turned out to be the champi-
onship game in the three-week, 
double-elimination Greenberg 
playoffs.
“It was an insane catch. It had 

to be the catch of the year in the 
league,
” said Beth El manager 
and right fielder Billy Wiseman, 
who had a ringside seat to 
Fershtman’s circus catch.
Here’s the setup for the catch 
by Fershtman, a former outfield-
er on the Birmingham Groves 
High School baseball team and 
Western Michigan University 
club baseball team.
Beth El was leading Temple 
Israel No. 2 6-3 in the bottom 
of the seventh inning at Keith 
Sports Park Diamond No. 2 in 
West Bloomfield and needed 
one more win to clinch the 
Greenberg playoff champion-
ship.
With runners on first and sec-
ond and two out, Temple Israel’s 
Ben Uzansky lined a shot to 

right-center.
Wiseman said he had no 
chance to catch the ball because 
he lost it in the sun. It was up to 
Fershtman to make the play. He 
raced back, dove with his back 
to the infield, and came up with 
the ball.
“I took a step back when the 
ball was hit. The rest was just 
instincts from playing outfield 
my entire life,
” Fershtman 
said. “I got on my horse, tried 
to catch the ball at its highest 
point, dove and got it.
“I was horizontal when I 
dove, and I had a hard landing. I 
worried about hanging onto the 
ball when I hit the ground.
”
Fershtman needed those 
heroics to make the catch 
because he was playing out of 
position. On purpose.
“This was my first year in 
the league and on this team,
” 
he said. “The guys on my team 
seemed to know the tendencies 
of the batters on the (Temple 
Israel No. 2) team.
“They had me positioned only 
about 10 feet behind the infield 
(for Uzansky). I was hesitant 
and reluctant to stand there with 
the game on the line, but that 
strategy had worked previously, 
so I went along with it.
”
Had he been playing at a 
normal depth in right-center, 
Fershtman said, his spectacular 
catch would have been a normal 
catch. He gave credit to Uzansky 
for hitting the ball where he 
wasn’t supposed to hit it.
Wiseman couldn’t catch 
Uzansky’s line drive, but he said 
he had his season-best day at the 
plate in the playoff champion-
ship game. He was 3-for-4 with 
three singles and three RBIs.
Beth El went undefeated in 
the Greenberg playoffs for the 
second straight year, allowing 
just 12 runs in four games. Seth 

Gorback pitched the first two 
games for Beth El and regular 
pitcher Jeff Hollander worked 
the last two games.
On the first day of the play-
offs, Beth El beat Temple Israel 
No. 5 16-4 and Temple Israel 
No. 2 17-2. A 9-3 win over 
Temple Shir Shalom No. 2 on 
the second day of the playoffs 
set up the showdown vs. Temple 
Israel No. 2.
Beth El and Temple Israel No. 
2 met five times during the reg-
ular season. Temple Israel No. 2 
won the first four games before 
Beth El broke the streak with a 
16-13 victory July 23. Beth El 
then beat Temple Israel No. 2 
twice in the playoffs.
Beth El was just 9-10-1 in 
the regular season and finished 
third in the six-team division 
behind Temple Israel No. 6 
(15-5) and Temple Israel No. 2 
(14-6).
Shir Shalom No. 2 (9-11), 
Temple Israel No. 1 (8-11-1) 
and Temple Israel No. 3 (7-13) 
rounded out the division stand-
ings.
Beth El had a good luck 
charm in bench coach and 
scorekeeper Julian Prince. 
The team was winless in 
six games while Prince was in 
California visiting family. He 
returned, and Beth El went 8-1 
the rest of the season.
Beth El’s roster included 
outfielders Brad Steel, Storm 
Kirschenbaum, Fershtman and 
Wiseman; third baseman Fred 
Stibor; shortstop Brad Seid; 
second baseman Sean Seid; first 
baseman Max Surnow; catcher 
Gorback; designated hitter Mike 
Barnett; and Hollander. 
The Koufax Division 
playoff champion in the Inter-
Congregational league was 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek. 

Send sports news to stevestein502004@

yahoo.com.

‘Insane Catch’

SPORTS

Outfielder’s spectacular play clinches 
a playoff championship for Temple 
Beth El No. 1.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INTER-CONGREGATIONAL MEN’S CLUB SUMMER SOFTBALL LEAGUE

Greenberg Division playoff 
champion Temple Beth El No. 1 
celebrates its second straight title. 

