By JPOST SPORTS STAFFisrael softball 88(photo credit: )
The Galil Twisters split a pair of games, getting blanked by undefeated Penticon 6-0 and rolling over Shimshon Hi Tech 14-8 in the Israel Softball Association 'Babe Gillett' Memorial Fall Tournament. The Tigers remained without a loss, dispatching the winless Dawgs 18-4.
On Monday, Ami Baran bested Bill Arscott, allowing only three hits, two by Yaniv Rosenfeld, and striking out eight Twisters.
Arscott pitched well, but Penticon played small ball, scoring two runs on squeeze bunts by Sam Goldberg and David Fleitman, and sloppy Twister defense led to four unearned runs. Rightfielder Brian Aron made two nice catches, one sliding, to lead a solid Penticon defensive effort.
On Tuesday, the Tigers ran off their fourth straight easy win, led by hard-hitting Mark Loeb who clubbed a pair of two-run homers, each towering fly balls that cleared the fence in right centerfield, and added a run-scoring two-bagger to spearhead the Tiger attack.
Loeb has now homered in all four games this Fall. Guy Bender poked two singles to knock in a pair of runs. The pitching chores were divided between Gillett and Blair Portnoy, who left the Dawgs without bark or bite.
For the Dawgs, Natan Tamari, making his debut on the mound, pitched well, Dani Machlis hit a towering triple, and rookie Chay-El Lindenbaum made three tough catches in centerfield.
On Wednesday, the Galil Twisters jumped out to an 11-1 lead after two innings against pitcher Sholom Menorah behind the solid pitching of 15 year-old Kobi Daya, who struck out five in the first two innings and six overall.
Eitan Milgram rapped out three hits and drove in two, catcher Dave Fain knocked in runs on a suicide squeeze and a sacrifice fly and played great defense, Micah Winston homered and scored twice, and Roni Gross was 2-2 with 2 RBI's to lead the Northerners' offense. Shimshon Hi Tech rallied to within 12-8 after four, getting a 2-run double from Shem Tov Shapiro, an RBI triple from Ari Shapiro and an RBI hit from Dovid Kurtz (3 RBI total).
However, with Beit Shemesh threatening in the fifth with two on and no outs, the Twisters reeled off three fantastic defensive plays in a row to take the wind out of their sails.
First, third baseman Louie Miller fielded a bunt, wheeled and threw to shortstop Jeffrey Zitomer, who grabbed the low throw and just got his foot on the third base bag in time for the force; then, on a single to centerfield, Winston threw a strike to Daya at the mound, who turned and nailed the runner going home; Daya then lunged at a grounder up the middle and threw to third for one of his six assists on the night.
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