The Softball-Team posted a 9-7 victory over their local rivals Zürich Barracudas on Thursday night at the Klopstockwiese to avoid a season-series sweep. The Challengers stopped their five-game losing streak and won for the first time against the Barracudas since June 28, 2011 after losing seven straight in that span.
 
The C's jumped out to an early lead, as Taylor Mc Cants delivered a two-run double to open the score in the bottom of the first inning, followed by a RBI-groundout from Simona Cellar and a RBI-single from Jennifer Montague to make it 4-0. And the Challengers' bats were on fire. Mc Cants added another two-run double, followed by a two-run single from Cellar and a RBI-double from Montague to open the gap to 9-0 after two frames.
 
Challengers starter Leandra Simitovic kept the Barracudas under control, as she gave up only two hits and one walk in the first four innings. But things suddenly got complicated for the Challengers. With the bases loaded and no outs the C's were one run away from the victory in the fourth, but the Barracudas defense escaped the jam with the infield in to prolong the game.
 
In the fifth inning the Barracudas again stood with their backs against the wall. With two outs they delivered four hits to close the gap to four runs. And they added two more runs in the seventh frame to make it 7-9, but Simitovic and her defense recorded the final two outs with the tying run at the plate to seal the deal.
 
Taylor Mc Cants went 3-for-4 and drove in four, while Simitovic and Montague had three hits apiece.
 
The Challengers remain in fourth place with a 4-10 record. They will face the reigning Swiss champion Luzern Eagles on Saturday, June 29 at Reussbühl.

Continue Reading » Ladies finally win a local derby

 
The Softball-Team fell to the Barracudas for a third straight time in Tuesday night's 2-1 loss at Rümlang. And it was kind of a déjà-vu for the Challengers.
 
As in Game 2 on Sunday the C's opened the score in the first frame, as Karen Heimgartner led off with a single and scored later on a passed ball. But again that was all for the C's. The Barracudas tied the game in the bottom of the second inning at 1-1 and their starting pitcher Misty Flesher helped herself to get the win, as she broke the tie with a RBI-single in the sixth inning to make it 2-1, spoiling Challengers pitcher Macy Morgan's great start.
 
The Challengers battled till the end and loadad the bases for the second time of the game, but the Barracudas escaped the seventh-inning jam.
 
The two teams will meet again on Thursday night at 7 pm at the Klopstockwiese in Zürich.

Continue Reading » Ladies play strong, but end with loss

The Softball-Team lost twice against their cross-town rivals Zürich Barracudas on Sunday, June 23 at Rümlang to open a three-game series. The Barracudas celebrated an 11-0 shutout victory in Game 1, before winning Game 2 3-1. 
 
The Challengers remain in fourth place with a 3-9 record. Game 3 of the series will be played on Tuesday night at 7pm at Rümlang.

Continue Reading » Ladies lose local derby

For the first time this year the heavy rain and bolts were very welcome to the Challengers Softball-Team. The night game between the Challengers and the Barracudas had to be called with no outs in the bottom of the third inning after 1 hour and 52 minutes including two rain delays.
 
Before that a thunderstorm was already raging over the C's, as the Barracudas were leading 19-8, as crew chief Martin Ruckstuhl called the game. Giulia Oswald belted a grand slam and Morgan Suart followed with a three-run homer in a 13-run second inning for the Barracudas. Taylor Mc Cants delivered a two-run double for the Challengers, while Jennifer Montague had a RBI-triple and Ziegylou Wehrli got a double, as the C's answered with a 7-run inning of their own. Eventually Mother Nature had other ideas.
 
Thursday, June 27 has already been annouced as the make-up date. First the two local rivals will play a three game series at Rümlang from June 23 till 25 with a double header on Sunday and a night game on Tuesday.

