After the U18 European Championship qualifier, which took place from Monday to Saturday in the Heerenschürli ballpark, Sweden won the tournament with a clear victory in the final against Lithuania, local creativity was in demand again. The 1st League teams of the Challengers and the Lucerne Eagles faced each other. Whereby the Challengers lined up with a U18 team as well to match the European Championship. After a wild back-and-forth throughout the day, the two teams ultimately shared the points fraternally.
In game 1 the Challengers weren’t able to keep three leads. The pitchers, with no fewer than 15 walks, gave their defense little opportunity to get out of trouble with successful plays. So the encounter was lost 17-19. But the Challengers kept the better end in the second game with a 16-14 win.

In the extremely balanced eastern group of the regional league, the Zurich Barracudas, the Zurich Eighters and the Zurich Challengers also shared the wins on Sunday. All three Zurich clubs have a .500 record and share second place.
With many Swiss baseball fans attending the London Series between the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend, the rosters were thin. For the Challengers even the coaches Oliver Freigang and Nico Bucher had to go on the field.
In the first game of the day against the Zurich Barracudas, the teams moved in step for a long time. The Barracudas went ahead each time, the Challengers were able to counter each time. Except in the last inning, where the C’s scored only two runs to make it 9-11 walking away with a loss. Jacob Stotz led the offense with three hits, Jasper Freigang got two hits.
The Challengers did even better in Game 2. After three innings they were already leading 14-1 against the Zurich Eighters. In the end it was a comfortable 18-3 victory. Joseph Stotz and Oliver Freigang each collected four RBIs, Jasper Freigang had three hits, while Noam Müller, Fabrizio Bucher, Oliver Freigang, Jiro Kaya and Nico Bucher all contributed two hits to the win.

After the Challengers had lost all of their games on Saturday, three times with one run, it was up to the 1st League-Team to get into the W column. And they did so impressively with a 7-2 win against the Zurich Eighters.
In the second inning the Challengers put up five runs, enough for pitcher Joseph Stotz to take home the win. He gave up six hits and two runs, one earned, with two walks and eight strikeouts. Oliver Bernet and Noam Müller opened the inning with two singles before Jacob Stotz loaded the bases after a hit-by-pitch. A passed ball, a double from Jasper Freigang, an error from the Eighters defense and an RBI groundout from Philip Louis made it 5-0. Two more runs in the fifth inning led to the final score of 7-2.
In the second game of the day, the Challengers faced the SG Wittenbach-Romanshorn/Wil Devils. At the last meeting the C’s have been rolled over with a 0-20. The offense of the eastern Swiss was again extremely productive at the beginning and after two innings they already had a 11-3 lead. But the Challengers caught themselves and initially stopped the flood of runs with good defense before they scored five runs themselves in the fifth inning to make it 8-14.

The Challengers U15-Cadets traveled to Wittenbach with some reinforcements under the label “1st League Team”, where they played against the SG Pirates/Lions and against the SG Wittenbach-Romanshorn/Wil Devils. Thanks to an unbelievable 12-run rally in the last inning, they even got the win against the SG Pirates/Lions.
For a long time there were no indications of the dramatic turnaround. With a score of 0-8 after four innings and 3-9 after six innings, the Challengers’ hope of a W was only theoretical. But once again it was shown that in baseball all outs must be played first. After walks by Ilai Blickenstorfer and Jiro Kaya, Fabrizio Bucher started catching up with an RBI single. Various walks on loaded bases and some wild pitches from the Eastern Swiss allowed the Challengers to turn the game around before Jordi Bucher increased the lead to 15-9 with a 2-round double and Oliver Bernet Garcia with an RBI single. The Challengers gave up three more runs in the bottom half of the inning, but this was enough for a 15-12 victory.
However, that was it for the C’s. In Game 2 against the SG Wittenbach-Romanshorn/Wil Devils, two hits by Jasper Freigang were the only ones of the game for Zurich, while the home team hit through the lineup twice in the second inning and scored 15 runs in a seemingly endless frame. The final result was 20-0.

The 1st league team has a successful start into the 2023 season. In a great 1st League game they lose to the Zürich Barracudas 4-5, but game 2 against the SG Pirates/Lions goes to the Challengers with a 15-10 score.
The Challengers, who started with no fewer than six U20 players, fought a close neck-and-neck race with their cross-town rivals. But it was the oldie in the team, Juan Francisco Robles, who scored the first Challengers run in the first inning. But the young guard followed and so Noam Blickenstorfer, who made his debut at the catcher’s position, and Nick Siemers turned the game for 3-2 Challengers lead. Then it went the Barracudas way again, who took a 4-3 lead with one run in the fourth and fifth innings each. Ilai Blickenstorfer managed to equalize again in the sixth frame after an RBI-single from Nicola Ernst. However, the Challengers were unable to answer the Barracudas fifth run in the last inning. After a double and a stolen base, Nick Siemers got to third base, but the last two Challengers batters struck out. Nick Siemers confirmed his good shape with three hits after hitting his first NLA home run the day before while he was a guest player with the Bern Cardinals. Juan Francisco Robles pitched a complete game, allowing five runs, three earned, eight hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.
In Game 2 against the SG Pirates/Lions, the Challengers quickly made things clear. Reinforced with a few prospects from the Barracudas, the Zurich team managed eleven runs in the first two innings. While Ben Dickow opened the score with an RBI-single, Niilo Benz provided the highlight from the Challenger’s perspective with a 2-run double, his first hit playing with the seniors. The Pirates/Lions came up a bit towards the end of the game, but the Challengers finally brought home the 15-10 victory.