Cap tip Bill Hillhouse
By GIB SNYDER III – OBSERVER Sports Reporter , The OBSERVER
[DUNKIRK NY] – For the past 36 years, the third weekend in July has meant one thing to the softball community of Dunkirk – The First Ward Falcon Club Fastpitch Tournament which begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Promenschenkel Stadium.
Last year, tournament organizer Tim Wdowiasz and his helpers decided to add an entertainment element to the weekend festivities.
“We’ve got the food stands, the vendors and we’re expecting a big crowd,” Wdowiasz said. “We’ve got “Us” playing down there, nothing really has tailed away from what we set up last year.
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The size of the field is the only real change to this year’s set up, but it is the talent that will be coming in that will set it apart from some of the tournaments of years past. Chautauqua County will be represented by three teams, two of which will be from Dunkirk, with Larry’s Cantina of Westfield being the third. The teams to watch however will be PA Power out of Harrisburg, Pa., Wyevale Tribe, from Wyevale, ON, Chicago/New York Fastpitch and Erie Budweiser.
One of the old faces returning this year will be Erie Budweiser pitcher Bill Hillhouse, who has taken to the circle on nearly every continent in the World.
“Pennsylvania Power was probably the Cinderella team at the World Tournament last year,” Hillhouse said. “They lost their first game, then won seven in a row and went all the way through the losers bracket and ended up in fifth place.
“They went in ranked about 30th and they just shocked everybody,” Hillhouse continued. “Winning seven games in a row and making it into the top five is pretty significant for a team that really had a very modest budget. It’s all about the money and they went in with a shoestring-budget and beat a lot of teams that they had no business beating.”
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Chicago/New York Fastpitch, which is currently ranked No. 2 in the latest International Softball Congress World Rankings, will sport two of the best pitchers in the world.
With the field set and the competition level cranked up, this year’s rendition of the Falcon Club Tournament promises to be one of the better displays of softball Dunkirk has seen in quite some time. Click here to read the complete story at the Dunkirk Observer.