The Challengers also decisively lost Game 2 of the best-of-three playoff quarterfinal series against the Zurich Barracudas’ second team. This brought the Challengers’ season to an end.
After the Challengers’ second team won three of their four games in the second round, they were unable to wpost a win in the playoffs against their local rivals. Just as in the series opener a week ago, Game 2 was also decided early. Although the visitors scored the first run with an RBI single from Bastian Kämpfer, and the Barracudas were unable to add twelve runs again in the first inning, the Challengers’ defense committed three errors in the first frame, resulting in four unearned runs and an early 1-5 deficit. The home team clearly had no intention of playing a deciding game 3. The Barracudas kept their foot on the gas and sealed the Challengers’ season with another five runs in the third inning, making the score 14-2.
The Challengers did a bit of cosmetic work at the end. Jasper Freigang hit an RBI double and Florin Kämpfer a 2-run single, before Daniel Smith and Noam Blickenstorfer scored on an error by the Barracudas defense, and Jasper Freigang scored his team’s final run of the 2025 season on a wild pitch. The final score was 18-8.
NLB Playoff Quarterfinal, best-of-three: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II, 0-2
Game 1, Sunday, August 17: Zurich Barracudas II vs. Zurich Challengers II 21-5
Game 2, Sunday, August 24: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II 8-18
Posts in the NLB category:
NLB-Team eliminated
NLB-Team with their backs against the wall
After the NLB-Team decisively lost Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Zurich Barracudas’ second team last weekend, they find themselves with their backs against the wall on Sunday at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
To turn the series around and extend their season, they need two wins against their local rivals. To achieve this, they need a significant improvement in performance and, above all, a better start into the game. From a mental perspective, the starting position is simple. The Challengers have nothing left to lose.
NLB Playoff Quarterfinal, best-of-three: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II, 0-1
Game 1, Sunday, August 17: Zurich Barracudas II vs. Zurich Challengers II 21-5
Game 2, Sunday, August 24, 11:00 AM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II
Game 3, Sunday, August 24, 2:00 PM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II (if necessary)
Challengers overrun in series opener
The NLB-Team got off to a lousy start in the playoff quarterfinal series against the Zurich Barracudas’ second team. The visitors clinched the game with twelve runs in the first inning. Ultimately, Game 1 of the best-of-three series went to the Barracudas 21-5.
Whatever coach Tate Stone-Frisina had taught his players, it was lost after the first half inning. The Barracudas hit virtually every pitch that came their way, placing the balls between the Challengers’ defensemen. They turned eight hits into twelve runs and decided the game before it had even really begun. The Challengers recovered from this shock and played well afterwards, but the spice of an exciting game was completely lacking. For the Challengers Florin Kämpfer had three hits and two RBIs, Fabrizio Bucher had two hits and one RBI and Bastian Kämpfer delivered two hits and scored two runs. The series continues next Sunday at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
NLB Playoff Quarterfinal, best-of-three: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II, score 0-1
Game 1, Sunday, August 17: Zurich Barracudas II vs. Zurich Challengers II 21-5
Game 2, Sunday, August 24, 11:00 AM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II
Game 3, Sunday, August 24, 2:00 PM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II (if necessary)
Playoffs kick off in the NLB
The NLB playoffs also begin next weekend with the first games of the quarterfinals. The Challengers’ second team will face the Zurich Barracudas’ second team in their best-of-three series. Game 1 will take place on Sunday, August 17th, at noon at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
The Barracudas competed in the expanded NLA this season, but failed to advance to the intermediate round. However, according to the new format used for the first time this season, they can now compete for the NLB championship title. It will be interesting to see what the Challengers have to offer.
NLB Playoff Quarterfinal, best-of-three: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II, score 0-0
Game 1, Sunday, August 17, 12:00 PM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Barracudas II vs. Zurich Challengers II
Game 2, Sunday, August 24, 11:00 AM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II
Game 3, Sunday, August 24, 2:00 PM, Heerenschürli: Zurich Challengers II vs. Zurich Barracudas II (if necessary)
The Softball-Team will play its final two preliminary round games of the softball championship on Sunday in Bern. It’s already certain that the Zurich team will finish the preliminary round in third place, which means they’ll once again face their local rivals, the Zurich Barracudas, in the semifinals. The Challengers will look to boost their confidence with a strong performance against the Bern Cardinals. Games begin at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Bern Allmend.
