The Challengers’ third team played the placement games with the three fourth-placed teams in the preliminary round groups for places ten to twelve on Sunday. The Zurich team faced the Geneva Tigers and the hosts Bern Cardinals. The game against the western Swiss team was lost 10-13 due to one bad inning, but the Zurich team narrowly won against the Bern Cardinals 11-10.
The Challengers got off to an excellent start against the Geneva Tigers. They quickly loaded the bases and with walks from Pete Nelson, Niilo Benz and an RBI single from Jimmy Siemers as well as another run on a wild pitch, the score was 4-0. By the third inning, the Zurich team had extended its lead to 6-1. But then the Geneva team also turned on the turbo. The Tigers produced no fewer than twelve runs with ten hits and four walks. The Challengers managed to score another four runs, but ultimately had to admit the 10-13 defeat.
The Zurich team fell behind 0-5 in Game 2 against the Bern Cardinals, but their offense got off to an even better start. The Challengers scored no fewer than ten runs in the first inning. The Bern offense found the right answer and tied the game again in the third inning to 10-10. But the Challengers took the lead again in the bottom half of the third frame. Reinforcement player Naël Frey scored on a passed ball to make it 11-10. There were no more runs after that. In the last inning, the Cardinals even had the tying run on third base, but the Challengers defense survived the last Bern attack unscathed. This means that a season marked by countless weather-related cancellations ends on a positive note for the Challengers with the eleventh place.