Shluggers Win 18-6, Move on to Championship Game
Wellesley, MA—After giving up a run to Beth Avodah 2 of Newton in the top half of last Sunday’s semifinal game, the Shluggers answered with six runs of their own and never looked back. Punctuated by Bob Ferrari’s monstrous home run to left, this game was all Shluggers. In addition to Ferrari’s three-hit day, Ilya Belepolsky, Rabbi Bleich, Ben Bressel, Dave Halperin, Adam Levine and Abe Rudy all collected a pair of hits.
The win put the Shluggers in the championship game, Sunday at Oak Hill Middle School in Newton against Israel 1 of Boston. One more win and the Shluggers dream season (from 1-8 to 10-1 so far) will end with championship trophy in hand.
Final Score: 18-6
Championship Quest: One Win to Go!
Shluggers Reach the Semifinals!
Wellesley, MA—The first inning of the Shluggers first playoff game in years started with a scare—the return of poor defense from years past. Emanuel 1 of Newton put up five runs in the first frame on the strength of just three hits, as the Shluggers booted a grounder, dropped a pop-up and threw the ball away.
But this year’s team is a resilient bunch, and they came back with a vengeance in the home half of the first, scoring five runs of their own. The game stayed knotted at 5-5 until the fifth inning, when the top of the Shluggers order got things going. Aaron Liber (3-4) led off with a single, Dave Halperin (2-4) followed with a triple, Abe Rudy (3-4) smacked a double and Ben Bressler (3-4) sent a single up the middle.
Four Shluggers crossed the plate in the fifth and another in the sixth, and that first inning scare turned out to be just that, a scare. The Shluggers wouldn’t give up another run the rest of the way, as solid defense put this year’s squad in the semifinals.
Final Score: 10-5
Championship Quest: Two Wins to Go
Game 9: Shluggers Close Out Regular Season on a High Note
Wellesley, MA—A three-run first inning was pretty much all the Shluggers needed to best Temple Dorshe-Tzedek of Newton in the last game of the regular season. After Aaron Liber led off with a single, Ben Bressler and Dave Halperin followed with back-to-back home runs. Bressler (3-4) and Halperin (2-4) were joined in the hit parade by Jon Lefman (3-3) and Liber (2-4). Rabbi Bleich took the mound for the third time this season and gave up just two runs, both in the second inning, Rabbi also followed through with a HR of his own..
With the win the Shluggers closed out the regular season at 8-1, a dramatic turnaround from last year’s 1-8 campaign.
Final Score: 11-2
Record: 8-1
Game 8: Shluggers Win Big on Father’s Day
Belmont, MA—The Shluggers continued to roll both offensively and defensively in their second to last game of the regular season, defeating Temple Beth-El of Belmont, 15-4 on Father’s Day. Abe Rudy led the way at the plate (4-4) and in the field (another spectacular diving catch in left) in yet another well-balanced attack. Rabbi Bleich, Ben Bressel and J.D. Cohen all went 3 for 4 on the day, with Steve Black, Bob Ferrari, Adam Levin, Dovid Rahmani and Dave Halperin all collecting a pair of hits.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the difference for the Shluggers this year is defense and pitching, and Game 8 featured another dominating performance on the mound by Levine. In the last three games, the Shluggers have given up a combined 11 runs while scoring 55 runs. One game remains before the playoffs and a win will secure, at the very least, the number two seed. Not bad for a team that last year had a losing record and hasn’t reached the playoffs in three years.
Final score: 15-4
Record: 7-1
Game 7 - 10-Run Fifth Inning Leads to 16-2 Win Over B'nai Torah of Sudbury
Locked in a 2-2 battle through four, the Shluggers bats’ came alive in the top of the fifth, when they batted around the order and scored 10. Bob Ferrari put an exclamation point on the inning, and the game, with a two-run homer to left center that cleared the fence, hit the netting at about 30 feet high at Sudbury’s Featherland Park, and bounced back into the outfield.
With about 10 highlight reel plays in the field, including two by Abe Rudy in left, a diving play by Ben Bressler at short and great outfield coverage by Dovid Rahmani, Steve Black, J.D. Cohen, Yitz Kashnow and Jon Starr, the Shluggers stellar defense once again played a defining role—in no small part due to the pitching of Adam Levine. Now in his third year on the hill, Levine kept B'nai Torah guessing by changing speeds and heights, and painting the top, bottom and sides of the strike zone.
Final Score: 16-2
Record: 6-1
Game 6 -Shluggers Take Down Previously Undefeated Kehillath Israel
Wellesley, MA—The Shluggers continued the team’s best start in years with one of its best offensive performances in years against one of the best teams in the division, the previously undefeated Kehillath Israel 1 of Brookline. Everyone hit in this game and the hits came early, often and in every single inning. While Kehillath stayed close early, the Shluggers piled on the runs –so much so that the umpire tried to invoke the slaughter rule, which would have forced the home team to finish with nine fielders or two offensive outs an inning, but the ever-sportsmanlike Kehillath team refused.
And, in the spirit of competition, the Shluggers didn’t let up either, pounding out hits in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to complete the drubbing. As dominating an offensive performance as this was, the real story of this game—and perhaps the season thus far—is the team’s improved defense. With the addition of Ben Bressel and Yitz Kashnow in the infield and Rudy and Dovid Rahmani in the outfield (and the ripple effect this has created, with others playing their natural positions and having to cover less ground), the Shluggers are not easy to score on.
