The NLB-Team travelled to Lake Geneva for the placement games for the places nine to twelve. However it was a trip under the motto: nothing but expenses. The Challengers had no chance in the two games against the Lausanne Indians. A 1-11 defeat in the first game of the day was followed by a 1-13 in the second game. So the C’s will have to play a doubleheader against the Wil Pirates for places eleven and twelve. However, the latter already forfeited the first placement game against the Therwil Flyers, which is why it is still uncertain whether the games will be played at all.
Continue Reading » NLB-Team swept at the Lake GenevaTwo wins to close the 2024 season
The Challengers end the 2024 season with two wins against the Wil Prates. With the sweep the C’s finish in third place with an ultimately positive record of eight wins and seven losses.
The Zurich lineup revealed that the last gameday of the 2024 season was already a preparation for the 2025 season. No fewer than six U20 players were used and the young talents did a good job. The Challengers set the pace from the start. The Eastern Swiss were able to keep up until the sixth inning, but then the Zurich team made the decisive difference with five runs. James Sanders opened the scoring with an RBI single, Carsten Zuber and Säntis Zeller each scored on a wild pitch from the Pirates pitcher before Jordi Bucher made it 9-3 with a 2-run single. The last run for the final score of 11-4 was symbolic for the game with one of the youngest lineups in club history. Noam Blickenstorfer brought Niilo Benz home with an RBI single.
Säntis Zeller also made history. The eternally young middle infielder insisted on working on his personal bucket list. He is now the first Challengers player since Werner Zingg to play in every field position for an inning in a game. Ryan Byrne delivered the numbers for the game with five hits and four runs, while Simon Steffen was awarded the win for four innings as a relief pitcher, in which he gave up three hits and one run with five strikeouts.
The second game of the day went very similarly. The last game of the season was also tied for a long time before starting pitcher Carsten practically organized the win himself with an RBI double in the top half of the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. The Pirates were no longer able to make up the deficit. Quite the opposite. Thanks to two errors by the Pirates, Simon Steffen scored in the sixth inning to make it 3-1 and Jordi Bucher brought Jasper Freigang home with a bunt single to make it 4-1, before Regis Reinhard made it 5-2 with an RBI single in the seventh inning and then made the save with the last three outs to bring the Challengers season to a close.
Meanwhile, the Therwil Flyers secured their 16th Swiss championship title with a sweep in the best-of-five final series against the Zurich Barracudas.
NLA-Team wins night game against Wil
In a make-up game on Wednesday evening the Challengers won 9-2 against the Wil Pirates, securing third place in the standings.
While the final for the Swiss Championship is already underway, with the Therwil Flyers leading 1-0 in the best-of-five series against the Zurich Barracudas, the Challengers are still working on a few make-up games against the Wil Pirates. Before they welcome the Eastern Swiss team for a doubleheader at the Heerenschürli on Saturday, the two teams met for a night game on Wednesday evening. The Challengers left no doubt about the outcome of the game from the start. Ryan Byrne started the engine with a leadoff single and scored the first run on an error, before Jack Siemers increased the lead with an RBI double, while Simon Steffen added an RBI single to make it 3-0. The second inning continued in the same style. David Grabher delivered another leadoff single and then, together with Säntis Zeller, scored the next two runs on a 2-run double by James Sanders to make it 5-0. A sign of life from the Pirates with two runs in the fourth inning was answered by Carsten Zuber with an RBI double to make it 6-2.
Pitcher Simon Steffen showed his best performance of the season. He went eight innings and gave up six hits and two runs with one walk and seven strikeouts, while Ryan Byrne and Carsten Zuber led the offense with three hits each. With this victory, the Challengers set their record at 6-7 and can no longer be pushed out of third place by the Pirates. Saturday offers the coaches another opportunity to help the youngsters get some game practice. A total of five U20 players were already in action for the Zurich team on Wednesday.
NLB-Team in Lausanne, 1st League-Team in Bern
The NLB-Team travels to Lausanne on Sunday for two placement games against the Lausanne Indians. The young Challengers team only managed to win two of twelve games in the qualifying round and thus missed the playoffs. The Indians’ record was only slightly better with three wins, meaning the two teams now face each other in the placement games for places nine to twelve. The games will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the Terrain de Chavannes.
The 1st League-Team will also play two placement games on Sunday. The Challengers’ third team will first face the Geneva Tigers at 12:30 p.m. on the Bern Allmend, before taking on the hosts Bern Cardinals at 3 p.m.
