After the U18 European Championship qualifier, which took place from Monday to Saturday in the Heerenschürli ballpark, Sweden won the tournament with a clear victory in the final against Lithuania, local creativity was in demand again. The 1st League teams of the Challengers and the Lucerne Eagles faced each other. Whereby the Challengers lined up with a U18 team as well to match the European Championship. After a wild back-and-forth throughout the day, the two teams ultimately shared the points fraternally.
In game 1 the Challengers weren’t able to keep three leads. The pitchers, with no fewer than 15 walks, gave their defense little opportunity to get out of trouble with successful plays. So the encounter was lost 17-19. But the Challengers kept the better end in the second game with a 16-14 win.
Author: Serge Künzler
Split for the 1st League-Team
Cadets finish in 1st place
The U15 Cadets win on their last game day of the preliminary round against the SG Black Hawks and the Rümlang Kobras. They secured first place in the east group and will meet the runners-up in the west group in the semi-finals. Who this will be is still open.
The Challengers played the game against the SG Black Hawks confidently this time. This was different from previous encounters this season, but on Saturday the Challengers pulled away 15-0 in the fastest way possible and finally won 22-6. Noam Müller and Fabrizio Bucher each had three hits, Jasper Freigang collected four RBI with a 3-run home run and Ben Dickow with a 2-run home run, and Jimmy Siemers contributed three RBI each to the success.
1st place was decided in the last game between the defending champions Rümlang Kobras and last year’s finalists Challengers. It was already clear that the winner ends the preliminary round in first place. At first it looked like the home team was on the way to achieve the goal. Solana Lutz put her colors up 3-0 with a 2-run double in the third inning. But then the Challengers stamped in. RBI doubles from Noam Müller and Fabrizio Bucher closed the gap for the Challengers to 2-3, and after a wild pitch and an error by the Kobras, the visitors were suddenly 4-3 ahead after three innings. And the Challengers increased the pace again. With an RBI double from Jasper Freigang and an RBI single from Fabrizio Bucher, they pulled away to 6-3 and even went out of the fourth inning with a 9-3 lead. Jasper Freigang pitched a complete game and didn’t let anything burn in the fifth inning either.
Ladie win twice on Züri-Fäscht Saturday
On the Züri-Fäscht Saturday the Challengers Softball-Team welcomed the Bern Cardinals on the Klopstockwiese. The fans got to see two very good games, with the first game being on the razor’s edge to the last catch.
Sarah Kleiterp started as a pitcher for the Challengers for the first time. The line-up for the home team was a bit unusual due to various absences. After initially falling behind, the Zurich team finally fought their way back into the game in the fourth inning when Taylor McCants reached home plate first, before Simona Cellar equalized the game to 9-9 with a 2-run double. It was Cellar again who made it 10-9 in the sixth inning with an RBI single, her fourth hit of the game. After that, Leandra Simitoviv completed her strong performance with three flyouts and secured the Challengers a 10-9 victory. Simitovic allowed just one hit in five innings and managed no fewer than seven strikeouts.
Kleiterp opened Game 2 with a three-up three-down inning, allowing the Challengers to take control from the start. Taylor McCants delivered two clean innings, giving up just two hits and two strikeouts, while the 12-hit offensive saw the game end with a 15-5 score due to the mercy-rule after four innings. Leandra Simitovic had three hits and four RBIs, Molly Mullens also had three hits and two RBIs, while Simone Zurschmitten and Anna Zgraggen each had one hit and two RBIs in the win. With the two successes the Challengers extend their winning streak to nine.
Challengers games on Thursday and Saturday
On Thursday evening, July 6th, there will be a Make-up game in the NLB championship at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The Challengers meet the Zurich Barracudas Academy. The game will start at 7 p.m.
On the Züri-Fäscht Saturday the Softball-Team will be playing its next home game day at the Klopstockwiese. The Challengers will try to extend their seven game winning streak also against the Bern Cardinals. Games start at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The U15-Cadets will also be in action on Saturday. They play in Rümlang against the SG Black Hawks and the Rümlang Kobras. The games start at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. in Rümlang Rümelbach.
Softball-Team wins 7th in a row
Thanks to another strong offense the Softball-Team wins twice against the Sissach Frogs. The Challengers are now riding a seven game winning streak.
After two innings pitched by U22 players, as required by the regulations, the guests were already ahead by 10-5. After a good third inning the Frogs reduced the deficit to 12-16, but in the end the Challengers clearly prevailed 28-15. Isabelle Tan and Mia Matas each had three hits, three RBI and four runs, Marina Vaccaro Brüderli contributed two hits, three RBI and five runs and Leandra Simitovic got her third win of the season.
