Today (Sunday) the clocks changed to Fall. That will be the only difference between Summer and now.
Gezer09 and Misgav met in the 2026 Spring Finals. They only played 2 games in the best-of-3, ; then war, U16+U18 National Teams, and Maccabiah stopped the series at 1 game a piece.
Almost 4 months later, the 2 teams will meet Monday at Baptist, for Game 1 of the Fall Finals series.
Misgav were undefeated during the Fall Season; Gezer didn't lose on the field (1 forfeit), but had a hard time getting players out. Come Monday, most (but not all) will be there, including legend Alon Leichman.
Game 2 will be Thursday at Gezer, 20:30 start. If needed, Game 3 will be Monday November 2 at Baptist.
It's September 1st, and it's time for games again. In the next few days, Gezer09 and Vets will play their first games of the Fall Season (September–November). Follow the standings and results.
2018 Fall Season:
6 games — 3 preliminary group games, 2 upper/lower group games, and 1 playoff game
1) Sun 2/9/18, Gezer defeats Vets 12-2
2) Wed 12/9/18, Gezer defeats Cerveceros 7-5
3) Thu 20/9/18, Gezer defeats Sox 10-0
Gezer advances to the upper group
4) Mon 8/10/18, Gezer defeats Twisters 5-1
5) Mon 15/10/18, Gezer defeats Penticon 17-7
Championship Game
6) Tue 30/10/18, Gezer defeats Twisters 4-2
Gezer are the 2018 Fall Champions!!
Gezer09SoftballFall Season
(Almost) David vs. Goliath, Softball Style
The 2016 Fall League came to an end last Thursday.
The Warriors from Maor, most of them junior national team players and some also members of the senior national team, advanced to the final after an 8-4 win over the Tigers on November 6 in Maor—an upset the experts certainly did not see coming. That earned the Warriors a championship game against Gezer09, winners in 6 of the previous 7 years.
Around 100 spectators from Gezer and Maor came to watch the final, in which the experts once again gave the Warriors no chance of winning. The starting pitchers were Yuval Barak for the Warriors and Michael Marunov for Gezer09.
The Warriors batted first. Apart from a dropped fly ball that put a runner on second, they posed no threat. In Gezer’s half of the first inning, Benny Ruggill drew a walk, and Alberto Castillo singled to left field. Aviv Yaakov hit a ball to third baseman Kfir Leon, who fielded it and threw to shortstop Ilan Zashin, covering third, for the first out. Marunov walked, loading the bases and keeping the threat alive. Gil Siegel hit a soft ball back to pitcher Barak, who lost track of it in his glove. The ball fell out, and the first run scored. 1-0 Gezer09. Yoav Eliyahu hit a ball to third, and the throw home got the second out. Tom Haskell hit another ball to third, which was fielded and thrown to first baseman Ben Kantor. After one inning: 1-0 Gezer09.
Second inning. After a flyout to right field, Yomi Klaf drove a line drive into the left-center gap for a double. The first pitch to Bar Shrem got past catcher Gil Siegel, and Yomi advanced to third. On Marunov’s next pitch, Bar laid down a squeeze bunt toward third. Eitan Frankel tried to field the ball and flip it with his glove in one motion, but could not quite pull it off, and Yomi scored the Warriors’ first run. The next two batters were retired. Midway through the second: 1-1.
In the bottom of the second, Eitan led off with a single to left, and Yoav Halper laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Benny Ruggill and Alberto were retired. 1-1 after 2 innings.
Adi Leon began the third inning with a strikeout. Then 5 consecutive singles, all perfectly placed, brought home 4 runs for the Warriors. Gal Shrem started with an infield hit that shortstop Aviv could not turn into an out. Dan Winnik singled to left, Ilan Zashin drove in a run with a hard hit toward right field, Kfir Leon drove in 2 with a hard ground ball to right, and Yomi drove in a run with a hard ground ball to center. 5-1 midway through the third.
Bottom of the third. With one out, Michael Marunov battled through a 9-pitch plate appearance before drawing a walk. Gil also walked, and Yoav and Tom followed with singles to bring home 2 runs. With runners on first and third and only one out, Eitan tried unsuccessfully to get a bunt down and eventually struck out. Yoav Halper was also retired. 5-3 Warriors after 3 innings.
From the fourth inning onward, Marunov shifted into high gear and did not allow another Warriors player to reach base. In all, he retired 14 straight batters, including 8 strikeouts, through the end of the seventh inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, with one out, Alberto tripled into the right-center gap, and Aviv drove him home with a single to center. 5-4 Warriors. Mishka hit a ball to shortstop Zashin, who threw to Gal Shrem at second for the second out. There was still a chance to escape the inning, but a single by Gil and a double by Yoav Eliyahu tied the score at 5-5, leaving runners on second and third. Coach Brian Klaff decided it was time for a pitching change, replacing Yuval Barak with Dan Winnick, who had been playing right field. Yuval left the game, and Raz Shuker entered the field in his place. Dan Winnick struck out Tom. 5-5 after 4 innings.
Over the next two innings, Gezer threatened here and there and put runners on base, but never came close to scoring.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tom led off with a strikeout, and Daniel Eisenberg singled to center. Alex Rhodes also struck out. Up came Benny Ruggill, who hit a fly ball to left fielder Adi Leon. Adi did not get a good look at it, and the ball went into his glove and out again. By the time he picked it up, Eisenberg had crossed home plate with the winning run. 6-5 Gezer09.
After the game and the handshakes, the 2 teams lined up along the baselines for the presentation of the Fall League championship plate.
Stars of the game: For Gezer09, Alberto Castillo went 3-for-4 and scored 2 runs. Yoav Eliyahu had 2 hits and drove in 2 runs. Michael Marunov reached base 3 times. For the Warriors, Yomi Klaff went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, Ilan Zashin played excellent defense at shortstop, and Bar Shrem was a wall behind home plate: 0 passed balls, and he even threw out a runner at second.
Congratulations to Gezer09!! Well done to the Warriors on an amazing fall season!
Apart from next week’s Winter/Hanukkah Tournament, the league is taking a break until March 1. Good luck to everyone in the 2017 season!!
