The Softball-Team finally arrived in the win column, as the Challengers managed to split with the Bern Cardinals on Sunday, April 10. The Cards rallied for a 18-11 win in Game 1 against the Challengers. In Game 2 Karen Heimgartner led the Challengers to a 9-1 victory over the Cards, hurling seven innings of two-hit, one-run ball with one walk and eleven strikeouts.

The crowd saw an entertainig Game 1 with four lead changes, as the Cardinals and the Challengers combined for 27 hits, nine errors and several defensive misplays. After the Cards scored twice in the first inning, the Challengers answered with three runs in the second on three hits by Sophie Töpel, Celine Welti and Leandra Simitovic and an error by the Cards’ defense. But the Cards made it 5-3 in the bottom of the frame on a RBI-single by Aline Stämpfli and a two-run single by Lia Heimann. The Challengers took the lead again in the third inning, as four errors from the Cards enabled the C’s to score six runs to make it 9-5. After the Cards cut the deficit to one run in the fourth, they erupted for eight runs on five hits in the fifth inning to seal the deal.

Leandra Simitovic and rookie Sophie Töpel delivered two hits each and Brigit Zuber, Andrea Wirth, Simona Cellar, Sophie Töpel and Celine Welti scored two runs apiece for the Challengers, while Tiffany Toney and Lia Heimann went a perfect four-for-four for the Cardinals.

Game 2 was all Challengers, as they took an early lead and never looked back to eventually win 9-1 for their first victory of the season. The Challengers opened the score, as Simona Cellar drove in Brigit Zuber with an RBI-double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 in the first inning. And that was all Karen Heimgartner and her defense needed. After giving up one run in the bottom of the first frame, Heimgartner retired 17 straight batters, while the Challengers scored four more runs in the second and added another insurance run in the fourth frame to make it 7-1. Rookie Joy Amendola highlighted the seventh inning, as the Cards mishandled her groundball to enable Karen Heimgartner and Ziegylou Wehrli to make it 9-1. Leandra Simitovic had two hits, while Simitovic, Cellar and Heimgartner scored two runs apiece.

The Challengers are now in fifth place with a 1-3 record. They will face the Cardinals again on May 8 at the Klopstockwiese.