Hundreds of people joined in the fun at the IAB's first annual Hanukkah All Stars Day, held at the Baptist Village on Sunday December 1.
The day started with a scouting session for a group of junior and senior players with Rex De La Nuez of the Cincinnati Reds. Rex spent time assessing the players and providing them with valuable constructive advice on how to further develop and grow as players.
Next was the skills competition for minors, juveniles and cadets. Nearly 100 players took part, and showed their capabilities in pitching, base running, batting, and fielding. Following a barbeque, IAB President Peter Kurz lit the Hanukkah candles and welcomed all the participants to the event.
The final event of the day was the much awaited All Stars game between the White Team - players from the Jerusalem and the Ra'anana Premier League teams, and the Blue Team - players from the Modi'in and Tel Aviv PL teams.
In an exciting game, Team White beat Team Blue 6-2. Orr Gottlieb was the winning pitcher with 5 Innings, 0 hits, 9 strikeouts, 2 Walks, and 1 unearned run allowed. Blue Team pitcher was Dan Rothem: 5 innings, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 3 runs.
The White Team scored 2 runs in the 3rd inning on singles by Asaf Lowengart and Asaf Rothem who scored on Andrew Klein's single and Nate Fish's double. In the 5th Josh Weiss (2 for 3) tripled and scored on a passed ball. Nate Fish (2 for 3) led off the 6th with his second double, and then scored on a double by Yoav Halper (2 for 5). Josh Weiss scored again in the 7th inning after reaching on an error and scoring on an error. In the 9th, Yotam Ben Amram scored on a single by Avi Watson.
The Blue Team scored in the 4th when Albert Levy, who walked, scored on a wild pitch; and in the 7th, Yoni Shwartz walked, then scored on a single by Hernan Guinguis. Blue got their first hit of the game in the 6th, and ended up with 4 hits, all singles.
A big thanks to all those who helped make this day a special one. See you all next Hanukkah again!