Next weekend all six Challengers teams will be in action. Four of them on Saturday, the NLB-Team and the U12-Juveniles on Sunday.
Three teams will play in Zurich on Saturday. The Softball-Team will welcome the Bern Cardinals on the Klopstockwiese in Zurich-Enge. The Challengers will try to maintain their winning streak, which has so far included five wins in a row. The games start at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The NLA-Team will play a preliminary round game in the newly designed Swiss Cup against the Zurich Barracudas’ NLB-Team at 2 p.m. at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The 1st League-Team will then play a night game at 6 p.m. in the Heerenschürli ballpark against the Zurich Eighters. This is finally the first game of the season for the 3rd team of the Challengers organization. Meanwhile, the U15-Cadets will host the SG Unicorns/Eagles at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Embrach PZ Hard.
On Sunday the U12-Juveniles will be in action on the Klopstockwiese. The Challengers’ youngest team meets the Wil Devils in the top battle of the Eastern Group. The games start at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The first pitch in the cup match for the NLB-Team will also take place at 11 a.m. The second team faces the Emrbrach Mustangs in the Heerenschürli ballpark.
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Busy weekend for the Challengers with all the teams in action
Juveniles with two nailbiters
The U12-Juveniles played two close games on Sunday at Lucerne. In game 1 the Challengers came out at the false end, as they lost the game against the SG Eagles/Unicorns 2-3. Game 2 was the same but different. Against the Rümlang Kobras the final result was again 3-2, this time in favor of the Challengers.
Continue Reading » Juveniles with two nailbitersChallengers host Wil Pirates
Next Saturday the Wil Pirates will be welcomed at the Heerenschürli ballpark for a NLA doubleheader. According to the statistics this will be a classic duel between David and Goliath. In 57 meetings between Wil and the Challengers so far, the Zurich team have walked away with a win 53 times. The Eastern Swiss are in their tenth NLA season in a row and have become the fourth power in Swiss baseball over the years. The game starts at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The U15 Cadets will also meet Wil this weekend. The Challengers will travel to the Äbtestadt on Sunday, where they will play against the SG Pirates at the Lindenhof at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The U12 Juveniles have to go to Central Switzerland on Sunday. In Lucerne they will meet the SG Eagles/Unicorns at 10 a.m. before facing the Rümlang Kobras at 12:30 p.m., against whom they have already won twice on Opening Day. The games will be played in Reussbühl Hinterruopigen.
Juveniles open season with a sweep
The U12 Juveniles celebrated a sweep of the Rümlang Kobras at the start of the season. For many players on the youngest Challengers team, Opening Day was not only the first game day of the 2024 season but also their debut on a baseball field.
The pChallengers showed a splendid performance and grabbed two important wins against their neighbors with a score of 13-5 and 8-5, which will give the young team self-confidence for their future tasks.
Juniors to open season in Rümlang
The 2024 season for the Challengers junior’s organization begins in Rümlang. Both the U12 Juveniles and the U15 Cadets will play against the Rümlang Kobras on Opening Day.
The U12 games will take place on Saturday, April 13th in Rümlang Rümelbach. The games start at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. At the same time on Sunday, April 14th, the U15 Cadets will meet the Kobras. For the Cadets, this is a revival of the final series of the last two years.
Preparation Gamedays
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation has further refined the concept launched last year for the youngest age group of the U12 Juveniles with championship games and specially organized Preparation Gamedays for the new season.
In the Swiss Championship, which determines the best club team of the season, and the Little League, which determines the Swiss representation at the Little League tournament in Kutno, Poland in July, the focus is on competition. At the Preparation Gamedays the focus is on the individual development of the children and their preparation for the following games in their age groups. In contrast to the championship games, no license is required for these open game days for all interested children. While the club teams compete against each other in the championship, on the Preparation Gamedays will be played in mixed teams. The coach pitch tournaments are played with simple rules, while the live pitch tournaments have rules that are closer to championships and Little League tournaments.
