The Challengers are heading east next weekend. The NLA-Team will play in Wil on Saturday, and the women’s softball team will play in Wittenbach on Sunday.
The NLA-Team will be making only its second appearance of the season on Saturday. The Challengers will also have to move their second home game due to construction works at their home ballpark, Heerenschürli. The home games against the Wil Pirates will therefore be played at the Lindenhof in Wil. The games start at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
The Softball-Team will also travel to the canton of St. Gallen on Sunday. The Challengers will face the Panthers in Wittenbach, which has also been the championship final three times in the last four years. First pitch will be at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Wittenbach Sonnenrain.
The U15-Cadets will host the Therwil Flyers and the Geneva Dragons in Hünenberg on Saturday. This means that the Challengers, who are placed in the East Group, will face the two strongest teams from the West Group. The games will take place at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. in Hünenberg Rony.
The U12-Juveniles team will also be in action on Sunday. The Challengers will face the Rümlang Kobras in a derby in Rümlang. The games will take place at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Rümlang Rümelbach.
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Challengers in Eastern Switzerland
Cadets offense powerless
It almost seemed as if the U15-Cadets had left their bats at home on Saturday. In their losses in Wil against the Rümlang Kobras and the SG Pirates, they ended the day with just four hits and a total of 23 strikeouts.
In the opening game against their cantonal rivals, the Rümlang Kobras, the Challengers’ offense was not at its level. The C’s recorded a total of just three baserunners. That wasn’t something that would give them a chance of winning. At least they were able to keep the score open at the beginning. After a run for the Kobras in the first inning and two more following a costly error by the C’s in the second, the Zurich Unterland team created the decisive difference with five runs in the third inning, making the score 8-0. In the end, the Kobras won decisively 12-0.
In the second game against the hosts, the defense didn’t hold up at the beginning. The SG Pirates opened the game with four runs. The Challengers did manage to score their first run of the day thanks to doubles from Tyler Smith and Fabrizio Bucher. After three innings, however, the Eastern Swiss team already held a decisive 11-2 lead. Fabrice Cadalbert scored runs two and three in the third and fifth innings, but this did nothing to change the 3-13 defeat.
Softball Homegame on Mother’s Day
As always, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Switzerland. And the Challengers Softball women’s team hosts a home game against the Bern Cardinals. After a successful start to the season against the SG Frogs/Flyers, the C’s will look to carry the momentum into their duel with the team from the Swiss capital. Games will kick off at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the Klopstockwiese in Zurich-Enge.
The U15 Cadets will be in action on Saturday, aiming for their first win of the season in Wil, St. Gallen. Their opponents will once again be the Rümlang Kobras and the SG Pirates. The games begin at 12:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. at the Wil Lindenhof.
The U12 Juveniles will also travel to Wil on Sunday. The Challengers, undefeated this season, will face the Wil Devils. The games will be played at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the Lindenhof in Wil.
Cadets lose local derby
The Cadets suffered two losses on opening day. In their duel against their cantonal rivals, the Rümlang Kobras, the Challengers were largely without a chance.
After various indoor tournaments, the outdoor season finally kicked off this weekend. The Challengers hosted the Rümlang Kobras in Hünenberg in the Canton of Zug. In glorious sunshine but with a nasty breeze, the Challengers never really got going. While their pitchers visibly struggled with the strike zone, their offense didn’t come through against the Kobras’ strong defense. Ultimately, the Zurich Unterland team prevailed twice, winning 15-6 and 12-2.
Opening Day for the Cadets
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation will resume play next weekend. For once, the juniors will be the first to start. Among the teams kicking off the new season on Sunday, April 6, are the Zurich Challengers U15-Cadets. They will host the Rümlang Kobras in the first game day of the 2025 season. The doubleheader begins at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Hünenberg Rony.
Continue Reading » Opening Day for the CadetsCadets win the C’s indoor tournament
On Sunday the 9th Challengers Junior Indoor Tournament took place in the ETH Hönggerberg sports hall in Zurich. While the Challengers’ Juveniles were mainly interested in gaining experience, the Cadets won the tournament on home soil.
In the U12 Juveniles age group the Challengers recorded a pleasing increase in members over the winter. Accordingly, many new players made their baseball competition debut on the Hönggerberg, so the focus was on gaining experience for the youngest players.
