The 2024 season for the Challengers junior’s organization begins in Rümlang. Both the U12 Juveniles and the U15 Cadets will play against the Rümlang Kobras on Opening Day.
The U12 games will take place on Saturday, April 13th in Rümlang Rümelbach. The games start at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. At the same time on Sunday, April 14th, the U15 Cadets will meet the Kobras. For the Cadets, this is a revival of the final series of the last two years.
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Juniors to open season in Rümlang
Preparation Gamedays
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation has further refined the concept launched last year for the youngest age group of the U12 Juveniles with championship games and specially organized Preparation Gamedays for the new season.
In the Swiss Championship, which determines the best club team of the season, and the Little League, which determines the Swiss representation at the Little League tournament in Kutno, Poland in July, the focus is on competition. At the Preparation Gamedays the focus is on the individual development of the children and their preparation for the following games in their age groups. In contrast to the championship games, no license is required for these open game days for all interested children. While the club teams compete against each other in the championship, on the Preparation Gamedays will be played in mixed teams. The coach pitch tournaments are played with simple rules, while the live pitch tournaments have rules that are closer to championships and Little League tournaments.
The first Preparation Gamedays took place this weekend in the best possible conditions. The youngest Challengers players were in action at the live pitch tournament in Hünenberg on Saturday and at the coach pitch tournament in Rümlang on Sunday. Next Saturday the first championship games of the 2024 season will take place in Rümlang.
Opening Day on April 12 to 14
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation has published the schedules for the 2024 season. The season starts on Friday night, April 12th with the first Zurich derby of the season. From now on the game schedules for all the leagues are available on the Baseball and Softball Manager website.
The most important changes concern the withdrawal of the Bern Cardinals from the Baseball NLA, so that the NLA will consist of just four teams in 2024 with the Zurich Barracudas, Therwil Flyers, Wil Pirates and the Challengers. The NLB will now consist of three groups, with the Challengers facing the second team of the Barracudas, the Hünenberg Unicorns and the Luzern Eagles. After a break of several years the Swiss Cup is experiencing a revival. The 2024 edition of the Swiss Cup will be special. First a preliminary round will be played in four groups of four teams, each with one NLA and three NLB teams, while the knockout phase will start from the quarter-finals with the games between the respective group winners and one of the group runners-up. Semi-finals and finals will take place on the 7th/8th of September at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
The NLA team is the first team in the Challengers organization to start the new season with two night games at the Heerenschürli ballpark on April 12th and 13th against the Zurich Barracudas. On Saturday, April 13, there will be a reprise of last year’s softball final between the Challengers and the Wittenbach Panthers at the Klopstockwiese. On Sunday, April 14, the NLB team opens the 2024 season with a doubleheader against the Zurich Barracudas.
Cadets finish in 3rd place in Rümlang
The traditional indoor tournament of the Rümlang Kobras took place in Rümlang on Saturday. The Challengers took part with their U12 Juveniles and U15 Cadets. This resulted in a fifth and a third place.
With the tournament in Rümlang, the indoor season for the juniors continued after the sports holidays. For the many new players in the U12 Juveniles team, the tournament was a fine opportunity to gain experience and play some games. The young team reached fifth place out of six participants. The next opportunity to continue learning will be next Saturday at the 16th indoor tournament in Therwil.
The U15 Cadets, who were in the final at their home tournament five weeks ago, missed out on a place in the final this time due to a 0-2 defeat in the semi-final against the hosts Rümlang Kobras. The Challengers were able to take revenge for the final defeat suffered in the home tournament in the game for third place against the Therwil Flyers. The team from Geneva won the tournament, despite a loss against the Challengers in the preliminary round.
Mindy Siemers new Challengers President
The 44th ordinary General Assembly of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich took place on Sunday at Baseball in the City in Dübendorf. Mindy Siemers was elected as the new Challengers President to follow Serge Kuenzler, who resigned from his position after eight years at the club’s helm.
