Softball….
March 5, 2006Hey, a win is a win..
While I had a great time it was not like Staten Island softball. The games in Staten Island were more laid back.
These games are not like that at all.
This isn’t just “old guys and against young guys”…. this is an fficial league. ISA. Israel Softball Association, division B. They took 16 teams from last year and made 2 divisions.. I hear we are in the lower division but we still play the A division guys as well. THe difference… the pitching. Division A guys really whip the ball… division guys vary.
Unfortunately the first few innings the other team had a guy who can whip it in pretty fast. At the plate the first inning .. I’m thinking…. oy… looks like its look for a walk or get hit… turns out I got both at the same time. Crowding the plate I got plunked on the elbow. Nice. Free base. On my way to first.. I got called back. Turns out bec. I didnt try to avoid getting hit. I couldn;t get the base. Next pitch I walked anyway. I missed the steal sign when I got to first and got erased on a fielders choice. Belt…. is bunt… sleeve is steal… only 2 signs but I still goofed. Oh well.
I walked three times, stole a base and struck out in my last at bat. I didn’t make any plays in right field… but DID almost get one in foul territory. Unlike Staten Island where there is almost no foul territory.. here its a huge outfield and a decent sized foul territory. The ball hit off my non gloved hand and hit my chest…. but the team was surprised that I even caught up to it. I wasn’t as robbi would say… “If you got to it, you should have caught it”. Turns out the guy hit a single and later scored so my non catch did cost us.
The most interesting part of the game is the stay on the base rule. If you’re on a base and the pitcher has the ball you cannot get off the base for a second. If you do, you’re out. This cost the other team 2 big rallies and when a player protested, he was thrown out. SO when I was on… they told me DONT GET OFF THE BASE… on the release THEN you can run.. steal..etc.
The field was about 50 minutes from beit shemesh near petach tikva in a place called kfar Habaptist. Not sure but it didnt feel like israel. All english speakers. Beautiful field. I hear there aren’t too many baseball / softball fields in the land. We came an hour away, the other team came from 2 hours away.
Below is an email sent b the team’s coach / organizer and a link to an article on jpost.com about the teams in the league.
Have a great day..
Now, our first game was a success as we won 14 - 8
despite not having our Ace pitcher.
The most interesting item was that Jeff Mor was almost
disqualified again.
This time because he chose uniform #770 when the
league rules explicitly state the numbers must be
between 1 and 99 !
The umpire, who shall remain nameless even asked if I
had an extra uniform, before finally relenting.
Anyway we got off to a bad start fielding wise and TT
jumped out to a 4 - 1 lead.
But our pitcher Gadi Bossin kept us in the game for
three innings.
Then in the top of the fourth captain Shem-Tov Shapiro
got us (SB) started with a bunt single.
David Kurtz singled sharply to left. Avi Jacob moved
the runners over. And both scored on sloppy fielding
by TT. Gadi held again, and the next inning our
offense exploded highlighted by a three run double by
Jeff Mor.
SB was the benefit of a questionable call as a TT
player was called out at second base for taking both
feet off the bag while the pitcher had the ball.
New player Yudi Axelrud had three big walks. Left
fielder Rafi Goldmeir, and CF Mark Chass each made
nice catches.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395503266&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
