On February 2nd, the Annual General Meeting of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich took place in the Linde Oberstrass restaurant in Zurich. President Mindy Siemers looked back on an eventful season. Treasurer Nicola Ernst had some good news.
In terms of sport, the third places of the U15 Cadets, U12 Juveniles and the Softball-Team stood out. The ladies also finished in third place in the European Cup tournament. Meanwhile, the very many rainouts and the Baseball NLA, which only had four teams, proved to be problematic. On the other hand, the many new members, especially among the youngest, were positive, which was also reflected in higher income from youth sports subsidies. This, as well as higher income from sponsorship and patrons as well as from the food stands, allowed treasurer Nicola Ernst to present a record-breakingly positive annual financial statement. Stefan Benz resigned from the club’s board after one year for professional reasons. The rest of the board, including President Mindy Siemers, was confirmed for another year.
In baseball, the cards were reshuffled for 2025. The NLA was expanded to seven teams with the Lucerne Eagles, the Sissach Frogs and the second team of the Zurich Barracudas. The NLB is also made up of seven teams. Due to the thin staffing levels in adult baseball, the Challengers have not registered a 1st league team for the championship in 2025. 1st league players of the Challengers have the opportunity to play games in the regional league with another Zurich team. A players’ commission headed by Chris Palatinus was founded to set up the Challengers 2025-2030. Isabelle Tan also presented the founding of a Challengers slowpitch Softball-Team.
The awards for the past season were presented at the awards ceremony. Ryan Byrne in the NLA, Isabelle Tan in the softball women’s team, Honey Gigato Romero in the NLB and Florin Kämpfer in the 1st league were named MVP of their respective teams. At the junior meeting in the early afternoon Jasper Freigang was named MVP of the U15 Cadets, while for the U12 the award went to the entire Juveniles-Team.
