Challengers Veteran’s Game

Thanks to the early end of the season due to the European Baseball Championship, which will take place at the end of September, the traditional Challengers Veterans’ Game took place earlier than ever before. The beautiful weather, contrary to the forecast, contributed to the fact that around 40 former, current, and future greats ultimately battled for hits, runs and outs. Among others, Thomas Blank, Armin Blickenstorfer, Harry Bregy, Nick Lehmann, Chris Palatinus, Benny Räber, Manuel Schretzmann, Willy Schaub, Tobias Siegrist, and Pieter Zandt demonstrated that they haven’t forgotten their baseball skills.
Honorary President Marianne Blickenstorfer flew in especially from South Africa, Nick Siemers interrupted his stay in the USA for the traditional event, and Gary Kochlefl, the 1998 Swiss Champion, and Peter Rothenhäusler, the 1986 Swiss Champion, were among the spectators. Veteran’s Game also means that the father gets a hit aagainst his son, who retaliates with a pickoff, the batting order consists of 13 players, and then there’s lively discussion including beer and sausages. Once again the Veteran’s Game was a complete success.

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Juveniles reach the Championship Game

The home team qualified for the chmapionship game of the U12-Juveniles final four tournament at the Klopstockwiese in Zurich-Enge. The Challengers beat the Geneva Dragons 6-2 in the first semifinal. However, the Therwil Flyers proved too strong in the final.
The finals day began well for the Challengers. Although the visitors from Geneva took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the home team immediately responded with three runs to make it 3-2. And because the defense, led by strong pitcher Roy Gonzalez, didn’t allow any more runs and the Challengers regularly added runs on offense, the Zurich team ultimately secured a comfortable 6-2 victory. In the second semifinal, the Therwil Flyers defeated the Lucerne Eagles in an extremely close game with a 2-1 walk-off victory.
The finals thus pitted the Therwil Flyers against the Zurich Challengers – once again in a final in Swiss baseball. However, this soon proved to be a one-sided affair. In the first inning, the Challengers made a fatal error in the outfield, giving the Baselbieters a 2-0 lead. The Challengers failed to respond. The offense remained largely harmless, all the close plays were going to the Flyers, who steadily extended their lead to 7-0. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the Challengers finally got on the scoreboard. Then the Flyers went on to blast off, scoring seven more runs with numerous impressive extra-base hits. The Challengers showed some courage in the final inning, scoring two more runs to make it 3-14. The championship title, however, logically went to Therwil. The Geneva Dragons took the bronze medal with a 5-4 victory over the Eagles.
U12 Final-Four Schedule, Sunday, August 31., Klopstockwiese, Zurich-Enge:
Semi-Final no. 1: Geneva Dragons vs. Zürich Challengers 2-6
Semi-Final no. 2: Luzern Eagles vs. Therwil Flyers 1-2
Game for third place: Geneva Dragons vs. Luzern Eagles 5-4
Final: Therwil Flyers vs. Zürich Challengers 14-3

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Juveniles Final-Four on Sunday in Zurich

The final-four tournament for the U12 Juveniles will take place on Sunday at the Klopstockwiese in Zurich-Enge. The four best teams from the preliminary round will compete. These are the Therwil Flyers and the Geneva Dragons from the Western group, while the Lucerne Eagles and the Zurich Challengers prevailed in the Eastern group.
In the semifinals at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., the top two teams from each group will face the runner-up from the other group. The losers of the semifinals will play for the bronze medal at 2:00 p.m., and the winners will compete for the U12 Swiss championship at 4:00 p.m.
U12 Final-Four Schedule, Sunday, August 31., Klopstockwiese, Zurich-Enge:
10 a.m., Semi-Final no. 1: Geneva Dragons vs. Zürich Challengers
12 p.m., Semi-Final no. 2: Luzern Eagles vs. Therwil Flyers
2 p.m., Game for third place
4 p.m., Final

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NLB-Team eliminated

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

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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)

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Crazy softball doubleheader

55 hits, 44 walks, 22 errors, 84 runs, seven lead changes, one walk-off win, and ultimately a win each for the Bern Cardinals and the Zurich Challengers. This softball doubleheader at the end of the preliminary round had it all. The Challengers will face their local rivals and reigning champions, the Zurich Barracudas, in the playoff semifinals – once more.
On the final day of the preliminary round of the Swiss Softball Championship the Zurich Barracudas and the Wittenbach Panthers were still fighting for first place and thus home-field advantage for a potential final series. The duel between the Challengers and the Cardinals, however, lacked the edge. For the home team the season was already over, while the Challengers were already safely in third place and thus in the playoff semifinals. But the encounter quickly developed into one of the wilder ones. Both teams appeared anything but confident in their actions, but they knew how to respond to setbacks time and again. The Challengers surrendered the lead no fewer than three times in Game 1. Most recently in the seventh inning, when they couldn’t finish a 17-13 lead, and the Cardinals were rewarded for their fighting spirit with a 18-17 walk-off win.
Anouchka Michel went 3-for-3 with two doubles, one RBI, and three runs. Isabelle Tan and Simone Zurschmitten each collected three RBI and Carmen Lutz-Demetz recorded two hits and two runs for the Challengers.
In the second game the Challengers seemed to take control. They quickly pulled ahead 12-1. But the script for this game, too, didn’t call for a straightforward storyline, but rather a lot of twists and turns. After four innings the Cardinals suddenly led 15-12. But the Challengers found their way back on track. With four runs in the fifth and nine runs in the sixth inning, they turned things around again and, after a total of five hours and 35 minutes of softball, finally secured their 28-21 victory.
Carmen Lutz-Demetz raised her batting average to exactly .500 with four hits, also driving in four RBI and scoring three runs. Simona Cellar went 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, four runs scored, and two RBI. Isabelle Tan had three extra-base hits, three RBI, and four runs. Marianne Aellen also had three hits with two RBI and four runs scored, while Molly Mullens added four RBI for the visitors.
The European Cup tournaments in softball follow at the end of August and the European Championships will take place in Prague from September 7th to 13th, which is why the playoffs won’t start until September 20th. From Zurich’s perspective, it’s the Challengers vs. Barracudas derby.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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