A Derby Win for the Challengers, finally
In their second night game in two days against the Zurich Barracudas Academy, the Challengers retained the upper hand this time. After an early 11-2 lead, they struggled but eventually celebrated a 12-10 victory.
Tuesday’s night game didn’t quite match the quality of the game the night before. But at least, after an initially one-sided game, it was exciting again. The Challengers were determined to respond to the narrow loss from Monday night and were in excellent form from the start. Aided by two errors from the Barracudas defense, the Challengers hammered ten runs in the second inning on seven hits and three walks. Kazuki Sato’s RBI single, Pete Nelson’s base-clearing double and Ilai Blickenstorfer’s two-run single provided the comforting lead. After the first storm had passed over the Academy, the home team also clocked in. With four runs in the bottom half of the second inning and two runs in the fourth, making the score 8-11, they came within striking distance again. While the Challengers offense failed to capitalize on opportunities to increase their lead, the defense was virtually flawless, with pitchers Florin Kämpfer, Shaen Bernhardt, and closer Ilai Blickenstorfer giving up only four hits and recording twelve strikeouts, ultimately securing the win.
Bastian Kämpfer shone with three hits, including two doubles, Jordi Bucher delivered three hits, Ilai Blickenstorfer had two hits and two RBI, Pete Nelson collected three RBI and Mike Siemers added two RBI. Bernhardt took the win with 2.2 innings pitched, in which he gave up just one hit, two runs and three walks with two strikeouts, while Blickenstorfer, in his last game of the season before his exchange semester in the USA, put an exclamation mark behind the derby with three strikeouts in a row and his first save of the season.
Dramatic NLB Game
The small local derby between the Zurich Barracudas Academy and the Zurich Challengers’ second team brought the spectators an exciting baseball night and a dramatic ending. The Barracudas took their first, but decisive, lead in the final inning and celebrated a 4-3 walk-off win.
Monday evenings aren’t the kind of evenings one associates with baseball in Zurich. However, today an unscheduled, small city derby took place at the Heerenschürli ballpark. After the Hünenberg Unicorns withdrew, the Challengers inherited their spot in the intermediate round – and had to make up their games accordingly. The Challengers were able to count on reinforcements from the Unicorns for this mission. Ari Lonstein deserves special mention. The American pitcher delivered a strong performance. He gave up just three hits and collected fourteen strikeouts, but still ended up as the loser. This was partly due to the Challengers offense only managing five hits and three runs against Barracudas pitchers Xavier Scheffler and Naël Frey, but also due to the Challengers defense making mistakes in game-deciding situations, which the Barracudas were able to exploit with utmost coolness.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, the visitors opened the door again by allowing two runs, an RBI single by Nils Brüderli and a wild pitch, to bring their opponents back into the game, making it 3-2. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Challengers had the opportunity to end the game with a double play. But the throw to first base was way too high – and the game continued. Shortly after, Nils Brüderli sent the ball to right field, initially tying the score at 3-3 and then, because the throw to home plate was again too high, Seiya Eigenheer crossed the home plate for a much celebrated 4-3 walk-off win by the home team.
Thus, Lonstein’s good pitching performance, Bastian Kämpfer’s first run in the third inning, and Pete Nelson’s 2-run single in the fifth inning were worthless. The two teams will meet again tomorrow, Tuesday, at 6:30 p.m. at the Heerenschürli.
A lot of Baseball to start the month of August
August begins with a full program of baseball action at Schwamendingen’s Heerenschürli. The NLA-Team will play its final doubleheader of the season on Saturday, August 2nd. The Challengers will host the reigning champions Therwil Flyers. With the newly introduced intermediate round this season, only the top two teams in the standings advance directly to the playoff final. It’s already clear that this will be Zurich’s last game of the 2025 season. Games begin at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Thanks to the withdrawal of the Hünenberg Unicorns, the NLB-Team has subsequently slipped into the intermediate round. After two narrow victories against the Lausanne Indians last Saturday, the Challengers will play two night games against the Zurich Barracudas Academy before the start of the playoffs. The two-game series will take place on Monday, August 4, and Tuesday, August 5, at the Heerenschürli ballpark. Both games start at 6:30 p.m. each.
