The Supercup is a different story. In 2018, the Swiss Toros became the first European team to win the title undefeated. In 2019, the title went to Canada with the win by Recrupharm from Quebec , Canada.

In 2020, unfortunately, there was no season.

Link: » all champions, tournament winners and hitting/pitching awards

(Q) Why did you choose Swiss Toros as a team name? 
(A) The Swiss Toros were founded in 2014 by Xabi Hernandez. From the beginning on the Swiss Toros were a multicultural team including Swiss players and “homesick softballers” from the Caribbean states of Cuba, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. The name “Toros”, or “Bulls” in English, was chosen because it represents the “crazy wildness” and the determination that we leave on the field every time we play. It’s also a very well-known Spanish word since it is related with the “Corrida de Toros” (bullfight).

(Q) Why did you join the ESSL?
(A) Since 2015, we played in the Swiss League and in the ESSL with results that gave us a lot to improve. Starting in 2017, I joined as a coach and thanks to the hard work of all the team members, we started to see our great future ahead. We became a team with synergy, saw our potential and exploited it to be the competitive team we knew we could be. This led to us to win the Swiss championships and to achieve international success. In 2017 we won the Freising’s Buttermaker Tournament and reached third place at Almere’s Windmill Classic in the same year. We wanted to go further. Therfore, we decided to test our level in the most important slowpitch league in Europe and decided to participate again in the ESSL 2018 (after a one year break). We finished the ESSL League as the 4th best team. But the icing on the cake was definitely to be the first non-US team to win the Supercup title and became “The ESSL Supercup Champion 2018”.

(Q) What do you expect from this season?
(A) This season is really important for us. We want to expand our horizons and to establish ourselves as one of the most important teams in Europe. Beside that, and as usual, we want to keep bringing joy to all our fans on the field with our skills, determination, passion for the game, and our “party mood dancing”. We also want to make new friends and support the expansion of the ESSL in the upcoming years. The ESSL is a large community and we are happy to be part of it. We always enjoy super competitive and intense rivalries with all the amazing teams participating.

(Q) How would you describe your team’s playing philosophy?
(A) We are not just team mates, we are a family. We love playing together and enjoy it in/out the softball field. We are always spreading joy and laughs everywhere we go. Our team philosophy can be described with the Spanish baseball term “Pelota Caribe”. That’s a generic name to define the characteristic style of playing baseball in the Caribbean. It is a very aggressive and rascally way of playing that includes lots of running, stealing, hit and runs, etc. Basically playing smart and going for every chance we have to take advantage of a play, and make more runs. No doubt you have seen Rafael Ferrer and Jose Posada for example, hitting an inside-the-park home run with a swing where a regular player would barely get a double. Simply amazing.

(Q) How do you see the future for slowpitch in Europe and for the ESSL?
(A) ESSL will always have an important role in the development of Slowpitch Softball in Europe. The teams are getting increasingly competitive, setting the bar higher every year. We are happy to be part of this family, and we look forward to support its development in the upcoming years with our participation.

(Q) Anything else you want to say?
(A) We are looking forward to heat the field in this 2019 season. We always bring fun, joy, and laughs to all our fans. We want to be the most exciting team to be seen in the ESSL this year.

After winnig all their games in the round robin and double elmination the Swiss Toros beat Uprising in the championship game 18 – 3. However, in the semi-final game both teams already played against each other. The Toros managed to leave the stadium as a winner with a score of 9 – 8 and this opened their way to win their first ESSL title.

Link: Games & scores of the Supercup

ESSL Supercup Ranking 2018
Regensburg, Germany

1.  Swiss Toros
2.  Uprising
3. Hohenfels Stars
4. Eagles
5. Guzzles
6. Los Coyotes
7. DNT
8. Grizzlies
9. Dream Team
10. Legal Aliens
11. BeBe’s Kidz
12. PGS

Why did the team choose the name Toros?
A: Toros means Bulls. In Latin America a bull is a symbol of energy and perseverance. We decided to use this name as a symbol of “fighting” on the field until the last out.

What do you expect from this season in the ESSL? Do you have any additional players?
A: We expect that the ESSL will set another step towards a well-organized league and we expect a higher level of game. We added some new players to our roster from other ESSL teams, hoping that their experience will be helpful to increase our level of play.

How would you describe your team & playing philosophy?
A: We don’t have any particularly philosophy of playing. We go to the field and do our best, battling it out until the end of the game. We respect our opponents and take every game serious. We play with the same passion every inning.

Which team/s do you expect as the favorite/s for the 2016 season?
A: I see three clear favorites this season: Wiesbaden Eagles, Guzzlers Europe and Los Coyotes.

