The U12-Juveniles will compete in the Final Four tournament on Saturday for the Swiss championship title in the youngest age group in Swiss baseball. The tournament will be held for the first time in Bulle, Fribourg. The Challengers will face the Therwil Flyers in the semifinals, as they did in the U15 age group as well. The Geneva Dragons 2 and the Wil Devils will face each other in the other semifinal. The winners of the two semi-finals will then play for the championship, the losers will play for third place.
U12-Juveniles Final Four Tournament in Bulle, Stade de Bouleyres:
Saturday, August 31st, 10:00 a.m., Semi-final 1: Wil Devils vs. Geneva Dragons 2
Saturday, August 31st, 12:00 p.m., Semi-final 2: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, August 31st, 2:00 p.m., Bronze medal game
Saturday, August 31st, 4:00 p.m., Final
The U15-Cadets will play their third and deciding game of their best-of-three semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers on Sunday at Therwil Känematt. One week ago both teams have won one game each.
U15-Cadets Playoff Semifinals Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers: Score 1-1 (best-of-three)
Saturday, August 24th, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zürich Challengers 8-9
Saturday, August 24th, 1:30 p.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers 14-18
Sunday, September 1st, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
Author: Serge Künzler
U12-Juveniles Final Four Tournament in Bulle
Challengers finish in 3rd place at the Softball European Cup
The Challengers took part in the Women’s Softball European Cup Winners Cup “B” in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium last week. After a veritable run of improvement with four wins in a row they finished the tournament in third place.
In Belgium the Challengers met the Egedal Stars from Denmark, MRKI Medvedi from Croatia and the host Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix. The start of the tournament was anything but optimal for the Zurich team. On the opening day the Challengers had to admit losses to both the Danes from Egedal and the Croatians. There was more to it, especially in the game against Egedal, as the score was still 1-1 after five innings before the Danes managed to decide the match. The game against the hosts Mont-Saint-Guibert was similar. Here too the game was tied before the Belgians were able to pull away with a six-run inning.
But the Zurich team improved over the course of the tournament. They were unrecognizable in the return matches against the same teams. The Challengers beat Egedal 8-0, against Medvedi they took an early 6-0 lead to the finish line with a 7-5 win despite a comeback by the Croatians, and in the last preliminary round game they inflicted the only defeat of the tournament on the home team, which had already qualified for the final, with a 9-1 win. Ultimately the Challengers missed out on reaching the final due to the run difference with the Croatians, who had the same number of wins.
In the Bronze Medal Game the Challengers faced the Egedal Stars again. The Zurich team took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and were able to immediately respond to the Danes’ run in the fifth inning with an RBI single from Carmen Lutz-Demetz to make it 3-1. Pitcher Madison Johnson brought the victory home and secured third place for the Challengers. Pick-up player Madison Johnson was also voted the best pitcher of the tournament.
Results:
Tuesday, August 20th, 11.30am: Egedal Stars vs. Zürich Challengers 6-2
Tuesday, August 20th, 4.30pm: MRKI Medvedi vs. Zürich Challengers 10-6
Wednesday, August 21st, 7pm: Zürich Challengers vs. Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix 1-8
Thursday, August 22nd, 11.30am: Zürich Challengers vs. Egedal Stars 8-0
Thursday, August 22nd, 4:30 p.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. MRKI Medvedi 7-5
Friday, August 23rd, 7:00 p.m.: Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix vs. Zürich Challengers 1-9
Saturday, August 24th, 2:00 p.m.: Bronze Medal Game Egedal Stars vs. Zürich Challengers 1-3
Saturday, August 24th, 5:00 p.m.: Final MRKI Medvedi vs. Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix 0-8
NLA games canceled
Today’s NLA games between the Wil Pirates and the Zürich Challengers in Wil had to be postponed due to rain. No make-up date has been announced so far.
Continue Reading » NLA games canceledCadets semi-final tied at 1-1
The U15-Cadets twice squandered a clear lead, but at least managed to avoid a defeat in Game 1 with a walk-off win. So the best-of-three semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers is tied at 1-1 and goes to the decider.
