Chichester Falcons survive a Viking attack to go two-for-two

Chichester Falcons carved out their second win of the season in a short, tight encounter with the Vikings of Gosport. Both teams put in an edgy performance at bat, with neither side ever truly breaking away thanks to plenty of catches in all areas of the field. The game saw two new Falcons take the field - Nat Morey and Annabelle Trimmer, fresh from a recent Rookie Night event, handled right field ably as the match raced through the innings with neither team managing to string together more than a handful of hits.

David Morris drew a leadoff walk to get under way and was soon brought in for the only run of the first inning by third baseman Dave Piesse. Morris was then called on to snag a deep flyball in centre left to keep the Vikings level as Sarah d'Agar snapped up a grounder to snuff out the second. Try as they might, the Falcons couldn't punch the ball past the infield; Hettie McNeil and Jana Langley both struck howitzer line drives but somehow the Vikings continued to fish them out of the air to keep the score tight going into the fourth inning.

At that point, Chichester did manage to get ahead enough for a little comfort - both Lucy Morris and Russ Percy scoring from Cary Chen's deep hit to centre right before pitcher Jason Mercer earned a two-out walk to get Liz Boardman on base too. David Morris thumped to shallow left to bring in Mercer to get the Falcons 7-3 ahead, providing some much-needed breathing room.

Trimmer replaced Morey for the second half of the game and was unlucky to get put out by an impressive full-stretch diving catch by the Vikings pitcher as Gosport clawed back three more runs, taking the score to 8-6 going into the final inning. The Falcons managed a shutout thanks to shortstop Cary Chen, who completed an unassisted double play with a remarkable catch near second base before doubling off the runner from second to end the inning and game.

The Falcons continue their Solent League campaign with a double header on June 16th at Portsmouth, against the Pirates and Seals.