NLA-Team will face Pirates three times
After the champions Zurich Challengers missed out on reaching the finals and thus failing to defend their title, they will face the Wil Pirates three more times at the end of the season. The first encounter will take place on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in Zurich’s Heerenschürli ballpark. The other two games will take place on Saturday, September 21st at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., also in Zurich-Schwamendingen.
Continue Reading » NLA-Team will face Pirates three timesEnd of the line for the Softball-Team in semifinals
The season is over for the Softball-Team. The Challengers had no chance in the semifinals against their cantonal rivals Zurich Barracudas. The long list of names on the DL weighed too heavily.
While the Challengers had won the semifinals against the Barracudas in the past three years – albeit narrowly – this time they were the clear underdogs. All four duels in the qualification went to the Barracudas, while the Challengers had to mobilize the last squad. The names on the DL alone would have made for a very competitive team. Nevertheless the guests got off to a good start in the first game of the best-of-three series. Isabelle Tan scored the first run of the game after a walk and two errors. But the Barracudas also had a solid start with two runs. While the Challengers were stopped on the bases in the following innings with a double play and a pick-off, the Barracudas managed to make the preliminary decision with two runs in the second and three runs in the third inning, making it 7-1. Two hits by Carmen Lutz-Demetz were the only offensive output for the Challengers. Although the Barracudas only recorded five hits and the errors remained at the same level with two versus three and walks with seven each, the Barracudas still won the statistically relatively close game clearly with 9-1. However, softball games can rarely be won with two hits only.
Only a miracle could have extended the Challengers’ season now. Alexandra McCutcheon took over as the pitcher for the Barracudas in Game 2. The American lived up to her advance praise, allowing only three hits, three unearned runs and two walks, while sending 13 opposing batters back to the dugout with strikeouts. On the other hand, the Barracudas put on a gala performance. They recorded 21 hits and 24 runs, which allowed them to qualify for the final for the first time since 2020. For the Challengers, on the other hand, a season ended in the semifinals for the first time in four years. Given the personnel problems however, more was hardly possible. Nevertheless there were also some bright spots for the Challengers. For example, there was the strong debut year of Marianne Aellen or the positive development of Anouchka Michel. And by next spring, one or the other injury will have healed.
Softball Playoff Semifinals Zurich Barracudas vs. Zurich Challengers: Score 2-0 (best-of-three)
Saturday, September 14, 12:00 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Zurich Barracudas 1-9
Saturday, September 14, 2:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Zurich Barracudas 3-24
Softball Playoffs with Zurich derby
After the European Cup tournaments and the European Softball Championship, which Switzerland finished in a good 14th place, the decisive phase of the domestic championship begins with the playoff semifinals. The title holder Wittenbach Panthers will face the Bern Cardinals, while the second semifinal series will be played by the Zurich Barracudas and the Zurich Challengers, as in the past three years.
The Challengers have fond memories of the last three playoff semifinal series against their local rivals. In the current season, however, the Barracudas have established themselves as the second force behind the reigning champion Wittenbach. The Barracudas have won all four games against the Challengers, the last two duels by a very clear margin. While the Challengers have been able to use their greater experience to decisively defeat the young Barracudas team in the playoffs in recent years, the Greens are likely to be the favorites this year. But perhaps the Challengers can once again exploit their full potential in the semifinals. Something they have barely managed to do this season. Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-three series will take place on Saturday in Rümlang.
Softball playoff semifinals Zurich Barracudas vs. Zurich Challengers: 0-0 (best-of-three)
Saturday, September 14, 12:00 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Zurich Barracudas
Saturday, September 14, 2:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Zurich Barracudas
Saturday, September 21, 12:00 p.m., Zurich Klopstockwiese (if necessary): Zurich Barracudas vs. Zurich Challengers
Season duel: Barracudas vs. Challengers 4-0 (11-9, 12-10, 16-3, 9-1)
Wins since 2011: Barracudas vs. Challengers 38-16
Last playoff series: Barracudas vs. Challengers 1-2 (semifinals 2023)
Number of titles: Barracudas 11 (last 2020), Challengers 2 (last 2021)
Cadets finish season in third place
The U15 Cadets sweep the Rümlang Kobras 2-0 in the best-of-three series for the bronze medal and take third place. After a clear victory in Game 1, the Challengers took Game 2 with a walk-off win in extra innings.
