E-Men and B’nai Abraham:
‘We are the champions’

Going into the 2006 season, the top seed in the “A” division was Temple Emanu-El of West Essex, in the “B” division, Temple B’nai Abraham. So it came as no surprise that both teams were in the championship games of their respective divisions last Sunday.

In the “A” championship the surprise was the opponent facing Emanu-El. Two years ago B’nai Shalom was in the “A” division and they were in seventh place at 3-11. After just missing in last year’s “B” championship game, B’nai Shalom moved back to the “A” division and was involved in a four-way tie for first with Beth Shalom, Temple Sholom, and Temple Emanu-El. Winning the first two games of the eight-team playoff put B’nai Shalom in a position to become the first “B” team to move up and win the “A” division.

After two innings and a shaky start for both sides, the game was tied 3-3 but Emanu-El made all the plays from then on and pulled away for a 20-6 victory. Scoring in every inning but the second, the E-Men ultimately broke it open with five runs in the sixth inning. The winners were led by Wayne Neumann and Jim McCauley with four hits each; Glen Handler and Andrew Kasdan, three; and Gary Lubin, Arnie Teitelbaum, Hal Bellovin, and Rob Goldberg, with two; Andrew Schwartz and Jeremy Neuer had key pinch hits in the big sixth inning. Great defensive plays came from Arnie Teitelbaum, Gary Lubin, and Hal Bellovin. The winning pitcher was Alan Saltzman for the E-Men, who have now won 2 “A” championships in a row and have won three out of four since the league split into two divisions. Going back further, they also won five of the eight prior championships when the league had only one winner.

In the “B” championship game, B’nai Abraham was facing a team from the Lubavitch Center that has been in the league for only two years. Rabbi Mendy Kasovitz, who started in right centerfield for Lubavitch, led both teams in a prayer for peace in Israel before the game. Although relatively new to the league, Lubavitch gave the ex-champions all they could handle. After four-and-a-half innings it was 10-9 B’nai Abraham. But the starting pitcher for Lubavitch, Marc Lipper, had to come out of the game due to heat exhaustion, and B’nai Abraham broke it open in the bottom of the fifth with six runs to take a 16-9 lead. Lubavitch never recovered, eventually losing 16-12. Key hits for the winners were from David Gordon, Rob Lewis, Marc Meller, Howard Jacobs, Mark Frankel, David Kramer, Mickey Volpe, and Rick Bernstein.

On defense, Phil Glassman and David Schackman made some great fielding plays. The winning pitcher was Alan Schackman. For the losers, shortstop Michael Tuman had five RBIs including a two-run homer, and third baseman Mitchell Goldberg also had a four-bagger. Seth Rinn turned in two great plays in right field.