Two unexpected Wins for NLB-Team
It was a turbulent week for the NLB-Team. On Wednesday, the Challengers learned that, due to the Hünenberg Unicorns’ withdrawal, they would inherit their spot in the intermediate round and thus also in the NLB playoffs. However, on Saturday they immediately had to take over the Unicorns’ slot on the field against the Lausanne Indians as well. And ultimately they won both games by one run.
Assembling a team on such short notice, especially during the summer holidays, would have been virtually impossible. But the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation approved the midweek transfer of three Unicorns players to the Challengers, enabling the games against the Lausanne Indians to take place. The first game of the day featured a pitcher’s duel between Maxime Flayol for the Indians and Ari Lonstein, the Unicorn, who was essentially a guest pitcher for the Challengers. Flayol delivered a strong performance for Lausanne, giving up only five hits and two runs, one earned, with one walk and six strikeouts. However, this wasn’t enough for the victory. Lonstein even topped this performance. He allowed just three hits and one run in seven innings, with four walks and thirteen strikeouts. On offense, Fabrizio Bucher organized the Challengers’ two runs with a single in the first inning and an RBI groundout in the third, while the defense was able to stave off the tie in the top of the seventh inning thanks to an out against the Indians’ batter-runner, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.
The second game was not only a battle between the Indians and the Challengers, but also a battle against the elements. The game had to be called off early in the fifth inning due to heavy rain. And the Challengers once again had the better ending. In the previous inning, Kazuki Sato scored the decisive run on a wild pitch, making the score 7-6. The Zurich team was previously down 2-5, but the Challengers turned the game around with an RBI groundout by Sato in the second inning and runs by Unicorns catcher Marvin Müller, Mike Siemers, and Noam Blickenstorfer in the third.
By advancing to the intermediate round, the Challengers will now play two night games against the Zurich Barracudas Academy at their home ballpark, Heerenschürli, on Monday and Tuesday, August 4 and 5.
NLB-Team inherits playoff spot
The NLB-Team narrowly missed reaching the intermediate round and thus the playoffs. However, the Challengers can still compete for the NLB crown. The Zurich team inherits the Hünenberg Unicorns’ spot in the intermediate round, who definitively withdrew their team from the championship after two forfeit losses last weekend. The Unicorns club management has taken tough internal disciplinary action and accepts the consequences of an early end to the season due to a lack of remaining players. The Technical Commission of the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation has now decided that the Challengers, as the fifth-place team, will be allowed to move up.
For the Challengers, this means they must, or rather, will be allowed to, play against the Lausanne Indians tomorrow, Saturday, in Hünenberg. At the beginning of August, there will be two night games against the Zurich Barracudas Academy, followed by a playoff duel with either the Wil Pirates or the Zurich Barracudas’ second team.
NLB-Team saves a Win
The Challengers and the Zurich Barracudas Academy faced off on Sunday in a decisive doubleheader for fourth place in the standings. After a blowout in Game 1, which the Barracudas won early 22-2, the Challengers rallied to win 12-11 with seven runs in the sixth inning in Game 2.
The Challengers’ opening game was not going well at all. They lacked many of the things they had done so well in recent games. In particular, the pitchers had immense trouble finding the strike zone, so the 18 walks issued largely explain the final score of 2-22. Jasper Freigang and Patrick Zöllig each had two hits for the Challengers.
Game 2 also looked like a loss for the Challengers for a long time. The Academy was already leading 11-5 in the sixth inning before the home team pulled off a miracle. With four hits, two walks with the bases loaded, and aggressive baserunning, the Challengers turned the game around and took a 12-11 lead. The Barracudas had one more inning to tie the game, but pitcher Jack Siemers threw two strikeouts before catcher Fabrizio Bucher caught stealing the opposing baserunner, ending the game.
With this last-minute win, the Challengers temporarily moved into the fourth place and overtook the Lausanne Indians, who lost both games against the Zurich Lions. However, the Lausanne team will face the last placed Therwil Flyers in a week and have a chance to knock the Challengers out of the top four.