Chichester Falcons have been involved in two indoor tournaments over the last fortnight; hosting one and winning another.

Chichester Indoor Fastpitch Tournament

The second annual Chichester Indoor Fastpitch Tournament was played out with great success at The Westgate Centre in the city, on 19th March.

Players were invited to enrol as individuals, to be rostered into four even teams prior to the tournament. Entries had filled to capacity by tournament day; the mens GB trials in Milton Keynes were held on the same day but as this is a co-ed event, the opportunity arose for female players to join the stampede and compete in the only event of its kind in the UK.

After a short briefing the players became acquainted with their team-mates and were given their team shirts, supplied by the hosts – warm thanks go out to BaseballSoftballUK to help cover the cost of providing those. A warmup and stretch followed before a round robin got under way.

Each team had a pitcher and at least one catcher; Hugh Scorgie took the mound for the yellows, Amy and David Morris for the white team, GBFL stalwart Dan French for the grey team, and GB U13 starlet Megan Rollins threw for the red team.

With a full 60ft diamond, the teams were able to stretch their legs and flex their fielding skills as a fun and intense sequence of games filled the afternoon. The smooth, flat floor meant that ground balls became easier to field so smart hitting and fast running quickly became the order of the day. Batters started on a 1:1 count in 35 minute timed games - this made for fast-paced innings which encouraged baserunners to take chances more often than they normally might while the fielding teams were kept extremely busy. A home run was awarded for either reaching the back wall on the fly, or hitting into the viewing area - this occurred many times throughout the day and cued pandemonium in the dugouts each time!

Once all the teams had played each other once, a series of playoffs and finals capped off a spectacular day. The white team, who had struggled earlier, eventually came out on top in a one-run final to bring things to a close.

Prizes were handed out for all four teams to share (chocolate) and MVP gifts were awarded for both juniors and adult categories. Huge thanks go out to first aider Sue Howley of Howley Training Services, Mike Crispin and Larry Rushin for helping with plate umpiring, and BaseballSoftballUK for vital funding to enable the event to go ahead.

Solent League Indoor Charity Tournament

This popular annual slowpitch event, run by the Solent Softball League, was held at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth on Saturday 25th March. The Falcons made the trip to Hampshire as reigning champions with a team packed with experience and youth, with Amy Morris and Isla Dodson-Richi from the junior section in attendance

Having gone through the day with only one loss to Solent Sluggers, the Falcons found themselves in the Gold group, where they encountered Sluggers again to fix their earlier deficit. Having dispatched them and later beating Southsea Sharks to face Southampton Spitfires in the grand final, the Falcons put on their best display of the day, winning the game, and the tournament, by the middle of the second inning.

The event raised over £600 for local charity Helping Hands.