The Swiss Baseball and Softball Club ZURICH CHALLENGERS announced its coaching staff for their teams a few days ago. Kurt Kovac, who won the Swiss Championship with the team in 2002, takes over as head coach of the Baseball team.
He succeeds Andy Fleischacker, who signed with the German club SOLINGEN ALLIGATORS at the end of last December. Kovac will be assisted by Johnny Mueller, Ray Berard, James Sanders and Chris Merlini. Armin Blickenstorfer, an eleven-year Baseball team veteran, is the new head coach for the Softball team of the CHALLENGERS. He follows Willy Schaub. Bryan Shemley and Tom Kimball will be responsible for the Cadets team.
The Baseball team of ZURICH missed the playoffs with a 9-11 record during the regular season and weren’t in the top four in the final standings of the Swiss Championship for the first time since 1996. The Softball squad lost in the semi-finals against the 2008 Swiss champion THERWIL FLYERS.