Games We Play: Jerusalem Cadets take Hanukka title

Jerusalem broke the game open in the fourth with key hits by Aaron Dov Goldhar, Avishai Gross and Mikey Adam.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
kids baseball 298.88 (photo credit: )
kids baseball 298.88
(photo credit: )
A strong Jerusalem Cadet team completed a three-game sweep with a 9-2 victory over Gezer at Sportek to win the Dr. Ami Cohen youth baseball Hannuka tournament last week. There were seven teams of 13-15 year olds in the annual event. Gezer's Ilan Susskind held back the Jerusalem offense with effective pitching in the early innings, but Jerusalem broke the game open in the fourth with key hits by Aaron Dov Goldhar, Avishai Gross and Mikey Adam. Yehuda Weisel, Tzvi Render and Boaz Fraiman shared the pitching duties during the three games, allowing only four runs over 15 innings. They helped their team at the plate as well: Render with a grand slam against Kfar Saba-Tzofit, Weisel with five RBIs, and Fraiman reaching base in 11 out of 12 plate appearances. Hashmonaim wins Juvenile tournament The Jerusalem A and Hashmonaim Juvenile Division teams both entered the Tiva Pelter Memorial Hanukka Tournament championship game with 3-0 records from the preliminary round. After the Jerusalem A 10-12-year-olds lost the coin toss, neither team scored in the first inning. The Jerusalem defense kept it tight behind Elya Druker. Jerusalem scored in the second on heads up base running by Chili Loewenstern from Beit Shemesh and Saul Schulman. Hashmonaim countered in the bottom and took the lead in the third. In the fourth and fifth Yehuda Vecht struck out five of the seven batters he faced, throwing out another at first base to keep Jerusalem in the game. In the top of the sixth Jerusalem tied the game when Daniel Offman, who reached on a base hit, worked his way to third and then stole home. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Hashmonaim's David Tover - who earlier had rounded the bases due to an error by a Jerusalem fielder - got a base hit. On the attempt to catch him at third, Jerusalem lost the ball and Tover scored to end the game. David struck out 12 Jerusalem batters, while Elya and Yehuda combined to strike out 10 Hashmonaim hitters.