The NLA-Team had to travel to Therwil on Sunday. There, however, the Challengers met the record champions’ second team. The game was correspondingly one-sided with the Zurich team winning 20-0 after seven innings.
For the Challengers it was the second clear success in the cup competition. Since they missed out on qualifying for the finals in the championship and thus failing to defend their title, the Swiss Cup remains the Challengers’ last goal of the season. The Zurich team approached the game against their lower-class opponents with appropriate seriousness. Not only the result, but also the number of hits with 16-5 and the number of baserunners with 31-7 spoke for themselves. The guests took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Marcus Mäder and Jason Wüger helped to organize the early lead with RBI doubles. And the Zurich team continued to build on this until the match ended after seven innings due to the mercy rule.
Marcus Mäder led the offense with four hits, including three doubles, five RBI and three runs, but Regis Reinhard, Leonel Sosa Marie and Carsten Zuber also delivered three hits each, while Jason Wüger contributed four RBI. Stefan Haltmeier gave up five hits and two walks in six innings with eight strikeouts.

The NLA-Team cannot defend its title from the previous year. The Challengers lose 7-14 to the Flyers away from home. At the same time the Zurich Barracudas win both of their games against the Wil Pirates. This means that the Challengers can only catch up with the top duo in terms of victories, but has a negative record in direct comparison against both opponents.
The hope of a win in Basel only lasted a short time. In the first inning Leonel Sosa Marte put his team in the lead with a sac fly, which James Sanders increased with an RBI single. The home team, however, equalized in the second inning and took the lead for the first time in the third frame with 5-2. With a double and a triple the Flyers scored four more runs in the fourth inning and Sven Leemannn followed up with a grand slam in the sixth. Ultimately the Zurich team suffered a 7-14 loss.
Regis Reinhard had three hits and three RBI, Jason Wüger delivered three hits and Leonel Sosa Marte recorded three RBI for the Challengers. They still have three games to play against the Wil Pirates and as many games as possible in the Swiss Cup.

The Challengers impressed in Game 1 with a strong offensive performance and defeated the leader in the standings Therwil Flyers 15-4. They also held up well in Game 2, but a costly error and a lack of luck led to a 0-3 loss.
In the fight to qualify for the finals the Zurich team urgently needed an exploit. And it started well. Leadoff batter Ryan Byrne showed the way with a home run over the center field fence. Shortly afterwards they increased their lead to 2-0. The Flyers equalized in the second inning with a 2-run homer by Ferlon Gijsbertha to make it 2-2, but this score only lasted for a short time. The Challengers took the lead again by two runs in the third inning and in the fourth inning Geoffrey Mäder made it 7-2 with a 3-run home run after singles by Noah Nussbaum and Ryan Byrne. In the end the guests totaled 25 hits and celebrated a 15-4 victory.
Man of the match was Geoffrey Mäder with four hits, including two home runs, and six RBI. Ryan Byrne and Noah Nussbaum each had five hits, while Leonel Sosa Marte and Regis Reinhard contributed three hits each to the win.
The Challengers would have liked to have saved their offensive power for the second game. Although they were once again ahead in terms of hits with 6-4, they were unable to convert their scoring opportunities into runs this time. Three baserunners were unluckily out and a fatal error in the third inning, which cost two runs, was decisive for the 0-3 defeat. James Sanders led the offense with three hits, while Ryan Byrne only gave up one earned run and four hits in six innings, with five walks and three strikeouts.