The eagerly awaited duel between the two arch rivals went back and forth. The lead changed several times already in Game 1. Here, the Challengers still came out on top. While the Flyers had scored the first run of the series in the first inning, Yannik Hobi gave the Zurich team their first lead with a 2-run single. They even extended their lead to 4-1. The Basel team made up the deficit by the fourth inning. They equalized in a particularly dramatic way with a triple steal with the bases loaded. Noam Müller, however, put his team back in the lead with an RBI single. But the Flyers turned the game around again in their last inning with four runs to make it 8-5. The Challengers now had one last chance to avert the impending defeat. After a walk by Ben Dickow and a hit-by-pitch by Tyler Smith, Yannik Hobi made it 6-8 with an RBI single. And Ilai Blickenstorfer did manage to tie the game again with a 2-run single. But things got even better for the Zurich team. Noam Müller’s walk-off single put the finishing touches to this dramatic game.
The Challengers also got off to a good start in Game 2. Fabrizio Bucher put the Zurich team on the scoreboard with an RBI single. And after two more runs on wild pitches with runners on third base, Fabrice Cadalbert increased the lead to 4-0 with another RBI single. After two runs by the Flyers, Yannik Hobi made it 5-2 with an RBI double in the third inning, but the Leimental team scored five runs in the second half of the third inning and took the lead. Things weren’t going well for the Challengers pitchers. In the third and fourth innings they allowed their opponents no fewer than 14 walks or hit-by-pitches, which the Flyers combined with seven hits to score 16 runs. This burden was too heavy. The Zurich team did manage to score eight more runs, including a 3-run homer from Ben Dickow, but they couldn’t manage more than 14-18.
The deciding game for a place in the final against the Geneva Dragons will take place next Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Therwiler Känelmatt.
U15-Cadets Playoff Semifinals Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers: Score 1-1 (best-of-three)
Saturday, August 24th, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zürich Challengers 8-9
Saturday, August 24th, 1:30 p.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers 14-18
Saturday, August 31st, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
NLA-Team heads to Wil, Cadets semi-finals in Therwil
At the end of the preliminary round the third-placed Zurich Challengers and the fourth-placed Wil Pirates will meet in Wil on Sunday, which is unfortunately of no significance for the standings anymore. Even before the remaining games have been played, it is clear that the Challengers will no longer be able to defend their title. The focus against the Eastern Swiss team is therefore to equalize the won-loss record of their 2024 season at 7-7. In the first meeting between the two clubs in Zurich this spring the Pirates and the Challengers won one game apiece. The games start at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Wil’s Lindenhof.
There is much more at stake for the U15 Cadets. They will play games 1 and 2 of their playoff semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers on Saturday in Therwil. The duel between the Challengers, who finished first in the East group, and the second in the West group has been a great classic in the older junior category for decades. With a few exceptions the two traditional organizations meet almost every year in the playoffs. The Challengers will try to defend their title from the previous year. The first two games of the series will take place at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Therwil Känelmatt.
U15-Cadets playoff semi-finals Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers: Standings 0-0 (best-of-three)
Saturday, August 24th, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, August 24th, 1:30 p.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers
Saturday, August 31st, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers (if necessary)
Challengers’ Swiss Cup quartefinal washed out
After the day tournament in the 1st league yesterday, also today’s Swiss Cup quarterfinal between the Zurich Challengers and the Zurich Barracudas Academy in the Heerenschürli ballpark had to be canceled due to rain. Although the teams tried to clear the puddles from the pitch, the sand area was already too soft due to the consistent rain. Wednesday, August 28th at 6.30 p.m. was provisionally set as a make-up date.
The other three quarterfinal games in the Swiss Cup competition were able to take place on Saturday. The Therwil Flyers, the Zurich Barracudas and the Zurich Lions, who managed to pull off a surprising win against the NLA team of the Wil Pirates as a lower-class team, qualified for the final tournament on September 7th/8th, also at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
1st League home games canceled
Once again, a game day for the 1st league team has to be cancelled due to rain. The Challengers’ games against the fourth team of the Zurich Barracudas and the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions, scheduled for this Saturday at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., will not take place. It is not yet clear when and if the games will be rescheduled.
