The Rinat Rattlers won the B league championship, sweeping a doubleheader against the Lamplighters and avenging an in-season loss. The Rattlers turned four double plays and had key hits to cap a very streaky season which saw them win their first four games, lose five and then finish the regular season on a five game win streak. Due to some complex math that our children helped us figure out, the Rattlers finished the regular season as the division champions after winning a three-way tie.

The Rattlers playoff run included many bad first innings as the team apparently preferred the stress of coming back from behind, and that held true on Sunday as they were down four runs after the first inning of game one. The Rattlers began their comeback scoring three runs in the second and two in the third only to fall behind 6-5 after the fourth. But key hits from the bottom of the order led to atwo-run double from co-captain Orin Golubtchik, and then the eventual game-winning sacrifice fly by Dani Levine.

After a short break for water and stretching (ha!), the Rattlers once again fell behind early giving up only two runs in the first. But a seven run second set the stage for what proved to be a slugfest in game two. In what can only be described as a statistician’s delight, the teams battled back and forth, with the Rattlers refusing to relinquish the lead and after a six-run sixth inning, keyed by a Moshe Wertentiel triple and speed run around the bases, they went into the bottom of the seventh with a six run lead. After seeing the lead quickly cut to three, the Rattlers held on to win 18-15, much to the delight of their fans (they had a crowd of about 10-12 family members cheering them on). It was a great team effort said co-captains Golubtchik and Jeff Levine as the team mostly reveled in not running themselves out of any innings.

The Rattlers team was made up of a mix of young and old. They had 4½ Levines (Jeff, Ari, Dani, Yoni and future member Rami), three Moshes (Big–Wertenteil, Middle–Goldstein and Little–Golubtchik), two “Seniors” (Ira Roth, Jake Beilin), two Singers (Jon Rimberg and Etan Bluman), two Dickerson Roadies (Avi Shafar and Orin Golubtchik), one Very Tall Shortstop (Ranon Mann) and one guy who finally gave up the bungalow to play a full season (Ari Plaut). It was a great season with good competition throughout.

Not pictured Ari Levine, Moshe Golubtchik.