Predict the final rankings for the 2016 season:
1. Wiesbaden Eagles
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Los Coyotes
4. Guzzlers Black
5. Grizzlies
6. Toros
7. Dream Team
8. Bulldogs

Anything else you want to say?
We expect that the league will take the next step to be more professional expecially with the uniforms.

Championship Game ESSL Switzerland
Game 1: Guzzlers Europe vs. Bad News Bombers 24:14 (box score)
Game 2: Bad News Bombers vs. Guzzlers Europe 10:7 (box score)

SOME FIGURES
1 field
8 teams
28 games
1443 plate appearances
524 runs
542 hits
35 homeruns
195 base on balls
39 strike outs

Final Rankings ESSL Switerzland
1. Bad News Bombers
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Toros Softball
4. Dream Team
5. Bulldogs
6. Los Coyotes
7. PGS
8. Los Titanes

PLAYER AWARDS
Best Hitter: James Hooser, PGS, AVG 1.000
Best Pitcher: Richard Vieira, Toros, OBA .364

BEST HITTER OF EACH TEAM
Bad News Bombers: Andrew Berroth (3.), Bombers, AVG .750
Bulldogs: Jurica Glavina (19.), AVG .571
Dream Team: Matic Jerman (25.) & Ziga Oracem, AVG .533
Guzzlers: Preston Griffin (5.), AVG .667
Los Coyotes: Elias Inoa-Gil, Orlando Reyes and Juan Sosa (15.), AVG .583
Los Titanes: Jose Martinez (2.), AVG .875
PGS: James Hooser (1.), AVG 1.000
Toros: Pedro Diaz (5.), AVG .667

Links:

• Game results
• ESSL stats

The tournament also offered great games between the two US teams. Guzzlers challenged the Bombers in the finals and forced them to an additional championship game by winning the first game 24:14. In the second game the Bombers managed to take the lead but the Guzzlers came closer every inning. With runners on first and second and a previous inside-the-park homerun by Todd Gonsalves the Guzzlers were close to tie the game. But with a double play (5-4-3) the Bombers won the game 10:7 and their third ESSL tournament in a row.

Dream Team reached the fourth place in Switzerland and rewarded themselves with the third position in the ESSL standings with 15 points. Overall the race for the ESSL bronze medal will be very close between Dream Team, Los Coyotes and Bulldogs. However, with the third place in Switzerland the Toros also have a chance to join the race.

The Bulldogs arrived with a very talented team but due to some injuries they were not able to reach their full potential. At the end the gained the 5th place in Switzerland. It’s the same position they currently have in the ESSL standings only 3 points away from the bronze medal.

It seems like the Austrian teams are in a slump at the moment. The Los Coyotes had a strong team but were not able to activate their skills. It looks like the loss against the Guzzlers distracted them from their goal to reach the finals. The second Austrian team, PGS, lost track to be a permanent contendor in the ESSL. Maybe the loss against the Toros in Ljubljana has still its afterereffect. The Los Titanes were able to win against Dream Team (15:11) and had a close game against Bulldogs (5:6) but at the end it was not enough. Finally, the ranked on 8th place.

ESSL Switzerland

ESSL Season Standings

What started as a dream has become reality now. Toros, the team that began its history in the world of softball one year ago, is playing in the best league in Europe, the ESSL. At the beginning, all players of the team thought that the change from baseball to slowpitch softball would be simple. We always thought that slowpitch is more or less a simple version of baseball mainly played by seniors that doesn’t offer a game on a higher level. But this proved to be wrong.

After having played two tournaments (Reutlingen and Ljubljana), we have realized that the goal that we set before the start of the season – to reach the top 4 at the end of the championship – would be more difficult to achieve than expected. The adaptation to the way how the pitcher throws the ball, the strike zone and the proper swing at the time of hitting has become a nightmare in the head of each Toros player – especially after the tournament in Germany where the team was beaten on several occasions by their rivals. Wounded in their pride, the Toros did not give up and thanks to some advices from experienced players from other teams in the league (Coco, Darja, Marc, Toby), the team did some adjustments to earn the 1st victory in a game in the ESSL (15:7 against PGS).

The tournament played in Slovenia left us pleasant surprises: the role of team leader and pitcher Ernesto Pereira, the strong hitting of Jose Posada, Eisbel Rojas and Richard Vieira, and the speed on the bases of Rafael Ferrer. All these inputs plus the addition of other players who will join the roster for the tournament in Bern (Switzerland) will make us dream of reaching the fourth ranking in the next tournament.