Continue Reading » 1st League home games canceledWomen’s Softball European Cup Winners Cup B in Belgium
The Challengers are representing Swiss Softball on the European stage for the fourth year in a row. The Zurich team will compete against international teams next week from August 20th to 24th at the Women’s Softball European Cup Winners Cup “B” in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium.
The Challengers will face the Egedal Stars from Denmark, MRKI Medvedi from Croatia and the host Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix in Belgium. Due to the Thunderbirds from Israel cancelling at short notice due to the current situation at home, the schedule had to be adjusted at short notice. In the preliminary round, each team will now play against the other three teams twice. On Saturday there will be the final between the first and second placed teams. The third and fourth placed teams will play the so-called Bronze Medal Game.
The Zurich team will play twice on Tuesday. After the opening game against the Danes from Egedal, the Challengers will face MRKI Medvedi later in the afternoon. The games will be streamed live on the Baseball Europe TV channel.
Schedule:
Tuesday, August 20th, 11:30 a.m.: Egedal Stars vs. Zürich Challengers
Tuesday, August 20th, 4:30 p.m.: MRKI Medvedi vs. Zürich Challengers
Wednesday, August 21st, 7:00 p.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix
Thursday, August 22nd, 11:30 a.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Egedal Stars
Thursday, August 22nd, 4:30 p.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. MRKI Medvedi
Friday, August 23rd, 7:00 p.m.: Mont-Saint-Guibert Phoenix vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, August 24th, 2:00 p.m.: Bronze Medal Game
Saturday, August 24th, 5:00 p.m.: Final
Home games in 1st League and Swiss Cup
Next weekend the Challengers will play twice at their home ballpark Heerenschürli in Zurich Schwamendingen.
The 1st League-Team will start on Saturday with a day tournament. The Challengers will first meet the fourth team of the Zurich Barracudas at 10 a.m. and at 3 p.m. they will be able to take revenge on the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions, against whom they lost the game in Wil by one run last Sunday.
On Sunday the quarterfinals of this year’s Swiss Cup will take place at 11 a.m. After the Challengers were unable to defend their title in the championship, the cup competition remains the last stage to celebrate a sporting success this season. The opponent is the Zurich Barracudas Academy. The game is scheduled for nine innings. Extra innings, if needed, will be played without ghost runners.
1st League-Team without luck
In hot summer weather the 1st League-Team had no luck in Wil. The Challengers blew up a three-run lead in the last inning in Game 1 and in Game 2 their own rally came 90 feet short.
The Challengers’ third team faced all sorts of obstacles this season. After countless rainouts the make-up games now follow on a weekly basis during the holiday season, and after two wins a week ago, this time they suffered two very close one run losses. The young Challengers team got off to a good start in Wil. They scored three runs in the first inning against the Wittenbach Pirates team. The Zurich team, who were rather harmless on offense, managed to defend their lead. In the fifth inning Florin Kämpfer increased the lead to 5-3 with an RBI triple and Ilai Blickenstorfer added another run in the last inning to make it 6-3. But the Pirates used their last batting right to turn things around. After a solo home run by Jose Garcia Jover, Adrian Carmenate secured a 7-6 walkoff win with a base-clearing double.
In the second game of the day against the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions the Challengers were on the losing track for long stretches. In the fourth inning they were already 1-8 behind before they launched an impressive comeback. Florin Kämpfer started this with a solo homer before Ilai Blickenstorfer shortened the lead to 4-8 with a 2-run single. After a run by the home team, the Challengers scored another four runs in the last inning with two outs to make it 8-9, but ultimately had to throw in the towel with a strikeout and the tying run on third base.
With the two narrow defeats, qualifying for the playoffs is no longer possible with a 2-5 record. Next Saturday the Challengers will host the fourth team of the Zurich Barracudas as well as the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions again at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich for a home game day.