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)
NLA-Team heads to Wil, Cadets semi-finals in Therwil
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.
1st League-Team heads to Wil again
Like a week ago, the 1st League-Team will be heading to Wil on Sunday, where they celebrated their first two wins of the season. The Challengers will first face the team of the Wittenbach-Pirates at the Lindenhof at 12:30 p.m., before the game against the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
Continue Reading » 1st League-Team heads to Wil again1st League-Team arrives in win column
After all but one game of the Challengers’ third team had to be canceled due to rain in the first three months of the season, their season is now picking up speed. While the first three games were lost, some of them narrowly, the Challengers achieved their first victories in convincing fashion on Sunday.
In the first game of the day in Wil, St. Gallen, the Challengers faced the SG Wil Pirates/Zürich Lions. Man of the match was undoubtedly Joseph Stotz. The pitcher threw a shutout over five innings. He only gave up four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. It almost didn’t matter that the offense was also in a good mood and scored 18 runs. Noam Blickenstorfer, Ben Dickow and Joseph Stotz each had two hits, while Dan Smith hit a 3-run home run in the fifth inning and collected four RBI.
In game 2 the Challengers faced their city rivals, the Zurich Eighters. The Challengers worked their way to a 7-1 lead with some great hits in the first four innings, which they brought safely to the finish line with 11-7. Of the Challengers’ 13 hits in total, four were delivered by Fabrizio Bucher, Jasper Freigang was successful three times, and Jordi Bucher and Joseph Stotz each had two hits.
Softball-Team sweeps the Cardinals
The Softball-Team stopped its losing streak of six losses in a row and won twice against the Bern Cardinals. In both games the Challengers managed to turn things around late after falling behind in the early innings.
The first game was a wild affair for long periods, with both sides making a lot of mistakes. The home team led 15-12 after three innings before the Challengers got their defensive actions a little more organized. The Zurich team kept the pressure on offense, took the lead 17-16 in the fourth inning also thanks to a 2-run home run by Isabelle Tan, and decided the game with eight runs in the sixth inning to make it 25-17.
Molly Mullens had three hits and four runs, Isabelle Tan collected three RBI and scored five runs, while Marianne Aellen contributed four RBI to the win.
The second game was very similar. The Bern Cardinals took the lead again, this time 9-5. But the Challengers answered again. With nine runs in the last two innings the Challengers managed to turn things around again to 16-9. The Challengers remain in third place in the standings with a record of 11-7.
Softball and 1st League games ahead
Before the U23 Qualifier tournament with the Swiss U23 Baseball National Team begins on August 5th at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich, baseball and softball will be played at the national level this weekend. Two teams from the Challengers organization will also be in action.
The Softball-Team will travel to the capital city on Saturday, where they will meet the Bern Cardinals on the Bern Allmend. The encounters in Zurich in May were clearly won by the Challengers. After six straight losses the Challengers need to wins for their self-confidence. The games will be played at 11 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.
The 1st League-Team will head in the opposite direction on Sunday. The Challengers’ third team will first meet their cross-town rivals Zurich Eighters at Wil Lindenhof at 12.30 p.m., the duel with the hosts SG Pirates/Lions is scheduled for 3 p.m.