The contest on Sunday provided a few examples of this new-look defense, including a diving stab by Bressel and a running catch by Rahmani. But the biggest play of the day, and perhaps the signature defensive play of the season, came when the game was still close in the third. With a runner on first, the … drove a ball to the gap in left center—normally an easy first-to-third jog in softball, but Jon Starr chased the ball down and unleashed a rocket to third to nail the diving runner.
Spectacular at any level, plays like this are even rarer in MSSL softball.
Final Score: 23-5
Game five - Offense Responds as Shluggers Move to 4-1
Natick, MA—The Annual Wellesley Parade forced a last-minute location change—instead of playing at home at Hunnewell Field, the Shluggers would become the “home” team at Shir Tikvah’s home field in Natick. The Shluggers were unfazed and jumped out to an early, but this would prove to be a back-and-forth struggle.
Trailing by one in the fourth, Abraham Rudy’s two-run home run briefly gave the Shllugers the lead, but their opponents retaliated in the top of the fifth to pull ahead 5-4. Once again, the Shluggers responded. Yitz Kashnow (3 for 3 on the day) tripled and John Lefman walked, setting up a two-run double by Ilya Belopolsky, followed by a two-run homer by Dovid Rahmani.
Leading 8-4, the Shluggers almost squandered the lead when Shir Tikvah pulled within one in the top of the sixth. In need of insurance runs, the “home” team came through. Rudy doubled and went to third on an error, Lefman walked, and Belopolsky doubled once again. With men on second and third, Rahmani singled home two, then Aaron Liber and Rabbi Bleich both doubled to make it 13-7.
Another back and forth struggle, another victory.
Final Score: 13-7
Record: 4-1
Game four –Shluggers Win In Extras
Newton, MA—In what was easily their longest game of the year, the Shluggers pulled it out in extra innings, 21-20, against Temple Shalom of Newton. Leading this hit parade were Rabbi Bleich (5-5) Bob Ferrari (4-5), Aaron Liber (3-5) and Abraham Rudy (3-5). Costly errors were the only reason this one was ever a question mark—but a win is a win is win.
Final Score: 20-19
Record 3-1
Shluggers Score Four in the First Inning, 18 in the Game
In the team’s third game of the year, the Shluggers roared out to a 4-0 lead over Congregation Or Atid of Wayland and never looked back. On a windy day at Sudbury’s Curtis Middle School, the top of the order got things going in the top of the first inning, when Aaron Liber, Abraham Rudy, Ben Bressler and Bob Ferrari all hit the cover off the ball and all scored.
With starting pitcher Adam Levine unavailable, the Shluggers faced some defensive questions, but Rabbi Bleich took the mound and answered those questions with a resounding performance.
Or Atid mounted a fifth inning comeback, but the Shluggers responded once again with hits by Bleich, Abe Rudy, Ferrari, Yitz Kashnow, Jon Starr, J.D. Cohen, Steve Black and Ilya Belepolsky, and home runs by Dave Halperin & Dovid Rahmani. It was Rahmani’s second round-tripper in two games.
Final score: Shluggers 18, Or Atid 12
Record: 2-1
Game Two – Strong Start is Wasted
Wellesley, MA—The promise The Shluggers showed in game one was on full display at the start of game two. Holding Temple Israel of Boston scoreless for the first three frames, The Shluggers got out to an early 4-0 lead behind timely hitting by Abraham Rudy, Dave Halperin, Adam Levine and Rabbi Moshe, while flashing tons of glove in the infield—thanks in no small part to the return of shortstop Ben Bressel.
But things unraveled in the fourth inning, when throwing errors led to a bases loaded with no outs situation and Temple Israel took advantage, belting a grand slam into the trees at Hunnewell Field and amassing a total of seven runs in the frame.
Trailing 11-7 in the sixth, The Shluggers mounted a valiant comeback. Dovid Rahmani and Yitz Kashnow both launched home runs past the reach of Temple Israel’s leftfielder to cut into Temple Israel’s lead, and a single by Aaron Liber kept the rally alive.
But The Shluggers gave away their last two outs on weak grounders, stranding Liber at second and taking their first loss of the season.
Final score: Temple Israel 16, Shluggers 7
Record: 1-1.
Game One – The Shluggers are Back—with a W
Lexington, MA—It’s Shluggers time again! In their opening game of the 2014 season, The Shluggers put the league on notice with a rousing 14-7 victory on the road over Temple Emuna-1.
The boys in blue had one of their best defensive games in years behind pitcher Adam Levine, who went the distance by painting the corners and top of the strike zone. Hits came from up, down and all around the batting order: Jon Lefman’s signature lefty tomahawk chop yielded a round-tripper; leadoff man Aaron Liber, Abraham Rudy, Dave Halperin, Rabbi Bleich all had two-hit games and Levine belted a triple late in the game.
But the defense was the star of this game as Rudy had a pair of highlight reel catches in left field, Rabbi Bleich flashed the glove with clutch fielding at shortstop, Ilya Belopolsky vacuumed up a trio of long drives to right, Liber held down centerfield with ease and Halperin saved a couple of would-be doubles from getting through on the left side of the infield.
If more team efforts like this are in store, there’s no stopping the 2014 Shluggers.
Final score: Shluggers 14, Emunah-1 7
Record: 1-0.
