The Softball-Team finished the Final Round with a 6-6 record after a split with the defending champion Therwil Flyers on Sunday, August 24 at Therwil. The Challengers had a veritable false start, as the Flyers delivered six hits and scored seven runs in the first inning. For the rest of the game both pitchers, Sophie Zihlmann for the Flyers and Leandra Simitovic for the C’s, kept the opponent’s bats quiet. Simitovic tossed a complete game and allowed eight runs – six earned – and nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts, as the Flyers held on for a 8-1 victory over the Challengers. Both teams exchanged zeros on the scoreboard through the first five innings in Game 2. Then Ziegylou Wehrli opened the sixth with a single and Leandra Simitovic reached first on an error, while Flavia Von Meiss plated both runners with a 2-run single and scored the third run for the C’s on a RBI-double by Karen Heimgartner. That was all the Challengers needed, as Heimgartner tossed a four-hit shutout with three walks and fifteen strikeouts for her fourth win of the season, as the Challengers posted a 3-0 triumph over the Flyers in Game 2. The two teams will meet again in a best-of-three Semifinal Series, but not before they participate at the European Cup tournaments from September 1 till 6. The Flyers will travel to Prague, while the Challengers will play in Dupniza, Bulgaria.

The Softball-Team stopped its six-game losing streak, as the Challengers won twice on Saturday, August 16 at the Klopstockwiese against the fourth-ranked Reussbühl Eagles. After the C’s were shut down twice by the Wil Devils a week ago, their bats were on fire this time. Karen Heimgartner was 3-for-3 with two doubles and Karin Mittelstädt, Corinne Wengi and Andrea Wirth had two hits apiece and the C’s offense errupted for 12 runs and 13 hits, while Leandra Simitovic tossed a four-hitter with three walks and two strikeouts, as the Challengers posted a 12-5 victory in Game 1. The C’s used three different pitchers and held on for a 14-9 win over the Eagles in Game 2. Sandrine Montandon had a double, a single, two walks and scored twice, while Leandra Simitovic and Simona Cellar collected two hits each. The Challengers improved their record to 5-5. They will travel to Therwil on Sunday, August 24.

Am Freitag, 15. August stellt das Schweizer Fernsehen im Rahmen der Sendung Peking Lounge in der Rubrik “Peking vielfalt” Softball vor. SBSF Präsident Marco Iten wird als Experte einen Spielbericht der Vorrunde des Softball Olympia-Turniers mit Fernsehmann Sascha Ruefer co-kommentieren und sich im Studio den Fragen des Moderators Matthias Hüppi stellen. (SF2, Freitag, 15. August 20.45-22.20 Uhr)

The Softball-Team was shut down by the first ranked Wil Devils on Sunday, August 10, as the C’s losing streak reached a team-record six games. The Challengers were outhit 10-4, as Flavia Von Meiss was the only Challengers player with two hits, as the strong Devils posted a convincing 7-0 victory in Game 1. And it was all Devils in Game 2 again, as Nicole Freeman tossed a no-hitter with two walks and nine strikeouts against an inexistent Challengers offense, as the Devils cruised to a 7-0 win. It was for the first time that the Challengers didn’t manage to get on the scoreboard in a double-header. The C’s dropped their record to 3-5 and will face the fourth ranked Reussbühl Eagles on Saturday, August 16 at the Klopstockwiese.

The Challengers Softball Team lost its fourth game in a row on Sunday, August 3 at Reussbühl. Things started well for the blue and red, as they built a 6-1 lead after the first inning. But the C’s stranded eleven baserunners before blowing a five-run lead, as the Eagles rallied for seven runs in the last frame en route to a 12-10 victory over the Challengers to clinch a playoff berth. Five Challengers players reached base three times, but only Flavia Von Meiss and Corinne Wengi scored twice, while Karin Mittelstädt and Elisabete Vieira batted in two runs apiece. Leandra Simitovic pitched five strong innings before tiring in the sixth, as she allowed twelve runs – only six earned – and six hits with eight walks and six strikeouts. The game has been rescheduled after the officials were forced to abandon play on July 12 due to heavy rain, as the Challengers led 11-2 after four innings. The Challengers finished the preeliminary round in third place with a 9-5 record. The C’s will look to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat when they start into the final round on Sunday, August 10 playing a double-header against the Wil Devils (11-3). The games start at 11am and 1.30pm at Wil Lindenhof.

The Softball-Team lost its third game in a row on Saturday, July 12 at Reussbühl. The Challengers erased a five-run deficit in the last two innings before a 40-minute rain delay, that occured in the middle of the Challengers’ five-run sixth inning, stopped the threat and the C’s blew a three-run lead in the bottom half of the inning after play was resumed to eventually lose 14-15 against the strong Reussbühl Eagles. Karen Heimgartner and Leandra Simitovic had two hits and scored two runs each, while Karin Mittelstädt scored three runs and Sandrine Montandon reached base four times and crossed the plate twice for the Challengers. But things got even worse for the blue and red in Game 2. The C’s built a 11-2 lead, as Corinne Wengi opened the score with a two-run double and Alexia Zingg and Ziegylou Wehrli had two hits apiece, while Karen Heimgartner allowed a pair of unearned runs and two hits with ten strikeouts, as the umpires had to call the game after four innings – just six outs before it would have been an official game – due to heavy and constant rain. According the official rules the game has to be replayed from the beginning. The game is rescheduled for Sunday, August 3 at Reussbühl.

The Softball-Team lost twice to the Bern Cardinals on Saturday, July 5 at the Klopstockwiese droping their record to 9-3 and losing first place to the Therwil Flyers and the Wil Devils. In Game 1, the Challengers’ worst performance of the season, the defense committed eight errors that led to eight unearned runs, while Cardinals starter Pamela Kellenberger kept the offense quiet allowing only six hits and two walks, as the C’s lost 6-13. Game 2 saw a pitcher’s duel between Nathalie Brown for the Cards and Karen Heimgartner for the Challengers with an unfortunate finish for the blue and red. The Challengers erased a two-run deficit in the fourth but missed to score the game-winning run in the fourth and seventh frame to eventually lose 3-7 after extra innings. Brown pitched eight strong innings for the Cards, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out sixteen, while Heimgartner ended up with the loss going the distance, giving up seven runs – three earned – on six hits while striking out fourteen. The C’s will face the Reussbühl Eagles on Saturday July, 12 at Reussbühl for their last games of the preeliminary round.

The Softball-Team improved its record to 9-1 after showing its best performance of the season against the strong Rümlang Kobras on Sunday, June 22 at Rümlang with temperatures at 31 degrees above zero. The Challengers broke a 2-2 tie with RBI-singles by Karen Heimgartner, Simone Zurschmitten and Andrea Wirth in the fifth inning and Karin Mittelstädt had two hits and crossed the plate three times, as the Challengers held on for a 10-3 victory in Game 1. Leandra Simitovic went the distance, giving up two earned runs on six hits while striking out a season high eight. Heimgartner led the C’s to a 12-3 win over the Kobras in Game 2, tossing a no-hitter with three runs – none of them earned – one walk and thirteen strikeouts and Flavia Von Meiss had two hits and drove in three runs, while Alexia Zingg, Simona Cellar, Elisabete Vieira and Simitovic scored two runs apiece and the Challengers rolled to their ninth win in ten games. The C’s will face next last year’s semi-final opponent Bern Cardinals at Saturday, July 5 at the Klopstockwiese.