The first Preparation Gamedays took place this weekend in the best possible conditions. The youngest Challengers players were in action at the live pitch tournament in Hünenberg on Saturday and at the coach pitch tournament in Rümlang on Sunday. Next Saturday the first championship games of the 2024 season will take place in Rümlang.
Cadets finish in 3rd place in Rümlang
The traditional indoor tournament of the Rümlang Kobras took place in Rümlang on Saturday. The Challengers took part with their U12 Juveniles and U15 Cadets. This resulted in a fifth and a third place.
With the tournament in Rümlang, the indoor season for the juniors continued after the sports holidays. For the many new players in the U12 Juveniles team, the tournament was a fine opportunity to gain experience and play some games. The young team reached fifth place out of six participants. The next opportunity to continue learning will be next Saturday at the 16th indoor tournament in Therwil.
The U15 Cadets, who were in the final at their home tournament five weeks ago, missed out on a place in the final this time due to a 0-2 defeat in the semi-final against the hosts Rümlang Kobras. The Challengers were able to take revenge for the final defeat suffered in the home tournament in the game for third place against the Therwil Flyers. The team from Geneva won the tournament, despite a loss against the Challengers in the preliminary round.
Juniors indoor tournament on February 4th
The traditional Challengers juniors indoor tournament in the ETH Hönggerberg sports hall in Zurich will take place this winter on Sunday, February 4th.
Before that the U12 Juveniles and U15 Cadets of the Challengers will be in action at the indoor tournaments in Wil and Bern. The tournament in eastern Switzerland will take place on Saturday, December 9th, the one in the federal city on January 20th, 2024.
Juveniles play for fifth place
The U12-Juveniles get a win against the SG Ravens/Frogs in the Wild Card tournament of the three second-placed teams, but are defeated by the Rümlang Kobras beforehand. While the Kobras buy the last ticket for the finals, the Challengers will play against the Ravens/Frogs for fifth place next Saturday.
The Kobras made it clear early in the game that they were aiming for the Final Four tournament. The young Challengers team fought back as best they could, but ultimately had too little horsepower to pose a serious threat to the stronger Kobras. The Zürcher Unterländer finally won clearly with 11-4.
Since the Kobras defeated the SG Ravens/Frogs 8-4 in the second game of the day, it was clear even before the last game between the Solothurn-Baselland team and the Challengers that the Final Four tournament was out of reach for both. However, the Zurich team showed another strong performance in the offensive. Despite struggling on defense and pitching, they somehow managed to hold off the fresh-playing Ravens/Frogs and won the game 16-9.
This means that the Challengers are missing out the medals in this age group for the first time since 2015, but in view of the many new players they can be very satisfied with reaching the games for fifth place.
NLA faces Wil, U12 plays Wild Card Tournament
A curiosity awaits the NLA-Team next Sunday. The Challengers meet the Wil Pirates three times. Before the actually planned double header on the Heerenschürli takes place, the last inning of a game that has been suspended in April due to rain has to be completed. The game was stoped in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out and a 14-10 lead for the Challengers. There are still two outs to play. The trilogy begins at 10.45 a.m. at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
The NLB-Team travels to Lucerne on Saturday, where they will meet the Lucerne Eagles. In the first meeting of the season in Zurich, they suffered two painful defeats against the central Swiss. The games start at 11 am and 2 pm in Reussbühl Hinterruopigen.
The U15-Cadets are also in action on Saturday. After the two defeats last weekend, a reaction is to be expected. After the opening game against the SG Black Hawks, the C’s will play again against the Hünenberg Unicorns. The games will take place in Embrach PZ Hard and start at 10 am and 3 pm.
The Softball-Team also meets the Luzern Eagles on Sunday, June 11th. In the case of the women’s team, the first comparison this season went in favor of the Challengers. The games start at 11 am and 1.30 pm in Reussbühl Hinterruopigen.
The U12-Juveniles are in action on the Klopstockwiese on Sunday. As runners-up in the Central group, they are contesting the wild card tournament for fourth place at the Final Four tournament on June 18 in Hünenberg. The Challengers Juniors play at 10 am and 3 pm.