Serge Kuenzler was able to look back on a very successful season at his last GA. The NLA-Team won its tenth championship title in the club’s history, the U15 cadets also won the Swiss championship title, while the Softball-Team qualified for the final for the fourth time in a row and, like the baseball team, qualified for the European Cup again. Kuenzler was also pleased that the club is well positioned for the future with its successful junior department. The appointment of Farid Bekkali and Martin Strzodka as new coaches for the NLB-Team is particularly positive for the further development of the young talent. In addition to the sporting area, there was also positive news to report from the finance department. The annual accounts closed with a small profit.
The President of the Swiss Baseball & Softball Federation, Dagmar Voith, who came especially because of Serge Kuenzler’s resignation, addressed a few words of thanks to the resigning President. The board is undergoing some changes for the coming season. While Mindy Siemers, Carlos Nepomuceno, Taylor McCants and Nicola Ernst were confirmed as board members for another year, Un-Hie Gonzalez, Isabelle Tan and Stefan Benz were newly elected to the club’s management. Mindy Siemers was elected as the new president. She is the eighth president in the club’s history.
James Sanders (NLA), Taylor McCants (Softball), Joseph Stotz (NLB) and Jasper Freigang (1st League) were honored as MVP’s of their respective teams.
Adrian Kämpfer named Headcoach of the Swiss U18 Nationalteam
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation named Adrian Kämpfer as the new head coach of the Swiss U18 national baseball team. He follows Roger Savoldelli.
Kämpfer was most recently an assistant coach in the U18 national team and previously worked very successfully as a coach and manager for the juniors in the Challengers organization for many years. The next big goal for the U18 national team will be the European Championship qualifier in 2025.
Merry Christmas
A masterful year is behind us. We were rewarded for our efforts and in the end we were able to experience and enjoy the beautiful emotions that the sport offers. But we must not let up. There are major challenges ahead of us. Be it for the league, be it for volunteer-run clubs in general.
The Challengers Baseball and Softball Club Zurich would like to thank all of its members, fans, friends, sponsors, patrons and supporters for their support. Have a relaxing holiday, a happy new year and, above all, a healthy 2024!
International Volunteer Day
Volunteers are the driving force behind Swiss sports – without them nothing works.
They work in the background, do a lot and do it all voluntarily: the volunteers who enliven, support and advance Swiss sport. Across Switzerland the volunteers occupy 96 percent of the approximately 350,000 positions that exist in Swiss sports organizations. If the hours worked had to be paid, costs of around CHF 2 billion would be incurred.
Today is the International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development – as well as the Challengers’ 43rd birthday! It is the ideal opportunity to say thank you to all of our volunteers for your commitment and your passion for the Challengers and their juniors.
Swiss Baseball & Softball Awards Night
The Swiss Baseball & Softball Awards Night took place on Saturday, November 25th at the Crowne Plaza in Zurich. The champion teams of the various leagues were honored. The Challengers received the awards as Swiss champions in the Baseball NLA and the U15 Cadets. The Wittenbach Panthers won in softball, the Zurich Barracudas in the NLB, Wittenbach-Romanshorn in the 1st league and the Geneva Dragons in the U12 Juveniles.
The individual awards were also presented. In the Baseball NLA, Taka Oshima of the Therwil Flyers was named MVP, while Challengers pitcher James Sanders was named Playoff MVP. The MVP award in softball went to Kim Zehnder from the Wittenbach Panthers, MVP in the NLB went to Devin Flühmann from the Therwil Flyers, the award in the first league went to Marvin Müller from the Hünenberg Unicorns.
Newly inducted into the Hall of Fame was Challengers legend Peter Rothenhäusler. He played a leading role in the implementation of scoring in the early 1980s, was involved in the first Swiss version of the regulations and was active as a coach for the juniors and in softball as well as on the Challengers club board.
The Swiss national baseball team was also honored, as they unexpectedly finished in 12th place in their first ever participation in the European Championship and thus qualified for the 2025 European Championship. National coach Chris Byrnes was named “Coach of the Year”, while social media specialist Marc Fussenegger was named “Official of the Year”. The proceeds from the Awards Night will benefit the Swiss national teams.
Challengers GA on January 14th
The ordinary general assembly of the Challengers Baseball & Softball Club Zurich will take place on Sunday, January 14th at Baseball in the City in Dübendorf. The meeting begins at 3 p.m. and is mandatory for active members. The best players from each team will also be honored at the GA.
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