The fourth Zurich softball derby was won by the Zurich Barracudas again. In cold, wet conditions they celebrated a comfortable 9-1 victory against the Challengers, thus winning their fourth derby within a month.
The Challengers’ performance matched the mediocre scenery. They were not as secure on defense as their opponents, they made too many mistakes in base running and were largely unlucky on offense. In any case the overall package was not enough to have a chance against the young and agile Barracudas team. After the first inning the home team was already behind 1-5. In the end they lost 1-9. A double from Lara Müller and a nice hit from Anouchka Michel were the rare highlights from the Challengers’ point of view. While the first two games against the Barracudas were close, they suffered clear losses in the last two games. Sunday offers the opportunity to regain some self-confidence with a better performance. The Challengers will then face the Luzern Eagles in Reussbühl. They had won against them twice in the first gameday in Zurich.

The Challengers can only partially keep up with the young Zurich Barracudas team. After a four-run rally by the Challengers the first game ends with a 10-12 loss. Game 2 was a one-sided affair for the Barracudas.
After the derby defeat in the first game against the Barracudas almost ten days ago the Challengers had to reduce their error rate if they wanted to have a chance of winning. The start of the game was not good, but thanks to a 3-run double from Alexia Zingg the C’s quickly came back to 4-5. The Barracudas were able to add some more runs, but the Challengers tied the game at 8-8 in the fourth and fifth innings. But in the bottom half of the fifth inning, they allowed the home team four runs with no fewer than three errors. Isabelle Tan brought her team within striking distance again in the sixth inning with a 2-run home run to make it 10-12, but the last five batters were all out and the game was lost which resulted in a loss.
Isabelle Tan and Alexia Zingg each recorded two hits and three RBI, Simone Zuschnitten had two hits with two RBI and Carmen Lutz-Demetz and Leandra Simitovic also delivered two hits each.
The guests were out of steam for Game 2. They fell behind 0-5 early on and the Barracudas sealed the deal with no fewer than eleven runs in the third inning. In the end the Challengers lost 3-16. Tuesday evening is their last chance to win a derby in the preliminary round. They will host the Barracudas at 7 p.m. on the Klopstockwiese.

After winning nine in a row the softball team lost 9-11 to the Zurich Barracudas on Thursday evening at the Klopstockwiese and had to give up the top spot in the standings to the reigning champions Wittenbach Panthers.
The action went back and forth. The game was characterized by spectacular plays, but also numerous errors, which caused a lot of traffic on the bases. The home team got off to a better start. After two innings the Challengers were ahead 5-2. Solana Lutz immediately reduced the lead to 4-5 with a 2-run single, but the Challengers were able to save the lead with a rundown and a rare double play on first and third base. In the fourth inning however, the Challengers took a timeout. With three errors, among other things, they didn’t make it too difficult for the Barracudas. The guests mercilessly exploited the errors to make it 8-5. But the Challengers fought their way back. Molly Mullens and Anna Zgraggen with an RBI single initially reduced the score to 7-8, before Alexia Zingg made it 8-8 with an RBI in the fifth. The game was tied to start the sixth inning. With doubles from Mariah Jameyson and Nadine Kronenberg as well as a sac bunt from Jody Fischer and an RBI groundout from Ines Dübendorfer the Barracudas took the lead again by three runs. The home team tried everything again, but could not manage more than the 9-11 by Anouk Lkharrazi, which sealed the first Challengers defeat after nine wins in a row.
Anna Zgraggen and Molly Mullens each scored two hits, Alexia Zingg recorded two RBI and Isabelle Tan scored two runs for the Challengers.

A real tough test awaits the Softball-Team on Thursday night with the first Zurich derby of the season. The Challengers, who are currently riding a nine game winning streak, will host the Zurich Barracudas at 7 p.m. on the Klopstockwiese. In the last ten years the advantage has been with 27-15 victories on the part of the Barracudas, although the last playoff semi-final duels were narrowly in favor of the Challengers.

The softball players had a tough time against the Sissach Frogs, but narrowly defeated the Baselbieters twice. This means that the Challengers kept their winning streak alive.
Four weeks ago the Challengers celebrated two easy wins in Sissach. The Baselbieters have since strengthened their team with the addition of 22-year-old American Madison Johnson. She gave her team a lot of stability in defense and proved to be tough to crack in the second game as pitcher. But the home team had a hard time in the first game as well. In the third inning the Challengers took an 8-6 lead and managed to win early with four runs in the fifth inning to make it 14-7 thanks to the mercy rule. Isabelle Tan had two hits and three RBI, Carmen Lutz-Demetz scored two doubles, Leandra Simitovic and birthday girl Molly Mullens each scored two hits, while Tamara Ammeter and Amanda Marxer each contributed two RBI to the win. Ammeter gave up two runs, one hit and three walks in four innings with four strikeouts for the win.
Game two developed into a duel between the two defenses. The Challengers managed the maximum of five runs allowed by rule in the first inning, but then failed to score another run in six innings against Johnson. Carmen Lutz-Demetz and Lara Müller managed two doubles against the American, but ultimately the C’s had just four hits and struck out ten times. The fact that the Challengers still came away as winners was due to their excellent defense. The Frogs shortened the score to 4-5 in the third inning, but the Challengers defense around pitcher Leandra Simitovic prevented them from equalizing several times at the last minute. In the fifth inning, Simitovic and Isabelle Tan put Johnson out at home plate, in the sixth inning Lutz-Demetz and Simona Cellar erased a lead-off triple by Ramona Thommen with a spectacular double play and in the seventh inning center fielder Tamara Ammeter finished the game with a beautiful catch in right center with the tying run on second base, preserving the Challengers’ nine-game unbeaten streak. Leandra Simitovic was credited with the win by allowing just two runs, five hits and three walks in six innings, with three strikeouts.