The duel for bronze in the U15 Cadets championship was a repeat of the 2023 final. And just like a year ago the Challengers prevailed in the duel between the cantonal rivals against the Rümlang Kobras. The Zurich team laid the foundation for victory in Game 1 in the second inning. The C’s scored three runs from five hits, including a triple by Yannik Hobi and an RBI double by Noam Müller. One inning later they extended their lead to 6-2, also thanks in part to some errors by the Kobras. This broke their resistance and the Challengers added a few more runs to ultimately secure a 15-3 win.
The second game of the day remained dramatic until the last pitch. The Kobras once again gave everything they had and took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. But the Challengers also saved a few highlights for Game 2. Yannik Hobi opened the bottom half of the second inning with a solo home run and after a single by Jimmy Siemers, Ilai Blickenstorfer followed up with a 2-run home run over the center field fence. The Kobras took the lead again with two runs in the fourth inning to make it 4-3. Before the Challengers’ last attack, the score was still the same. But the Challengers managed to equalize. After singles by Noam Müller and Ben Dickow, Jasper Freigang made it 4-4 with an RBI groundout. In the extra inning pitcher Tyler Smith defused a bases loaded situation with no outs with his defense, giving the Challengers a chance to win it in the bottom half of the extra inning. And the C’s made short work of it. After a wild pitch Tyler Smith scored the winning run and secured the bronze medal for his team.
U15 Cadets series for bronze Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras: score 2-0 (best-of-three)
Sunday, September 8, 11:00 a.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zürich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras 15-3
Sunday, September 8, 1:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Rümlang Kobras vs. Zürich Challengers 4-5 (6 inn.)
Challengers lose semi-final in Swiss Cup
The Challengers also missed out on reaching the finals in the Swiss Cup. In the semi-final against the Zurich Barracudas they had no chance and were clearly defeated 5-18.
After the Challengers missed the finals in the championship and defending their title from 2023 was no longer possible, the Swiss Cup remained the last option to win something in the 2024 season. But the Zurich team had a weak afternoon in their last-chance game. In the first inning two errors led to four runs for the Barracudas, while the Challengers left the inning empty-handed despite having the bases loaded. After two innings the game was already decided. The Challengers helped the visitors pull away to 7-0 with another poorly executed play. It was not until the fourth inning that the home team’s offense woke up. Singles from Carsten Zuber and Jack Siemers and a hit-by-pitch to Simon Steffen loaded the bases with zero outs. A walk by Patrick Maier and a groundout by Säntis Zeller brought the first runs for the Challengers to make it 2-9. But the Barracudas could not be deterred from their winning ways. They had hits with great regularity, totaling 20 by the end of the game, so that they celebrated their entry into Sunday’s cup final with a final score of 18-5. For the Challengers the Swiss Cup ended in another disappointment.
The winners of the Swiss Cup were the Therwil Flyers. The Basel team defeated the Zurich Barracudas 6-3 in the final game on Sunday thanks to four runs in the seventh inning.
Swiss Cup 2024: Final weekend
Saturday, September 7th, semi-final 1: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Lions 9-0
Saturday, September 7th, semi-final 2: Zurich Challengers vs. Zürich Barracudas 5-18
Sunday, September 8th, final: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Barracudas< 6-3/li>
Final Weekend in the Swiss Cup
Not less than three clubs from the city of Zurich are lining up in the semifinals of this year’s newly designed Swiss Cup. The semifinals on Saturday will see the pairings between the NLB team Zurich Lions and the Therwil Flyers, as well as the local derby between the Zurich Barracudas and the Zurich Challengers.
After the Challengers missed out on a place in the championship final and are no longer able to defend their title, the Swiss Cup remains their last option to win something in the 2024 season. The draw for the semifinals gave them the eagerly awaited local derby with the Zurich Barracudas. In the championship the Barracudas won three of the five direct duels, while the Challengers won two games. In the other semifinal the Therwil Flyers will face the lower-class Zurich Lions. They surprisingly won the quarterfinals after a spectacular rally against the NLA club Wil Pirates. Both the semifinals on Saturday and the final on Sunday will take place at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich.
Swiss Cup 2024: Final weekend
Saturday, September 7th, 11:00 a.m., Zurich Heerenschürli: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Lions
Saturday, September 7th, 2:00 p.m., Zurich Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers vs. Zurich Barracudas
Sunday, September 8th, 2:00 p.m., Zurich Heerenschürli: Final