Challengers Baseball Club Zurich

The Softball-Team will host their cross-town rivals Zurich Barracudas on Thursday, June 20 at 6.30 pm for the first night game of the season at the Klopstockwiese. It will be the first out of four local derbies within one week, as the two teams will also play a three-game series from June 23 till 25 at Rümlang.

Challengers host Eagles

The NLA-Team will face the Luzern Eagles on Sunday, June 23 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The Eagles (1-11) are one of only two teams that have beaten the Challengers (8-3) in 2013, but their 4-2 win on May 4 was their only victory so far. The C's took the other game, as they posted a 14-2 win. Because the first five teams of the NLA are within 1.5 games, the C's will need two wins to remain in the top four of the league. The games start at 11am and 2pm. 

The Softball-Team will open a three-game series in Rümlang with a double-header on Sunday, June 23 at 11am and 1.30pm. Game 3 of the S-Bahn series between the local rivals will be a night game on Tuesday, June 25 at 6.30pm at Rümlang Rümelbach. The Barracudas are off to their best start in ten years with their 6-2 record, while the Challengers are in fourth place with a 3-7 record. The C's have won 15 out of 23 games against the Barracudas since 2004, but lost all four games in 2012.

Juniors go west

The U15-Cadets go west. The SG TruckStar/Challengers will head to Geneva, where the Cadets will take on the Geneva Baseball Team and the Thun Hunters on Saturday, June 22. The games start at 10am and 12.30pm at Geneva Centre sportif de Vessy.

The U12-Juveniles will travel to Bern, where they will face the SG Cardinals/Frogs/Hunters and the Hünenberg Unicorns on Sunday, June 23. After beating the Therwil Flyers twice the SG TruckStar/Challengers will try to add another win against the two teams they weren't able to beat so far. The games start at 11am and 1.30pm at Bern Allmend.

Rabattwoche bei Taurus Sports

Finally another gameday, but also two more defeats

On Sunday, June 16 something happened, which wasn’t believed anymore by the SG Truck Star/Challengers: it was sunny and 1st league Baseball could be played! Unfortunately the opponents were again the Bern Cardinals III and Lucerne Eagles II, which the SG already played this season – and lost. So, the team hoped for a better outcome this time around. But the results were again not particularly pretty, as both games were lost. The Eagles won 22-7 and the Cards went home with a 18-6 win.

Challengers split with Mustangs

The Challengers finally came through against Roger Savoldelli and the Enbarch Mustangs to walk away at least with a split on Sunday, June 16. The C's posted a long awaited 4-1 win in Game 1, as starter Andrea Girasole tossed 8.1 magnificient innings, allowing one unearned run and five hits with  two walks, while also striking out five and Thomas Burger recorded the final two outs for his first save of the season.

The Mustangs bounced back with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 to keep pace with the C's in the standings. Mustangs starter Timothy Jones carried a shutout into the ninth inning, before Harry Bregy delivered a two-run double with two outs to make it 2-5. Despite the win the C's dropped into fourth place with a 8-3 record, because the Zürich Barracudas swept the Luzern Eagles on Sunday to improve to 12-4.

Flyers defense keeps Ladies' bats down

The Softball-Team lost twice against a strong Therwil team on Sunday, June 16 at the Klopstockwiese. The Challengers opened the score with two runs in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1, but the Flyers scored nine unanswered runs, as starter Adeline Glauser pitched in and out of trouble several times en route for a 9-2 win for the Flyers. The C's battled for over two hours, but weren't able to cash in the runs they needed. Leandra Simitovic, Macy Morgan and Simona Cellar had two hits apiece for the Challengers, while Lena Gfeller went a perfect 4-for-4 for the Flyers.

Game 2 was all Flyers, as they jumped on starter Karen Heimgartner for five runs in the first inning and held on for an easy 11-1 victory. Simona Cellar and Sandrine Montandon delivered two hits each, while Macy Morgan allowed two runs and five hits in three innings of relief.

The Challengers remain in fourth place with a 3-7 record. The C's will face the Zürich Barracudas for a night game on Thursday, June 20 at 6.30pm at the Klopstockwiese. 

