Challengers Baseball Club Zurich

The 34th Challengers' General Assembly took place on Sunday, December 1 at the restaurant Linde Oberstrass in Zurich. The club looked back at a financially and sporty successful year. President Adrian Kämpfer and the members of the board have been re-elected.

For 2014 the Softball-Team will build a new team together with the players from the Zürich Barracudas. Furthermore the co-operation with the Dulliken Truck Star will continue for the 1st League-Team and the Juniors-Teams. Only six teams will participate at the 2014 Baseball NLA championship after the Wil Devils and this year's finalist Embrach Mustangs retired their teams and will participate at the NLB championship.

Tobias Siegrist (Baseball NLA), Carlos Nepomuceno (Baseball NLB), Michel Romang (Baseball 1st League) and Simona Cellar (Softball) were the recipients of their team's MVP trophies.

Heerenschürli erhält IOC/IAKS-Bronze-Award

Die Stadt Zürich als Bauherrin und das Planerteam Topotek 1 GmbH, Berlin (Landschaftsarchitektur) mit Dürig AG Architekten ETH SIA, Zürich (Architektur) wurden vom IOC/IAKS am 22. Oktober in Köln für die Sportanlage Heerenschürli mit dem Award 2013 für beispielhafte Sport- und Freizeitanlagen ausgezeichnet. Die Bronze-Medaille in der Kategorie B, Sportplätze und Outdoor-Anlagen, wird im Namen des Projektteams von Topotek 1 GmbH entgegengenommen.

Der IOC/IAKS Award wird vom Internationalen Olympischen Komitee (IOC) und der Internationalen Vereinigung Sport- und Freizeiteinrichtungen (IAKS) vergeben. Er bringt beispielhafte Bauten und Anlagen ins Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit, denen es gelingt, die Faktoren Nachhaltigkeit und Vermächtnis, eine klare Funktionalität und eine aussergewöhnliche Architektur miteinander in Einklang zu bringen. Grundlegende Zielsetzung des Awards ist es, das Engagement der Menschen für Sport- und Freizeitaktivitäten zu unterstützen und ihren respektvollen Umgang mit der Umwelt durch den Entwurf, die Materialauswahl und Kreativität auszuzeichnen. Die Stadt Zürich, vertreten durch das Amt für Hochbauten und Grün Stadt Zürich, ist als Bauherrin gemeinsam mit dem Planerteam besonders stolz, mit dem IOC/IAKS Award einen der bedeutendsten internationalen Architekturpreise für Anlagen des Sports, der Freizeit und der Erholung entgegenzunehmen. (Stadt Zürich Hochbaudepartement)

C's lose Game 3, Cardinals win NLB-Final

The NLB-Team lost the deciding Game 3 of the NLB-Final series on Saturday, October 19 against the Bern Cardinals. After the Challengers took Game 1, the Cardinals turned things around by winning Game 2 and 3 to defend their NLB title.

The Cardinals built an early lead, while the C's fought strong, as they limited the deficit to five runs after seven frames to keep the hopes alive. But the Cardinals shut the door to eventually walk away with a 17-4 victory to win the crown.

The C's NLB-Team played its best season since 2002, as they won the last of their three Swiss Champion titles. After finishing the preeliminary round in third place, they beat the Therwil Flyers 2-1 in the semi-finals and were just one win away from winning the championship.

1st League-Team ends season with two losses

The 1st League-Team didn't manage to arrive in the win column, as the SG TruckStar/Challengers lost twice to the Zürich Eighters Ost on Saturday, October 12 at Dulliken. The Eighters cruised to a 24-3 win in Game 1, before adding a 13-4 victory in Game 2. With these two games the first season ends for the newly founded 1st League-Team with players from the Dulliken TruckStar and the Challengers. Special thanks to the TruckStar organization for the good cooperation throughout the season.

Cardinals eliminate Challengers

The Challengers didn't find a solution against Patrick Lawson and the Bern Cardinals again. Looking to even things up, the C's lost Game 4 on Saturday, October 5 by a score of 1-10 what resulted in their elimination. The Cardinals advanced to the finals winning the best-of-five series 3-1. They will face either the Therwil Flyers or the Embrach Mustangs, as their series is heading into Game 5.

Lawson carried a perfect game into the fifth inning. He retired the first 13 batters before Tobias Siegrist grounded a single into right field. Still it was a one run game after six innings with the Cards leading 1-0. They opened the score in the first frame, as Johnny Perigo drove in Sammy Paulino with a two-out single. Both teams exchanged zeros on the scoreboard until the seventh inning when Challengers starter Robert Sedin lost control. He loaded the bases with a walk, a hit batter, a sac bunt and an intentional walk, but didn't manage to get out of the jam. Two bases-loaded walks gave the Cards a 3-0 lead, who extended the gap with a two-run single and a two run triple. They scored nine runs to make it 10-0 before the C's made it out of the inning. As in 2012, the Challengers' season ends in the semi-finals against the Cardinals.