Undefeated Pick Wick Trounces Woodmere

By Raimundo Ortiz

Pick Wick rode a red-hot offense to a convincing 13-3 victory over Young Israel of  Woodmere on Sunday.

Pick Wick, one of two undefeated teams left in the Five Towns Shul League after defeating Young Israel of Woodmere. Photo by Raimundo Ortiz

Pick Wick pounced on Woodmere starter Baruch Kleinman from the jump, scoring two runs on a one-out double by Shmuel Gestetner.  A groundball out to third base by Ephraim Templeman brought Gestetner home and Pick Wick had a three-run lead before anyone from Woodmere had picked up a bat.

In the bottom of the first, Woodmere’s number two hitter Charlie Miller singled and scored on a triple by Avi Kleinman.

The top of the second inning produced little fireworks from Pick Wick. Ari Bodner led off with a walk, moved to third on a single by Dovid Kirschenbaum, and touched home on a sacrifice fly to center field by Yanki Sax. After one and a half innings, Pick Wick led 4-1.

Ari Ellenberg smoked a double to kick off the bottom of the second for Woodmere, but getting him home was a struggle. Steve Slonnicki walked in the next at-bat, but after a pop up to the pitcher and a strikeout looking, Woodmere looked like they were going to waste a scoring opportunity. Ariel Chelst and Moshe Kleinman worked two more walks in the inning before the inning ended though, closing the gap to 4-2.

In the top of the third, Pick Wick wasn’t able to muster much. Adam Offman led off with a double, but he was stranded at second base when Baruch Kleinman induced a fly out to left field, a grounder to third base, and a pop up to short.

Woodmere wasn’t able to take advantage of the scoreless inning Kleinman had just twirled.  Only one batter reached base via a base on balls and their half of the inning was equally feeble.

The top of the fourth was where this contest got hairy for Woodmere. Ezzy Unger sparked Pick Wick with a leadoff double, followed by a Bodner single and a Kirschenbaum walk. What happened next became a sore subject for the remainder of the morning.  Bari Azman drove a ball into center field that was caught. When the throw to prevent Unger from tagging up came in, it got past Baruch Kleinman and rolled to the fence when the umpire ruled the ball dead. He waved both Unger and Kirschenbaum home, to the dismay of Woodmere.  The ruling was that by making a throw Woodmere had taken the risk of throwing the ball away, and although it hit the fence close to the catcher’s feet the ground rules stated it was a dead ball. The Woodmere players argued the call with vigor and outrage, but the umpire remained unmoved.

After that call, everything unraveled for Woodmere. Yanki Sax singled, Evan Blachman doubled, Ushi Rosen singled, Offman hit a sacrifice fly, Gestetner walked and Joe Davidson smacked a single before the final out was mercifully recorded. When all the rubble settled, every hitter in Pick Wick’s lineup had gotten to the dish, six runs had scored and a 4-2 battle had transformed into a 10-2 thrashing.

In the bottom of the fourth Ellenberg stroked a one-out single but again, no runs were scored.

The top of the fifth was uneventful offensively save for a leadoff two-bagger by Unger, but Nossi Lieberman did gun him down in spectacular fashion on the next play. Unger had reached third on an errant throw to second. Then, Kirschenbaum lifted a ball to right field where Lieberman parked underneath it, got a slight running start and fired a bolt of lightning to home plate, where Unger was toast. It was the bright spot of Woodmere’s afternoon. Pick Wick didn’t score in the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the sterling effort of Lieberman failed to jolt Woodmere’s offense awake. They were retired in a fashion reminiscent of the fourth inning. In this case Moshe Kleinman recorded a two-out single before the inning ended without any runs being scored.

Pick Wick tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth inning, pushing their lead to 13-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, Woodmere showed some fight and scratched out a run on a two-out double in the right center field gap, but the deficit was entirely too much to overcome.