Everybody is counting every minute and we are starting the preparations to host the first ESSL tournament in Switzerland on July 11th/12th.

Last year the Guzzlers (USA/GER) won the ESSL league championships followed by the Los Coyotes (DOM/AUT) and Linz Grizzlies (AUT). This year new teams take the stage and old teams improved. For this season it appears as though the cards are being reshuffled.

Read about the first power ranking of the season:

1. Bad News Bombers
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

Coach Drew Chesser formed a team with a lot of new players. Additionally, he strengthened the team with the power of Jason Parker (ESSL hitting champion 2014). We will see if this team really has some bad news for the other teams in the league. But remember last year the Grizzlies already showed that hitting long balls is not always the receipe to win every game.

2. Guzzlers Europe
Last ranking: 1 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

Will the Guzzlers be able to repeat their title? Will they also be able to answer the “bad news” from the other US-team? At the moment this is something that is difficult to answer but we think that the missing of the Rhino (Jason Parker) might have weakened the Guzzlers a little bit. That’s why they are placed as second for the first ranking. But there is a simple way to proof that the crystal ball is wrong by winning the ESSL Germany tournament in Reutlingen.

3. Los Coyotes
Last ranking: 2 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

The Dominican team always looks for challenges when the play the game and they have one goal – to be #1. Their strength is that they grow with the challenge. The stronger the opponent, the more they are concentrated. However, this is also the weak point. Because they need emotions for winning they sometimes struggle when everything is too relaxed.

4. Dream Team
Last ranking: 5 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

It looks like Dream Team learned from last year and added two important players to their roster. One is Tomo Zezlina a great pitcher and a smart hitter. With his experience he can lead the team to a succesfull way up to the top. The second player is an outfielder with power as long as he keeps concentrated – Jerman Matic. After the first tournament we will see if Dream Team lives up the expectations.

5. Bulldogs
Last ranking: 4 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

It seems like the Bulldogs have some changes in front of them. Last year it was a team that were very close to beat the Guzzlers and they already won against the Los Coyotes. This team is very smart and can fight until the end. However, this year there are several new players involved and it’s a big question if the new players wil be able to achieve a breackthrough. Their goal is to be at least the #1 of the Slovenian teams. At the moment it looks like a close race.

6. PGS
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

On the paper it’s a new team but the core players are from the Grizzlies, last year #3 in the ESSL. However, the team has to deal with several injuries and it seems like that their main goal will be the Super Cup in September. Their playing style is hitting line drives and using their speed to create pressure on the bases.

7. Los Titanes
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

It’s another new team that enters the scene. Last 2 years the Titans played in the Austrian league and are well known for their unpredictability. There are games when it seems that they give up the control but suddenly the hit the ball everywhere and score a lot of runs. Their weakness is still their lack of concentration and experience. It’s a pretty young team.

8. Toros
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

Toros are a big unkown team this season. They are rumours that they have the potential to be one of the top four teams but on the other side it’s a question mark if they will be capable to get their strongest players together. For Germany the team will not show the true face because they miss some players with real power. With their full squad we expect a strong defensive team.

RANKING #1

1. Bad News Bombers
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Los Coyotes
4. Dream Team
5. Bulldogs
6. PGS
7. Los Titanes
8. Toros

When was your team founded?
The team was founded in 2014 by Xabi Hernandez

In which city is your team located?
The team is not based in a city. We don’t have a field to play on. So we are participating in the Swiss Slowpitch League playing always as a visitor team. We have an arrangement with the baseball team based in Bern to use their field for trainings. Our players are coming from different parts of Switzerland like Lausanne, Geneva, Zurich and Bern.

Give us a short history of your team
Toros Softball is a mixed team of Venezuelan and Suisse players who love the sport and traveling. The team was founded last year as many people were interested in playing softball whereas having fun and social contacts are the primary goals. We have a mix between former baseball players and people without previous experience.

What do you expect from this season and what are your goals?
We expect a really hard battle to get one of the spots for the A finals in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are really good teams in the competition. Our goal is to be one of the top 4 teams in the league.

What do you think of the ESSL?
I think it is a very well organized league. Everybody is taking care of every detail and trying to improve day by day every aspect to develop the ESSL to the most important league for Slowpitch Softball in Europe. The teams are very competitive as we could see last year in the finals in Linz, Austria. We are really happy to have the opportunity to be part of this project.

How do you see the future of the ESSL?
We see the league expanding in Europe, getting more teams involved from different countries. In the future we would like to see more regional groups, something like confederations with a final championship tournament where all the group champions are participating.

Pictures © Toros Softball