After narrowly losing the semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers, the U15-Cadets are now playing a series for third place. The Challengers will face the Rümlang Kobras in a repeat of last year’s U15 final.
In the preliminary round the Challengers won three of four games against the Kobras. The best-of-three series begins on Sunday with a doubleheader in Rümlang. If necessary, a third and decisive game would take place on September 14.
U15-Cadets Bronze Series Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras: Score 0-0 (best-of-three)
Sunday, September 8th, 11:00 a.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras
Sunday, September 8th, 1:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Rümlang Kobras vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, September 14th, 11:00 a.m., tbd (if necessary): Rümlang Kobras vs. Zurich Challengers
Cadets play for third place
U15-Cadets lose decider
The U15-Cadets’ mission to defend their title was abruptly halted on Sunday in the third and decisive semi-final game. The Therwil Flyers turned the game around in the fourth inning and ultimately won 8-6 to qualify for the finals.
After both teams won one game each last weekend, the third game of the best-of-three series had to determine the second finalist alongside the Geneva Dragons. The Flyers shocked the Challengers with a lightning start. Emanuel Reyes Concepcion with an RBI triple and André Hefti Batista with an inside-the-park home run made it 3-0 in the first inning. The Zurich team organized two runs of their own thanks to a steal on home by Noam Müller and an RBI double by Tyler Smith, but immediately gave them up again in the second round with two errors. After Len Blickenstorfer was able to score on a wild pitch, Fabrizio Bucher shortened the lead to 4-5 with an RBI double. In the third inning the Basel defense also made a few mistakes. Jimmy Siemers on an error and Ilai Blickenstorfer on a wild pitch brought home two more runs for the Challengers, who took the lead for the first time with 6-5. But the Leimentalers scored two more runs in the fourth inning, giving them the lead again with 7-6. The Challengers had their backs against the wall, but the offense that had been so strong so far this season fell silent at the most inopportune moment. The last seven batters went down in order. The Flyers dethroned the Zurich team with 8-6.
The Flyers will face the Geneva Dragons in the final, while the Challengers will play for third place with last year’s final opponents, the Rümlang Kobras.
U15-Cadets Playoff Semifinals Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers: Score 1-2 (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 8-6
Juveniles win Bronze Medal
The U12-Juveniles won the bronze medal at the Final Four tournament in Bulle on Saturday. After a clear semi-final loss against arch-rivals Therwil Flyers, the Challengers defeated the Wil Devils in the game for third place with 8-6. The Swiss championship title went to the Therwil Flyers, who were able to somewhat surprisingly defeat the Geneva Dragons, who had been better placed in the preliminary round, 6-4 in the final.
U12-Juveniles Final Four tournament in Bulle, Stade de Bouleyres:
Saturday, August 31st, semi-final 1: Wil Devils vs. Geneva Dragons 2-12
Saturday, August 31st, semi-final 2: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers 13-2
Saturday, August 31st, match for third place: Zurich Challengers vs. Wil Devils 8-6
Saturday, August 31st, final: Therwil Flyers vs. Geneva Dragons 6-4
Challengers reach semi-finals in Swiss Cup
In a make-up game on Wednesday night the Zurich Barracudas Academy and the Zurich Challengers decided the fourth and final semi-finalist of this year’s Swiss Cup. What initially looked like a clear affair for the favorites almost turned into a nail-biter in the end. Ultimately, however, the Challengers prevailed 15-12. They will now face the flagship team of their city rivals in the semi-finals on September 7th at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
Continue Reading » Challengers reach semi-finals in Swiss CupU12-Juveniles Final Four Tournament in Bulle
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
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.