Continue Reading » Softball derby rained out

 
Das Softball-Team empfängt den Stadtrivalen Zürich Barracudas am Donnerstag, 20. Juni um 19.00 Uhr zum ersten Night Game der Saison auf der Klopstockwiese. Es ist das erste von vier Derbys innert Wochenfrist. Vom 23. bis 25. Juni treffen sich die beiden Teams zu einer three-game Serie in Rümlang.

Continue Reading » Softball Night Game am Donnerstag

 
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. 

Continue Reading » Flyers defense keeps Ladies’ bats down

 
The Softball-Team played its part in the Swiss Nationalteam’s preparation for the European Championship in Prague. Combined with the Luzern Eagles they played two friendly games on Saturday, June 8 at Hünenberg. The "Cheagles" split: they won the first game 7-2 and lost the second game 1-4.

Continue Reading » Ladies “Cheagles” vs. National Team

The Softball-Team swept the Wil Devils on Saturday, May 25, 13-5 and 8-7. In the first game of the double header Leandra Simitovic pitched brilliantly surrendering only one earned run with four strike outs, while Simona Cellar led the team with her bat going 3-for-3 at the plate with a homer and 3 RBIs. The Challengers offense was unstoppable throughout the game with a total of 14 hits allowing the challengers to beat the Devils in only 5 innings.
 
In Game two Macy Morgan and Karen Heimgartner were able to pull off another victory for the Challengers on the mound. The Challengers offense was slow to start but with the help of Wehrli who was 3-for-4 at the plate, the ladies got the momentum going and were able to profit from the Devils' errors in the 4th to make it 3-5. By the next go around with the bats Henna Määttä then came through for the challengers with a two-run triple to tie up the game and Cellar's bat made Määttä score and the Challengers take the lead. At 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th inning the Devils tried to make a jaw-dropping come back but the Challengers defence proved to be superior and did not allow it.
 
With the two wins the C's improved their record to 3-5 and moved into fourth place. They will face the Therwil Flyers on June 16 at the Klopstockwiese.

Continue Reading » Ladies sweep Devils

The Softball-Team recorded its first win of the season on Saturday, May 11, as the Challengers held on for an 8-7 victory against the Bern Cardinals. The C's almost blew a six-run lead, but Leandra Simitovic worked out of the jam, striking out Pamela Kellenberger to end the game with the tying run on third base. Simitovic and Simona Cellar delivered two hits and scored two runs each, while Jennifer Montague drove in two runs.
 
Game 2 was dominated by Cardinals pitcher Monica Alnes and her rise ball, as she didn't allow any hit between the second and the sixth frame and the Cardinals put things out of reach with a four-run fourth inning  to eventually win 5-1. American Macy Morgan made her first start for the Challengers, but was interrupted by a 40 minutes rain delay after the second inning, before a two-run double by Pamela Kellenberger chased her after 3.1 innings of work. Simona Cellar delivered two hits, while Ziegylou Wehrli scored the only run for the Challengers in the seventh frame.

Continue Reading » Ladies arrive in win column

The Softball-Team endured two losses against the reigning Swiss champion Luzern Eagles on Saturday, April 27 in the Challengers home opener. The Eagles proved to be the best team in Switzerland by winning the first game of the doubleheader 16-1, as Corina Casparis belted a two-run homer and Julia Gloukhoff drove in four runs. Ziegylou Wehrli led the Challengers with two hits, while Simona Cellar delivered a ground rule double over the right field fence.
 
And the Eagles' bats remained on fire, as they completed the sweep with a victory in Game 2. The Challengers scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and had several strong at-bats but were overmatched by the Eagles' consistent offensive production, as they erupted for eleven runs in the fourth frame to eventually win 20-3. Sandrine Montandon had a double, while Anouk Lkharrazi, Leandra Simitovic, Simona Cellar and Alexia Zingg had a single each.
 
The C's will host the Bern Cardinals on Saturday, May 11 at the Klopstockwiese for their next games.

Continue Reading » Ladies overpowered in Eagles sweep