NLB-Team swept by Cardinals

The NLB-Team returned without any earning from the capital city, as the Challengers lost twice to the first ranked Bern Cardinals on Sunday, June 16. Other than six week ago the C's didn't bring last year's NLB champion in danger, as the Cardinals cooled off the Challengers ofense in both games. The Cards posted a 10-0 shutout victory in Game 1, before adding a 12-2 outburst in Game 2. The C's are now in fourth place with a 5-7 record. They will face the Jona Bandits on Sunday, July 14 at Rapperswil-Jona.

Cadets lose twice, still add one win

The U15-Cadets lost twice on Saturday, June 15 at Bern. Despite losing twice the SG TruckStar/Challengers improved its record to 3-5. Game 1 was all Cardinals/Frogs, as they posted a 23-10 victory over the Dulliken-Zurich squad. Game 2 looked the same, as the SG TruckStar/Challengers again had a good start against the Geneva Baseball Team, but the opponent broke the game open in the second frame. Because Geneva had no Swiss pitcher, the game officially ended with a 5-0 win for the SG TruckStar/Challengers. (Picture Truck Star)

Junior Teams split

The Challengers Junior Teams had another great weekend, as both the U15-Cadets and the U12-Juveniles ended up with a split. The U15-Cadets celebrated their second win of the season on Saturday, June 8 at Dulliken, as the SG TruckStar/Challengers posted 14-8 victory over the Luzern Eagles. In the second game of the day the SG was topped by the first placed Thun Hunters, as the so far unbeaten Hunters cruised to a 20-3 win.

The U12-Juveniles remained at .500 after the second gameday of the season. The SG TruckStar/Challengers lost the opener on Sunday, June 9 against the Hünenberg Unicorns by a score of 7-17, but walked away with a 9-6 win over the Therwil Flyers to even its record at 2-2.

NLB-Team stays at .500

Finally, a ball game in sunny conditions! The Challengers and the Zurich Barracudas played the first local derby in NLB in 2013 on Saturday, June 8 at the Heerenschürli. The Barracudas celebrated their first win of the season, as they posted a 10-6 victory over the C's in Game 1. But the Challengers bounced back, as they took Game 2 by posting a 13-3 win to remain at .500. The C's are tied for third place with a 5-5 record. Next up for the C's are the Bern Cardinals on Sunday, June 16 at Bern.

Day passes for Baseball ECh available now

The Baseball European Championships 2013, probably the undisputed highlight of this year's Swiss Baseball calendar, is approaching in large steps. There are only about 50 days remaining to the first pitch on July 22!

The ticket sale is already underway. From now on single-day tickets are available at all ticket offices from Ticketcorner and online at http://sbsf.li/em-ticket. The day pass includes access to all three games of the day and is available for only CHF 20.

• Section D - Additional grandstand: Day pass CHF 20.- / Week pass CHF 80.-
• Section C - Free seating behind Home Plate: Day pass CHF 20.- / Week pass CHF 80.-
• Section B - Family tickets at 3rd Base: Week pass CHF 140.-
• VIP tickets - Acces to the VIP zone and to the stands (catering included): Group requests to ticket@baseballem2013.ch

Challengers rout Devils, win twice

The Challengers swept the Wil Devils on Saturday, May 25 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. Thomas Burger allowed one run and four hits with two walks while striking out four in five innings of work, while Thomas Blank and Bryan Shemley drove in two runs apiece, as the Challengers posted an 8-1 win in Game 1. And the C's kept on going, as the offense supported winner James Sanders with eleven runs en route to an 11-1 victory in Game 2.

The Challengers (7-2) will host the Emrach Mustangs (7-4) on Wednesday, May 29 for a night game at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The game starts at 7 pm.

Cellar, Simitovic named to Swiss softball national team

The Challengers‘ players Simona Cellar and Leandra Simitovic made the Swiss National Team’s 15-woman roster for this year’s Softball European Championship Women, which will take place from July 7 till 13 in Prague.