The 2023 JCSL Postseason by “Goldberg’s Bagels/Taam Thai/Mama Leah’s/Chef Dan” took place on July 2nd at the beautiful “Web Technology Services” fields in Reisterstown, MD.
In dramatic fashion, both games came down to the final out: One game concluding with a dramatic walk off single, the other with a stellar defensive play to close out the day.
Teams “LevinGann” and “AMF Creative” will now face off against each other in the championship, with each team vying to take home the coveted “Camp Shoresh” trophy.
Continue below to read about the excitement from the games.
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| LevinGann | 11 |
| KD Gold & Coin Exchange | 10 |
It was a true nailbiter in every sense of the word. LevinGann jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st with strong hitting from the top of the order. KD Gold & Coin immediately responded with 2 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th to take an early 4-3 lead.
LevinGann would exercise the mercy rule in the 5th with 6 manufactured runs, thanks to some clutch hitting up and down the order. With a 9-4 lead heading into the 6th, LevinGann thought they would comfortably cruise their way into the championship, but KD Gold & Coin clawed back with 6 of their own to take a 10-9 lead.
LevinGann firmed up on defense with some stellar plays from AY and Eli Rappaport. LevinGann would then get 1 in the bottom of the 7th to tie, and 1 in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead. This all led to the dramatic finish in the 9th.
With LevinGann clinging to just a 1 run lead in the 9th, KD Gold & Coin quickly put runners on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out. LG Pitcher, Jacob Rappaport, intentionally walked slugger, Matt Luterman to load the bases. The next hitter popped out to deep short for the 2nd out. Menashe Minkin stepped to the plate and hit a hard grounder which looked like it would squeeze between 3rd and SS. But 3B Howie Friedman made a tough back handed play to get the runner out at 2nd, sealing LG’s victory and sending them to the championship.
| AMF Creative | 9 |
| Clothier | 8 |
AMF Creative faced off against Clothier in the “2 vs 3 seed” game of the Playoffs. Trying to avenge a regular season loss, AMF got things going in the bottom of the first as Shulie Hochman hit a double to left-center to score Jeremy Kramer from first.
Following two shutout innings from pitcher Danny Weissmann, AMF put another run on the board with a single by Lefky to take an early 2-0 lead. The third inning presented more of the same as Weissmann collected another quick 3 outs. Adding to their lead, AMF’s Yoseph Orshan hit a double to the gap, Hochman was intentionally walked, and Avromi Freund hit a bomb to the gap scoring another 2 runs to put AMF up 4-0. But Clothier would put together a great inning of their own tying the game 4-4.
In the bottom of the 6th, AMF’s Tzvi Perlman hit a rocket over the left-center fielder to put himself and Moshe Mutterperl on second and third. Jeremy Kramer hit a sac fly to give AMF a 5-4 lead. Following an Orshan RBI single with 2 outs, Hochman hit a shot to right field which, after a bobble, allowed Hochman to score and go up 8-5.
AMF appeared to have a commanding lead but in the top of the 9th, Clothier scored 3 runs with no outs to tie the game. With bases loaded and nobody out, Clothier hit a fly ball to left-center fielder Jeremy Kramer who played it perfectly and threw out the tagging runner at home for a highly dramatic double play! Weissman then forced a ground ball out to end the threat.
With a tie game and the championship on the line, AMF’s Chaim Mandelbaum hit a single to left followed by a walk to Danny Weissman, which brought the clutch hitting, Jeff Spatz to the plate. Spatz hit a line drive to right-center, scoring Mandelbaum for the walk-off win and sending AMF to the championship!
