Softball: A week of tight contests in ISA as ReMax-Ra'anana, Ziontours triumph in thrillers

By MICAH WINSTON
Parity reigned supreme in the Israel Softball Association last week as all the men's games were decided by two runs or less. Ziontours edged the Cerveceros 15-14, Penticon dropped the Tigers 4-2, Dimona beat the Galil Twisters 75 and ReMax-Ra'anana came back to defeat Shimshon Hi Tech 13-12. On Monday, the B Pool Cerveceros gave the A Pool Ziontours a scare, but in the end, bad defense was their downfall. Aviv Yaakov crushed a grand slam and drove in five runs to lead the Ziontours offense, but the game really got dramatic in the seventh inning. The Latinos loaded the bases with the winning run on second, but pitcher Blair Portnoy induced a pop out to end the rally and lead his team to victory. On Tuesday, Penticon's Ami Baran got the better of the Tigers' Goose Gillett in a pitching duel. With the thermometer in single digits, neither team could get the bats warmed up. David Aron started the game with a double and scored on Howie Hirsch's single. Shalom Menora and Ron Solomon each had two hits and a run for Penticon. Baran was dominant, whiffing eight and snagging three come-backers. Also on Tuesday, what looked to be a blow-out turned into a tight game. Dimona's first four batters scored in the first against Twister pitcher Hezi Ganz when Elinatan Ben Israel smashed a three-run triple and scored on Akaziyah Ben Israel's groundout. Dimona added three unearned runs in the second on Tabie Ben Israel's two-run single and another RBI from Elinatan. Meanwhile, pitcher Yarone Ben-Israel whiffed nine Twisters. The Northerners rallied for four in the third on some sloppy defense and a two-run triple by Micah Winston, and Albert Serkovitch singled in the fifth run in the fifth, but the Twisters, who had men on second and third, could not bring the tying run home. ReMax-Ra'anana 13, Shimshon Hi Tech 12 On Wednesday, ReMax-Ra'anana pulled out a last-inning victory for the second game in a row. Alon Leichman, who already had homered twice and doubled, came up with the bases loaded, two outs and ReMax down 11-9 and promptly cleared the bases with a walk-off triple off of Shimshon Hi Tech hurler Gadi Bossin. Shimshon, who had led the entire game, got fine performances from Rafi Goldmeir (3-4, 3 runs, 2 RBI), Joel Schnitzler (2 hits, 3 RBI's) and Chananya Wissman (3 hits, 4 runs). David Leichman pitched the complete game victory for ReMax.