NOVEMBER 21 • 2024 | 41

The team with the most cre-
ative and unusual name in the
Inter-Congregational Men’s Club
Summer Softball League’s fall
season took a most unusual
route to the championship this
fall.
The Homeruntaschens won the
league title, their first since 2017.
The playoffs were held Oct. 6.
All six league teams competed in
the post-season, with the top two
finishers during the regular sea-
son earning a first-round bye.
The Homeruntaschens came
into the playoffs on a downer.
They lost their last two regular
season games to the Mensches
and Marble Rye and fell into a
three-way tie for first place.
Their funk continued into the
first game of the playoffs. They
needed a comeback to win by
one run over the Donkey Kong
Jewniors, the last-place team
during the regular season.
“We lose a lot in the first
round of the playoffs. But we
got past that game this time
and took off from there,” said
Homeruntaschens manager and
team name creator Ben Watson.
After the scare against the
Donkey Kong Jewniors, the
Homeruntaschens beat the
Jeters and Kosher Ribs to win the
league championship.
In addition to Watson,
here are the players on the
Homeruntaschens’ roster: Greg
Schultz, Garrett Segal, Brook
Morris, Matt Blackman, Scott
Kappeler, Grant Kravitz, Richard
Elias, Paul Gedrich, Mitch

Blackman, Gary Bruer, Josh
Bruer, Mike Feld and David Feld.
Watson said Josh Bruer was
the surprise star of the playoffs,
with four triples in the three
games.
The Menches, Jeters and
Homeruntaschens tied for first
place in the regular season
standings. The tie-breaker to
determine playoff seeds was runs
allowed. The Menches allowed
62 runs, the Jeters allowed 63
runs, and the Homeruntaschens
allowed 86 runs.
Here are the league’s final reg-
ular-season standings:
• 1 (tie). Menches 7-3.
• 1 (tie). Jeters 7-3.
• 1 (tie). Homeruntaschans 7-3.
• 4. Marble Rye 4-6.
• 5. Kosher Ribs 3-7.
• 6. Donkey Kong Jewniors 2-8.
Here are the playoff results:
• Kosher Ribs 16, Marble Rye 1.
• Homeruntaschens 12, Donkey
Kong Jewniors 11.
• Kosher Ribs 4, Menches 2.
• Homeruntaschens 11, Jeters 3.
• Homeruntaschens 10, Kosher

Ribs 5.
Unlike the summer league, fall
league teams are made up of
players from different congrega-
tions. Fall league organizer Matt
Bassin said he tries to make the
teams as competitive as possible.
“It wasn’t perfect this season.
It never is,” he said. “But I think
everyone had fun.”
One thing that was perfect this
season was the weather. There
were no rainouts during the five-
week regular season or the one-
day playoffs.
Another thing that was perfect
was the sportsmanship. Despite
having many players miss
games, Bassin said, there were
no forfeits, with players from the
opposing team and other teams
filling in.
Here are the fall season
champions through the years:
2014: Jeters. 2015: Jeters.
2016: Homeruntaschans. 2017:
Homeruntaschans. 2018: Marble
Rye. 2019: Kosher Ribs. 2020:
Jeters. 2021: Kosher Ribs. 2022:
Jeters. 2023: Kosher Ribs.

Homeruntaschens Win Fall Softball League
Championship for the First Time Since 2017

Western Michigan University women’s
cross country runner Brooke Soper from
Okemos continued her strong senior
season earlier this month, finishing
in 38th place at the Mid-American
Conference meet Nov. 2 in Muncie, Ind.
Soper is in her fifth cross country

season at Western Michigan while also
completing the requirements for her
bachelor’s degree in digital media and
journalism. The multiple-time Academic
All-MAC Team honoree has an extra
year of athletic eligibility because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Brooke Soper

Brooke Soper Racing Toward the End of Her
Western Michigan Cross Country Career

Meet the Homeruntaschens.

INTER-CONGREGATIONAL MEN’S CLUB SUMMER SOFTBALL LEAGUE

MAZEL TOV!

Ryland Kaplan (Rafael
Shalom) of Bloomfield
Hills will become a bar
mitzvah on Saturday,
Nov. 23, 2024, at
Franklin Hills Country
Club. He is the son of Julie and
Randy Kaplan. Proud
grandparents are Liz and Alan
May, Judi and Marvin Milich, and
Steve Kaplan.
Ryland is a student at Detroit
Country Day School in Beverly
Hills.

Maya Eve Rosen,
daughter of Yael and
Andrew Rosen, will be
called to the Torah as
a bat mitzvah at
Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township on
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Maya is
the sister of Naomi and the
granddaughter of Fran and the
late George Friedman, Rita and
Bob England, and Norm Rosen.
She is a student at Birmingham
Covington School in Bloomfield
Hills. For her mitzvah project,
Maya is volunteering at the
Friendship Circle in West
Bloomfield.

Sadie Bess Rosen,
daughter of Lisa
Zeskind and Mitchell
Rosen, was called to
the Torah as a bat
mitzvah at Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield on
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. She was
joined in celebration by her
brother Aaron. Sadie is the
loving grandchild of Sandy and
Jay Zeskind, and Sheri and Jay
Abramson.
She is a student at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit
in Farmington Hills. Observing
the effects of memory loss in
her loved ones, Sadie chose as
her most meaningful mitzvah
project raising money for the
Alzheimer’s Association.