The U15 Cadets went into their home tournament with completely different goals. And the blue-reds delivered. The Challengers won all their games and also had the upper hand in the final against Wil with 7-4.
Juniors Indoor Tournament at the Hönggerberg
The 9th Challengers Juniors Indoor Tournament will take place on Sunday, March 2nd at the Sports Centre of the ETH at the Hönggerberg. The kids will participate in two tournaments for the U12 Juveniles and the U15 Cadets. The tournament will start with the Juveniles at 9.30 a.m. where each team plays against each other team. The tournament of the Cadets starts at 12.45 p.m., first pitch for the final will be at 3.45 p.m.
Participants U12 Juveniles (09.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.)
Rümlang Kobras
Therwil Flyers
Devils/Pirates
Zürich Challengers
Participants U15 Cadets (12.45 p.m. – 4.15 p.m.)
Rümlang Kobras
Therwil Flyers
Wil Pirates
Zürich Challengers
Armin Blickenstorfer new assistant coach of the U15 National Team
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation (SBSF) has named Armin Blickenstorfer the new assistant coach of the U15-Cadets national team.
The original Challenger started his baseball career in 1989 with the Schwamendingers and went through all age groups and teams in Zurich North. He took part in various European Cup tournaments with the Challengers and became Swiss champion four times. He gained his first experience as a coach during his active career. He later led the softball team for two seasons and was most recently the coach of the Challengers’ U12 youth team for many years, with whom he also won four Swiss championship titles.
In the last two years, Blickenstorfer took over as head coach of the Swiss Little League team, which impressed with strong performances, particularly last year in Kutno, Poland. The move to the U15 Cadets national team as assistant to the new head coach David Castillo is therefore a logical next step for the Zurich native.
Cadets finish season in third place
The U15 Cadets sweep the Rümlang Kobras 2-0 in the best-of-three series for the bronze medal and take third place. After a clear victory in Game 1, the Challengers took Game 2 with a walk-off win in extra innings.
The duel for bronze in the U15 Cadets championship was a repeat of the 2023 final. And just like a year ago the Challengers prevailed in the duel between the cantonal rivals against the Rümlang Kobras. The Zurich team laid the foundation for victory in Game 1 in the second inning. The C’s scored three runs from five hits, including a triple by Yannik Hobi and an RBI double by Noam Müller. One inning later they extended their lead to 6-2, also thanks in part to some errors by the Kobras. This broke their resistance and the Challengers added a few more runs to ultimately secure a 15-3 win.
The second game of the day remained dramatic until the last pitch. The Kobras once again gave everything they had and took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. But the Challengers also saved a few highlights for Game 2. Yannik Hobi opened the bottom half of the second inning with a solo home run and after a single by Jimmy Siemers, Ilai Blickenstorfer followed up with a 2-run home run over the center field fence. The Kobras took the lead again with two runs in the fourth inning to make it 4-3. Before the Challengers’ last attack, the score was still the same. But the Challengers managed to equalize. After singles by Noam Müller and Ben Dickow, Jasper Freigang made it 4-4 with an RBI groundout. In the extra inning pitcher Tyler Smith defused a bases loaded situation with no outs with his defense, giving the Challengers a chance to win it in the bottom half of the extra inning. And the C’s made short work of it. After a wild pitch Tyler Smith scored the winning run and secured the bronze medal for his team.
U15 Cadets series for bronze Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras: score 2-0 (best-of-three)
Sunday, September 8, 11:00 a.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zürich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras 15-3
Sunday, September 8, 1:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Rümlang Kobras vs. Zürich Challengers 4-5 (6 inn.)
Cadets play for third place
After narrowly losing the semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers, the U15-Cadets are now playing a series for third place. The Challengers will face the Rümlang Kobras in a repeat of last year’s U15 final.
In the preliminary round the Challengers won three of four games against the Kobras. The best-of-three series begins on Sunday with a doubleheader in Rümlang. If necessary, a third and decisive game would take place on September 14.
U15-Cadets Bronze Series Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras: Score 0-0 (best-of-three)
Sunday, September 8th, 11:00 a.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Zurich Challengers vs. Rümlang Kobras
Sunday, September 8th, 1:30 p.m., Rümlang Rümelbach: Rümlang Kobras vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, September 14th, 11:00 a.m., tbd (if necessary): Rümlang Kobras vs. Zurich Challengers