Game 2 was very similar. The Challengers took an 8-3 lead after two innings and didn’t give it up until the end. Taylor McCants gave up just three hits and one run while the offense went up to 14-4. McCants was also significantly involved with two doubles and two RBI, Isabelle Tan, Sarah Kleiterp and Mia Matas also collected two RBI each. The debut of junior Tara Hochstrasser was also pleasing. She got two RBI and one run in the first game.
Important victories for NLB-Team
The NLB-Team walks away with two important victories in the battle for a playoff spot against the Lausanne Indians. While the guests from western Switzerland give up the first game, the Challengers make life difficult for themselves in game two after a 10-run lead, but hold on for eventually win 15-14.
The first game will see a 7-0 win for the Challengers. The Vaudois only had one Swiss pitcher in their lineup, but he wasn’t in the game for long. The visitors threw in the towel after the first half of the third inning. In game two the Challengers looked like the sure winner for a long time too. They countered the Indians’ three runs in the first inning with five of their own and after three innings the home team led 14-4. But the lead then melted away like snow in the spring sun. Going into the final inning, the Challengers were still 15-11 ahead. But Lausanne came close with a double, a walk and three straight RBI-singles to make it 14-15 with the tying run on second base. Closer Adderly Sarmiento then managed an eminently important pickoff, because shortly afterwards the bases were loaded with two outs – and a full count. But with the last pitch, the Challengers managed the decisive out, with which they secured the victory. They overtake today’s opponent in the standings and are back on 4th place.
Nick Siemers hit a triple and a double and racked up five RBIs, David Morroni had three hits and Alex Gordon had two hits and two RBIs in the win. Joseph Stotz was credited with the win, while Adderly Sarmiento collected the save.
Cadets start July with two wins
The U15-Cadets have no trouble against the Black Hawks and win twice clearly. Three Challengers players hit a home run.
In the first game it quickly was clear which team would be the winner. The Challengers were already leading 8-0 after two innings and they even expanded this to a 13-2 lead by the end. Jasper Freigang with a 2-run home run in the second inning and Jordi Bucher with a 2-run home run in the third provided the offensive highlights, while Fabrizio Bucher delivered three hits.
The afternoon game was almost a copy of the opener. This time the Challengers were leading by a maximum of 10-0 after two innings. Again the Black Hawks only got a few runs at the very end, which didn’t change the Challengers’ easy 16-4 victory. Ilai Blickenstorfer belted a 2-run home run in the fourth inning. He finished the game with two hits and three RBIs, while Noam Müller had two hits and scored three runs. Müller also was credited with the win with three scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and two walks while striking out three.
NLB-Team falls short of the Barracudas again
The NLB-Team does not manage the turnaround. After losing the last derby against Barracudas Academy by the narrowest of margins 13-14, it sets off a 2-8 loss on Wednesday night. Only three hits but five errors are the main reasons for the renewed derby defeat.
The Challengers have two wins and seven losses after nine games. Next Saturday there will be a decisive clash for qualifying for the playoffs with the Lausanne Indians in Zurich’s Heerenschürli ballpark. The Indians are only half a game ahead of the Challengers in fourth place.
18-hit attack leads to derby win
The Softball-Team prevails in a wild night game against their cross-town rivals Zurich Barracudas. A strong offensive can mask the deficiencies in defense, ultimately the Challengers walk away with a 23-16 victory.
Especially in the first half of the game the runs fall like ripe fruit from the trees. After trailing for most of the first two innings, the Challengers took the lead in the third with six runs to make 16-12. And the held on, defeating the Barracudas for the first time in their third game of the season.
Carmen Lutz-Demetz and Leandra Simitovic each had three of the 18 Challengers hits, while Simona Cellar, Isabelle Tan, Molly Mullens and Cheyenne La Marr all delivered two hits each.
Two night games this week
There are two night games this week. Both times between teams from the Zurich Challengers and the Zurich Barracudas.
The women’s softball teams will start off on Tuesday evening, June 27th at 7 p.m. at the Klopstockwiese in Zurich-Enge.
On Wednesday, June 28th there will be the same duel in Baseball NLB. The Challengers will meet the Barracudas Academy at 7:00 p.m. in a make-up game at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The game was originally scheduled for the opening day on April 2, but fell victim to the weather at the time.