On Father’s Day, Sunday June 20, the 6/7 grade boys baseball division of BBO/TBO championship game was played. The game matched up the #3 seed Kindersmiles Canines from BBO against the #1 seed The Humble Toast Chefs from TBO.
Starting pitching dominated early on, and the large crowd gathered at New Field knew they were in for a great game. Adiv Rimberg started for the home team Chefs, and pitched three scoreless innings. Matching him toe to toe for the Canines was lefty starter Akiva Hanauer, who also pitched three scoreless innings. Both pitchers were on their game, but also received support from their outstanding fielders behind them. Canines shortstop Yishai Neiss and third baseman Gavi Engel consistently prevented grounders from getting through the left side of the infield, robbing base hits and turning them into outs. A Chef’s rally was thwarted in the third inning when Canines first baseman Andi Richman alertly threw home to catcher Shlomo Wenger to nail a runner trying to score from second base on an infield ground out. For the home team, Chefs shortstop Jordan Zaretsky was outstanding in the field, as was first baseman Ami Forman. Outfielders Seth Gluck, Zachary Dauber and Zevi Cohen played their positions flawlessly.
As the scoreless game went into the fourth inning, both teams began to think that the first team to score may win the championship. In the fourth inning, the Chefs gave the ball to their hard throwing closer Daniel Eckman, who pitched three scoreless innings. The Canines responded by bringing in their closer, Richman, who also pitched three scoreless innings. Four pitchers each pitching three scoreless innings may be a first in a TBO/BBO game, certainly in a championship game.
Going into extra innings, both teams were forced to go to their third pitcher, based on the rule that no pitcher can pitch more than three innings per game. Eitan Goldwasser took the mound for the Chefs in the top of the seventh inning. After the first batter lined out to Goldwasser, the second batter drew a walk. After stealing second and third base, the runner tried to steal home on a wild pitch. Chefs catcher Jack Abrahamson was quick to retrieve the ball, made a great throw to Goldwasser covering the plate to tag the runner for the second out and keep the game scoreless. After the next batter grounded out, the Chefs were now ready to finally break through with a run.
Shmuel Vinar worked a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning and advanced to second on a wild pick-off attempt. He then stole third base. With one out and a runner on third, Canine manager Amnon Wenger brought the infield in to try to prevent the runner from third from scoring. The fans were on the edge of their seats as the drama was unfolding. Chananya Schlaff-Pearlberg came to the plate with a chance to be the hero. He connected with a hard line drive into center field to bring home Vinar, scoring the only run in the game.
As the Chefs celebrated this dramatic walk off 1-0 extra-innings victory in the championship game, parents came on to the field to celebrate with their kids. Manager Ari Eckman reacted to the dramatic win: “Wow, what a game! None of us thought we would be in a 1-0 game in extra innings. But like we’ve done all season long, each boy on this team stepped up when we were confronted with a challenge. I am so happy for all the boys, who put in so much work at our weekly practices during the season to improve their baseball skills. It seems that the extra batting practice Chananya took last Friday clearly paid off.”
When Chefs co-coach Aharon Goldwasser was asked about whether the team would celebrate the victory with a team dinner at The Humble Toast, he said, “Sure, if a team parent sponsors it.” So far he has not received any phone calls from the parents.
Congratulations to the Humble Toast Chefs on a great season and on winning the 6/7 grade boys division baseball championship.
