The U12 Juveniles Championship has been reorganized by the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation. In 2025, there will be two divisions within the U12 age group: the Competitive League and the Development League. Both divisions are divided into an Eastern and a Western group, with teams competing across regional borders as well.
The Challengers begin their season on Saturday, April 12, in Bulle, Fribourg. There they will face the Geneva Dragons at 10:00 a.m. before playing the Rümlang Kobras at 12:30 p.m.
Posts in the Juveniles category:
Juveniles’ Opening Day in Bulle
Cadets 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.
Juveniles win Bronze Medal
The U12-Juveniles won the bronze medal at the Final Four tournament in Bulle on Saturday. After a clear semi-final loss against arch-rivals Therwil Flyers, the Challengers defeated the Wil Devils in the game for third place with 8-6. The Swiss championship title went to the Therwil Flyers, who were able to somewhat surprisingly defeat the Geneva Dragons, who had been better placed in the preliminary round, 6-4 in the final.
U12-Juveniles Final Four tournament in Bulle, Stade de Bouleyres:
Saturday, August 31st, semi-final 1: Wil Devils vs. Geneva Dragons 2-12
Saturday, August 31st, semi-final 2: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers 13-2
Saturday, August 31st, match for third place: Zurich Challengers vs. Wil Devils 8-6
Saturday, August 31st, final: Therwil Flyers vs. Geneva Dragons 6-4
U12-Juveniles Final Four Tournament in Bulle
The U12-Juveniles will compete in the Final Four tournament on Saturday for the Swiss championship title in the youngest age group in Swiss baseball. The tournament will be held for the first time in Bulle, Fribourg. The Challengers will face the Therwil Flyers in the semifinals, as they did in the U15 age group as well. The Geneva Dragons 2 and the Wil Devils will face each other in the other semifinal. The winners of the two semi-finals will then play for the championship, the losers will play for third place.
U12-Juveniles Final Four Tournament in Bulle, Stade de Bouleyres:
Saturday, August 31st, 10:00 a.m., Semi-final 1: Wil Devils vs. Geneva Dragons 2
Saturday, August 31st, 12:00 p.m., Semi-final 2: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
Saturday, August 31st, 2:00 p.m., Bronze medal game
Saturday, August 31st, 4:00 p.m., Final
The U15-Cadets will play their third and deciding game of their best-of-three semi-final series against the Therwil Flyers on Sunday at Therwil Känematt. One week ago both teams have won one game each.
U15-Cadets Playoff Semifinals Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers: Score 1-1 (best-of-three)
Saturday, August 24th, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zürich Challengers 8-9
Saturday, August 24th, 1:30 p.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Zurich Challengers vs. Therwil Flyers 14-18
Sunday, September 1st, 11:00 a.m., Therwil Känelmatt: Therwil Flyers vs. Zurich Challengers
Exploit in the Little League
This week the Swiss Little League team is taking part in the “Europe-Africa Region Tournament” in Kutno, Poland. Switzerland will play in Pool C against Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ukraine. The first two teams in each preliminary round group will reach the quarterfinals.
The Swiss started the tournament against Spain on Sunday. However the spaniards proved to be too strong, they won clearly 9-1. On Monday Switzerland played against the clearly favored Dutch. And the Swiss pulled off a real exploit. They sensationally defeated the Dutch 4-2. Pitcher Len Blickenstorfer, a Challengers junior, was at the forefront. He gave up just two runs and three hits in six innings and struck out seven, which earned him the win in this historic victory.
Lack of luck in the last two games against Great Britain and the Ukraine. The Swiss team was at the same level as their opponents, still they lost 3-4 to the British and were edged by the Ukraine 4-5.
Schedule LLB Europe-Africa Region Tournament in Kutno (POL):
Sunday, July 14: Spain vs. Switzerland 9-1
Monday, July 15: Switzerland vs. Netherlands 4-2
Tuesday, July 16: Switzerland vs. Great Britain 3-4
Thursday, July 18: Switzerland vs. Ukraine 4-5
Juveniles finish in first place
The U12-Juveniles played a doubleheader against the SG Eagles/Unicorns in Lucerne to end the preliminary round. After a clear 20-3 win in the first game of the day, the second game was much closer. Ultimately the Challengers narrowly won 10-7 and finished the preliminary round in first place.
The Final Four tournament will take place after the summer holidays on August 31st. The venue is not yet known, but the semi-final opponent is. It will once again be a traditional duel with the Therwil Flyers, who finished second in the very strong West group.
1st League Nightgame on Saturday
On Saturday night there will be a night game between the first league teams of the Zürich Challengers and the Zurich Eighters at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The two city rivals are facing each other for the second time this season. The game starts at 6 p.m.
The other Challengers teams that will be in action next weekend will have to play away games. The NLA-Team has to travel to Therwil on Sunday for the reprise of last year’s final. The doubleheader starts at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the Therwiler Känelmatt.
The Softball-Team has the shortest journey. The Challengers women meet the Zurich Barracudas in Rümlang. The games in Rümlang Rümelbach start on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Klopstockwiese in Zurich to complete the season series.
The U12 Juveniles will play against the SG Luzern Eagles/Hünenberg Unicorns on Sunday as well. The games take place at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on the Hinterruopigen in Reussbühl.
Two wins at the Klopstockwiese for the Juveniles
The U12-Juveniles can defend their lead in the standings. They win both of their home games on Sunday at the Klopstockwiese.
The first game against the SG Mustangs/Lions/Vikings the Challengers finished with an 8-4 win. However the game between the first-placed and the last-placed team in the East group was not as clear as could have been expected on paper, but the pitchers Alexander Maron and Roy Gonzalez secured the win for the home team. In the second game of the day the Challengers met the SG Eagles/Unicorns. The guests had previously lost their game against the SG Mustangs/Lions/Vikings 8-11, which meant the latter’s first win of the season. Accordingly the Central Swiss team had something to make up for. However, the home team prevailed with 7-4 and remains in first place with eight wins and just one loss.