(TABC Sports) The TABC varsity softball team was in desperate need of a win after dropping two to SAR and YDE and tying MTA. Another loss would have further jeopardized their playoff hopes. On Wednesday night, May 12, they faced the Hillel Heat, who were coming off a win earlier in the evening, in Leonia. The Storm were able to build an early lead in the first inning off an RBI double from senior Zevi Samet. Hillel had bases loaded in the top half of the next inning, but Samet was able to get it done, not only offensively, but defensively as well, playing shortstop. He got one runner out at home and the next one out at first, and the Storm were out of the jam. The Heat bats were finally catching fire in the following inning and the Storm found themselves down 3-2. Both teams were playing terrific defense in the field to keep this a low-scoring game throughout. The Storm were able to knot up the game in the fifth inning thanks to an RBI sac fly from senior Elan Goldstein. TABC almost went ahead but the Hillel shortstop made a diving catch to keep it tied. The Storm had bases loaded in the following inning with nobody out and Hillel again kept the runners stranded on base. Still, the Storm continued to play great defense and made a nice double play orchestrated by junior Yis Kaminetzky at second base.
The Storm then had a chance to win the game and knew they didn’t want to go into extra innings (not to mention the lights were scheduled to turn off in about 20 minutes). Luckily, Samet was up to the plate. He delivered again, hitting a screamer over the center fielder’s head for what was at first a triple. With many advising him to stay on third, Samet insisted on going for it and ended up scoring the game-winning run, earning a huge 4-3 win for the Storm, keeping them in playoff contention. The players stormed the field and piled on Samet. Some of the players celebrated with well-deserved 7-Eleven victory Slurpees. What a night!
A few days later, the Storm met the Flatbush Falcons for their last regular season game. The teams were originally supposed to meet six days earlier, but the rain had other plans, which set up this makeup game on Erev Shavuot at Terhune Park in Teaneck. Flatbush came out guns blazing and took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Storm were able to make things level through an RBI sac fly from senior Ezra Kopstick in the second. In the bottom of the third, the Storm went up for good. An RBI sac fly from Kaminetzky, followed by an RBI triple from senior Yair Levie and a two-run inside-the-park homer from junior Joey Zelig ‘22, put the game out of reach for Flatbush. The final score was 5-1 as the Storm finished with a record of 5-2-1 and now await word of their opponent in the first round of the playoffs. Stay tuned as the Storm attempts to bring home a championship in coach and principal Mr. Poleyeff’s last season.
