Thanks to the early end of the season due to the European Baseball Championship, which will take place at the end of September, the traditional Challengers Veterans’ Game took place earlier than ever before. The beautiful weather, contrary to the forecast, contributed to the fact that around 40 former, current, and future greats ultimately battled for hits, runs and outs. Among others, Thomas Blank, Armin Blickenstorfer, Harry Bregy, Nick Lehmann, Chris Palatinus, Benny Räber, Manuel Schretzmann, Willy Schaub, Tobias Siegrist, and Pieter Zandt demonstrated that they haven’t forgotten their baseball skills.
Honorary President Marianne Blickenstorfer flew in especially from South Africa, Nick Siemers interrupted his stay in the USA for the traditional event, and Gary Kochlefl, the 1998 Swiss Champion, and Peter Rothenhäusler, the 1986 Swiss Champion, were among the spectators. Veteran’s Game also means that the father gets a hit aagainst his son, who retaliates with a pickoff, the batting order consists of 13 players, and then there’s lively discussion including beer and sausages. Once again the Veteran’s Game was a complete success.

Serge würfelt
Am Freitagabend fand in der AXA Arena in Winterthur die Zündwürfel Pokalnacht 2025 statt – ein grosses Fest zu Ehren des Zürcher Vereins- und Breitensports. Hunderte Gäste feierten die nominierten Ehrenamtlichen und Vereine in einer stimmungsvollen Atmosphäre.
Wir freuen uns sehr, dass Serge Künzler für seine langjährige und unermüdliche Arbeit im Challengers Baseball und Softball Club Zürich in der Kategorie „Ehrenamt“ nominiert wurde. Serge engagiert sich seit über 25 Jahren für den Verein – als Spieler, Coach, Vorstandsmitglied und treibende Kraft hinter zahlreichen Nachwuchsprojekten. Mit seiner Leidenschaft und seinem Einsatz hat er massgeblich dazu beigetragen, den Baseball- und Softballsport in Zürich aufzubauen und weiterzuentwickeln.
Der Sieger der Kategorie wurde durch ein Würfelspiel bestimmt – dabei hatte Serge leider kein Würfelglück. Dennoch wurde er für seine herausragenden Verdienste mit einem Pokal und CHF 500 Preisgeld ausgezeichnet.
Wir danken Zündwürfel und Zürcher Kantonalverband für Sport herzlich für die Organisation dieses besonderen Abends und gratulieren Serge von ganzem Herzen. Wir sind stolz, ihn in unserem Verein zu haben!

The 43rd General Assembly of the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation (SBSF) took place in Zurich on Saturday, February 22nd. Andrea Girasole was elected as the new president, succeeding Dagmar Voith Leemann.
The former Challengers player Andrea Girasole was unanimously elected as the new president. The long-time Swiss national player, who grew up in Italy, wants to work for better infrastructure and international relations. Mark Cole, Barbara Meierhans, Roger Savoldelli, Monique Schmitt and Sebastian Zwyer were unanimously re-elected as members of the Executive Board. Benjamin Molner and Andreas Knecht were newly elected to the Executive Board. The outgoing president Dagmar Voith Leemann was confirmed as ethics officer. Benjamin Molner will take over the grassroots sports department following the resignation of Christof Rissi, while Andreas Knecht will be the liaison with the clubs in French-speaking Switzerland.
The association was also able to welcome two new members. New members of the SBSF are the Nexus Mavericks from Cheyres and the Ticino Baseball Rangers from the Lugano region, making them the first club from the canton of Ticino to do so in almost 40 years.

The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation’s Annual General Meeting will take place next Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Zurich. The aim is to replace President Dagmar Voith Leemann, who is stepping down from her position after two years at the top of the federation. Christof Rissi, who is responsible for grassroots sport, is also stepping down.
In the evening, the Swiss Baseball and Softball Awards Night, which has become a tradition, will take place, at which the champions and the winners of the individual awards from the 2024 season will be honored.

On February 2nd, the Annual General Meeting of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich took place in the Linde Oberstrass restaurant in Zurich. President Mindy Siemers looked back on an eventful season. Treasurer Nicola Ernst had some good news.
In terms of sport, the third places of the U15 Cadets, U12 Juveniles and the Softball-Team stood out. The ladies also finished in third place in the European Cup tournament. Meanwhile, the very many rainouts and the Baseball NLA, which only had four teams, proved to be problematic. On the other hand, the many new members, especially among the youngest, were positive, which was also reflected in higher income from youth sports subsidies. This, as well as higher income from sponsorship and patrons as well as from the food stands, allowed treasurer Nicola Ernst to present a record-breakingly positive annual financial statement. Stefan Benz resigned from the club’s board after one year for professional reasons. The rest of the board, including President Mindy Siemers, was confirmed for another year.
In baseball, the cards were reshuffled for 2025. The NLA was expanded to seven teams with the Lucerne Eagles, the Sissach Frogs and the second team of the Zurich Barracudas. The NLB is also made up of seven teams. Due to the thin staffing levels in adult baseball, the Challengers have not registered a 1st league team for the championship in 2025. 1st league players of the Challengers have the opportunity to play games in the regional league with another Zurich team. A players’ commission headed by Chris Palatinus was founded to set up the Challengers 2025-2030. Isabelle Tan also presented the founding of a Challengers slowpitch Softball-Team.
The awards for the past season were presented at the awards ceremony. Ryan Byrne in the NLA, Isabelle Tan in the softball women’s team, Honey Gigato Romero in the NLB and Florin Kämpfer in the 1st league were named MVP of their respective teams. At the junior meeting in the early afternoon Jasper Freigang was named MVP of the U15 Cadets, while for the U12 the award went to the entire Juveniles-Team.

 
The construction progress on the “New Ball Backstop” project in the Heerenschürli ballpark is not progressing as planned. According to the current status, the construction delay is two months, which is why the first home games for the city clubs will not be able to take place in the Heerenschürli stadium until May 31. The Challengers will therefore have to play their first home games of the 2025 season away from home and will not be able to play in front of a home crowd until mid-June. The practices will also be severely restricted in April and May.

This year’s General Assembly of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich will take place on Sunday, February 2nd at the Linde Oberstrass restaurant in Zurich.
Before the ordinary general meeting, which begins at 3 p.m., the junior meeting will take place from 1 p.m.