On Saturday, the Challengers will meet the Cardinals at the Heerenschürli ballpark. In one of the classics in Swiss baseball, the challengers are the favorites this time. In the past this was not always the case. Although the Challengers lead in the head-to-head since 1995 with 70-62 victories. But the Cardinals often proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially in the playoffs, most recently in 2020. The game starts at 11 am and 2 pm.
Sunday is all about the juniors. The U15 Cadets will play the SG Pirates in Rümlang. The encounters with the the team from Wil start at 11.00 am and 1.30 pm in Rümlang Rümelbach.
Meanwhile, the U12 Juveniles travel to Central Switzerland, where they meet the SG Eagles/Unicorns and the Therwil Flyers. The games start at 10 am and 12.30 pm in Lucerne-Reussbühl Hinterruopigen.
Posts in the Cadets category:
Challengers host Cardinals on Saturday
First W’s for the Challengers in 2023
After the seniors lost on opening day, the U15 cadets provide the first two wins of the 2023 season for the Challengers organization on Saturday. They win against the reigning U15 champion Rümlang Kobras with 15-3 and 14-5.
Compared to last year’s final, the Kobras were missing some of their top performers due to the age limit, including the entire pitching rotation. However, as usual in the junior age groups, the Challengers also were missing some of their corner stones from 2022. In contrast to the Kobras, however, the C’s seemed surprisingly stable.
The guests really got going right from the start. Jordi Bucher opened the season with a single and was at the start of the maximum of five runs allowed in the first innings. A walk, a hit-by-pitch, an RBI double from Fabrizio Bucher, an RBI groundout from Ben Dickow and a single from Yannik Hobi led to a 5-0. It continued in the same style. Niilo Benz scored on a sac fly from Jordi Bucher, Noam Müller brought home Ilai Blickenstorfer with an RBI single and a single from Ben Dickow made it 10-0. The Challengers carried this lead safely over the distance.
Jasper Freigang conceded two runs and two hits in four innings with seven strikeouts and five walks, Ben Dickow had two hits and three RBI in his debut in a Challengers uniform, and Noam Müller, Jasper Freigang and Fabrizio Bucher scored three runs apiece.
In the second game of the day title holder Rümlang was able to take the lead for the first time with 2-0. However, the Challengers responded promptly with three hits and five runs. And they even went up 9-2 in the second inning. Aaron Schuetz was responsible for the 6-2, followed by a bunt single from Jordi Bucher to enable Philip Louis to score. The Kobras then reduced the deficit to 4-9, but Fabrice Cadalbert answered with the 10-4 and started another five run inning for the Challengers, who eventually won safely 14-5.
Ben Dickow again had three RBI, while Jordi Bucher and Jasper Freigang each produced two hits and three runs. Fabrizio Bucher got the win, while Ilai Blickenstorfer pitched the last three innings for his first save of the season, giving up one run, no hits and five walks with four strikeouts.
U15-Cadets in last place at Therwil
The Challengers U15-Cadets played their second indoor tournament of the winter on Sunday, January 22 at Therwil, after taking part at the indoor tournament at Wil in December. The team of head coach Adrian Kämpfer couldn’t confirm their good performance from the first tournament. Lacking in concentration the C’s lost their first two games against the Flyers and the Kobras. Only in their last game against the winner of the tournament, the Neuenburg Atomics, the C’s played on their regular level. The C’s kept pace with the Germans and still had the chance to win the game in the last inning. At the end the blue and red finished with three losses. The next indoor tournament for the Challengers will take place on Saturday, February 4 at Embrach.
Results U15 Indoor Tournament Therwil
Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras 6-12
Therwil Flyers vs. Challengers 11-3
Neuenburg Atomics vs. Challengers 4-2
U15-Cadets EC at Hünenberg
The next highlight for Swiss baseball is right ahead. For the first time in the history the U15 B-European Championships will take place in Switzerland. The tournament will be held at Hünenberg. The Swiss U15-Nationalteam will face the teams from Belarus, Great Britain, Slovakia and Poland. Headcoach Mike Bundi also named Challengers player Jayfry Meier to the 16-man roster. The games take place at the ballpark Rony.
Schedule:
Monday, July 18, 5 pm: Belarus vs. Switzerland
Tuesday, July 19, 5 pm: Great Britain vs. Switzerland
Thursday, July 21, 5 pm: Switzerland va. Slovakia
Friday, July 22, 5 pm: Switzerland vs. Poland
Saturday, July 23, 1.30 pm: Final
For further informations please check the tournament’s homepage. (photo SBSF)
Continue Reading » U15-Cadets EC at HünenbergSoftball and Cadets games postponed
The Softball games between the Challengers and the Luzern Eagles and the U15-Cadets games against the Lions/BTE and the Devils/Vikings at Embrach scheduled for Saturday have been washed out. The fields were in no condition to Play on. Next up for the ladies is a night game against the Zürich Barracudas on Thursday, June 16 at 6.30 pm at the Klopstockwiese.
Continue Reading » Softball and Cadets games postponed3rd Win in a row for the Juveniles
The Challengers finished the indoor season in style at the Rümlang indoor tournament that took place on Saturday, March 19. The U12-Juveniles won their third tournament in a row. After a loss in the round robin against the Vikings/Devils the Challengers turned things around in the final game, winning 11-5 against the same opponent. Nick Siemers and Bastian Kämpfer – in the final – delivered homeruns for the C’s.
In the afternoon the U15-Cadets surprisingly clinched a final berth as well. After a 5-5 tie with the Therwil Flyers the Challengers/Bandits posted a 6-3 win over the Vikings/Devils. And even in the final against the Rümlang Kobras the C’s took an early 4-0 lead. But the Kobras fought back to eventually win 8-6. Nonetheless it was the best performance from the Challengers in 2016 so far.
Baseball U15-EC 2016 in Switzerland
The Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) has awarded the Baseball Junior B European Championships (U15) in 2016 to Hünenberg. For the first time ever a Junior Championship tournament will take place in Switzerland. The Swiss national team will host other European teams from July 18 till 24, 2016.
The tournament’s organizers are the Hünenberg Unicorns. The club, who was founded in 1988, is playing on an officially homologated baseball field since 2009. It will be the second European championship tournament in Switzerland after the Seniors B-pool EC in 2013 in Zurich.
Winter Practice
The winter practice for the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club starts on Monday, October 19 with a pitcher and catcher practice for the U20 and U15 players at the Schulhaus Schauenberg. The practice for the Softball-Team will take place every Tuesday at the Turnhalle Lavater, while the Baseball hitting and fielding practice will newly take place on Wednesdays at the Turnhalle Hirzenbach. For further details concerning the NLA, NLB and 1st League practices, the Softball practice and the practice for the Juniors please check the team’s pages on the Challengers website.
Continue Reading » Winter PracticeMeier named into U15-Cadets Nationalteam Roster
After the tryouts for the U15-Cadets Swiss Nationalteam in September the Swiss Federation named Challengers Pitcher Jayfry Meier into the 25-men roster from headcoach Mike Bundi. The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation made its bid for the 2016 U15-Cadets European Championships with Hünenberg and Lucerne as the host cities. (photo SBSF)
