Softball-Team opened spring season

The Softball-Team played two friendly games on Sunday, March 25 at Rümlang. The Challengers faced the Zurich Barracudas and the Wil Devils. Andrea Wirth opened her outdoor season in style, going 3-for-3, while Taylor Mc Cants and Simona Cellar added two hits apiece and Sandrine Montandon had a single in her first game since June 2010, as the C’s posted a 11-2 win over the Barracudas.
Andrea Wirth and Simona Cellar had two hits apiece in Game 2, as the C’s lost 5-10 against the Devils. Rookies Ellen Johnson, Anouk Lkharrazi, Izumi Nitta and Meret Roth played their first games for the Challengers.

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Challengers rocken das Hallenstadion

Die Challengers tauschten für einmal Bat und Ball mit Stock und Puck. Am Sonntag, 26. Februar trafen sich der HC Wülflingen, der FC Fällanden und die Challengers zu einem Eishockey-Turnier im Hallenstadion, der grössten Mehrzweckhalle der Schweiz. Wo am Vorabend noch Ari Sulander und Co. Servette mit 3-0 nach Hause schickten, stürmten die Baseballer übers Eis. Und die Challengers wussten auch abseits von Pitcher’s Mound und Bases zu überzeugen. Gabe Staub und Yanik Probst kombinierten sich durch die gegnerischen Reihen wie weiland Michel Susi Zeiter und Claudio Mitch Micheli, die Burgers machten Hansi und Lolo Schmid vergessen, Alex Gordon und Thomas Blank zelebrierten die Kunst des öffnenden Passes, Präsident Hendrix Kämpfer gab im Infight an der Bande keinen Zentimeter Eis preis und Micha the wall Seger im Challengers Tor brachte die gegnerischen Stürmer reihenweise zur Verzweiflung.
Für das Highlight des Tages sorgte Tobi Siegrist, der in der Schlussminute einen Konter mit einem Hocheckschuss aus dem Handgelenk im Stile Wladimir Krutovs abschloss. Habitués sahen sich an frühere Zeiten in der alten Halle erinnert. Die Matchuhr aber war der Zeit bereits voraus, leuchtete doch die Affiche des kommenden Playoff Viertelfinals zwischen dem ZSC und dem HC Davos auf. Ob der ZSC bereit für den Showdown ist, wird sich weisen. Die Challengers zumindest sind bereit für das Derby gegen den Stadtrivalen Barracudas am 17. März – on ice.

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Challengers T-Ball

Grössere Kartenansicht
Der Challengers Baseball & Softball Club erweitert sein Angebot und bietet neu auch T-Ball an. T-Ball wurde in den 50-er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts als Einstiegssportart zu Baseball und Softball für 4- bis 8-jährige Kinder erfunden. Beim T-Ball lernen die Kinder spielerisch die ersten baseballerischen und softballerischen Fertigkeiten.
Das T-Ball-Training für die U8 T-Baller der Zürich Challengers findet jeden DONNERSTAG von 18.30-20.00 Uhr in der Turnhalle Aubrücke an der Luegislandstr. 173 in Zürich-Schwamendingen statt (Bus 63 & 94 bis Aubrücke).
Zurich Challengers T-Ball: Donnerstags 18.30 – 20.00 Uhr Turnhalle Aubrücke Luegislandstr. 173 8051 Zürich-Schwamendingen Bus 63 & 94 bis Aubrücke
Coaching: Adrian Kämpfer

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Challengers prepare 2012 season

The baseball and the softball teams will resume practice with two to three weekly workouts at the Rämibüel gym close to the Zurich University. The softball team starts first with full squad workouts beginning on Monday, January 9, while the baseball teams will hold the first full squad workout on Tuesday, January 10. The first workout for pitchers and catchers is slated for Wednesday, January 11. Both teams plan to have their start of the exhibition season at the end of March.

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C’s retired Chris Palatinus’ no. 42

 
Chris Palatinus became the sixth Challenger to have his number retired, as he was honored at the 2011 General Assembly at the restaurant Linde Oberstrass in Zurich.
New Challengers president and former teammate Adrian Kämpfer made a speech in honor of Palatinus, who was presented an illustration from a 1928 ballgame between the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators with Palatinus replacing Babe Ruth on the picture.
Palatinus concluded his 17-year career with a .316 batting average, 443 hits, 35 homeruns, 349 RBI’s and 404 runs scored as a batter and a 6.11 ERA with 9 wins, 2 saves and 115 strikeouts in 191.1 innings on the pitcher’s mound.
He set a club record for walks with 241 and is second on the all-time list for runs scored, RBI’s and hits only topped by Thomas Landis.
The 2011 Challengers MVP award winner finished his playing career in style, as he belted a homer in his second to last at bat in his farewell game against the Luzern Eagles. He also added an RBI-single in his 1402nd and last at-bat.
Palatinus won five Swiss championship titles with the Challengers in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004 and two Swiss Cup trophies in 2004 and 2007.
In 2004 he won the double as the Challengers’ playing coach. He was not only the C’s head coach for several years, he was also in the driver’s seat for the Swiss National Team for a couple of years.
Palatinus is also known for his off-the-field merits, as he was a member of the board of the Challengers for more than 10 years, head of the National League commission for the Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation and founding member of the International Spring Tournament at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich, which took place for the 14th time in 2011.
As a professional web designer he is also responsible for several websites across the Swiss baseball and softball community including the homepage of the Challengers. Over the last couple of years Palatinus also developed EasyScore, a software application to score games and to compute box scores, game logs and game and season statistics.
Palatinus’ number 42 joins the retired numbers of Marianne Blickenstorfer (no. 1), Dany Spiegelberg (no. 8), Thomas Landis (no. 34), Werner Zingg (no. 41) and Enrico Zingg (no. 44).

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