Sonny Romine crushed a double to the leftfield fence, scoring two runs, in the bottom of the sixth inning Thursday night, breaking a 3-3 tie and giving the Chantilly Chargers its third win of the season, 5-3 over the Stonewall Jackson Raiders. With Mike Sciorra on base, the Raiders chose to intentionally walk Kevin Johnston with two outs, and Romine made them pay, yanking the first pitch he saw over the leftfielder’s head, scoring two runs. Caleb Reinhardt had a strong 98 pitch outing, going six innings and striking out six, before Eason Recto came on in the seventh, and picked up the save on a called third strike of Stonewall’s number 3 hitter.

The Chantilly offense was patient all night, rapping out 7 hits and drawing 8 walks against two Stonewall pitchers. It was also another strong night in the field for the Chargers, who had no errors on the night and Jake Acosta continued flashing the leather around second base, making three great plays on defense. Kevin Johnston also had a strong game at catcher, killing rallies by the Raiders in both the 5th and 6th innings – once picking a runner off third for the second out in the 5th, and then ending the 6th with a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play of a runner stealing second.

The game started out calmly Tuesday night. The Raiders got a runner in scoring position in the first with a hit and a stolen base, but a grounder to Acosta at second ended the inning. In the bottom of the opening frame, Stonewall’s pitchers struggled to find the zone, walking Acosta and Hellman to put 2 on with 1 out, but the Chargers could not capitalize.

The second inning belonged to Acosta defensively, as he got three assists in the inning, including ending the inning by diving up the middle to snag a grounder and flipping quickly to Vance at second to just get the Raider runner.
Stonewall finally got on the board in the 3rd. Four hits throughout the inning saw two men score, before Reinhardt got the number six batter swinging to end the threat, leaving two men on base. Kevin Johnston walked and got to third during Chantilly’s half inning, but again the Chargers could not score, and they went into the fourth inning down 2-0.

It was a quick 4th for Stonewall, as a nice play on a dribbler by Johnston was sandwiched around a groundout to Vance and a strikeout. Reinhardt got out of the inning with only 9 pitches. In the last half of the 4th, Gittings reached base on an error by Stonewall’s third baseman, but he was left stranded at second as the inning ended.

The Raiders threatened to do more damage in the top of the 5th. Their first three hitters had singles in the inning, plating one run and putting runners on 2st and 3nd with nobody out. The next better grounded to second, but Acosta held the runner at 3rd before getting the out at 1st. During the next at bat, Johnston caught the runner on third straying too far from the base, firing a strike to Sam Hellman to nail the runner diving back to the bag for the second out. Reinhardt finished off the inning with a strikeout of the #5 hitter.

The Chargers offense took control of the game in their half of the fifth inning. Acosta led off the inning by beating out an infield hit to the right side. Jake took second on a wild pitch, and went to third as Hellman grounded a productive out to second base. Johnston then put Chantilly on the board, rocketing a ball far over the centerfielder’s head for a double. Cory Donovan came in as a courtesy runner and then Romine walked on four pitches. A flyout to left was the second out of the inning, but Tommy Vance knocked out the Stonewall starter on his 95th pitch, sending a single into right field with Donovan scoring, and CHS was down 3-2. The new Raider pitcher entered the game, and saw his first pitch lined for a game tying hit by Casey Gittings – his third clutch RBI hit of the season. The Chargers could not score again, but sent 8 men to the plate in the inning, coming out with a 3-3 score.

The sixth inning saw the ninth Stonewall hit, a one out single. On a 1-2 count, however, Reinhardt fanned the 8 hitter, and Johnston threw down to second nailing the stealing base runner for a double-play, ending the inning.
Mike Sciorra led off the bottom of the 6th with a line drive single. Two outs later, he stole second, and that set the scene for a key decision by the Stonewall Head Coach. He elected to intentionally award clean up hitter Kevin Johnston first base, remembering the deep drive to center for a double the previous inning. After the free pass, Donovan again ran for Johnston, bringing Sonny Romine to the plate with two outs. The Chantilly Junior drove a ball deep to left, scoring both Sciorra and Donovan and giving CHS the lead for good.

Eason Recto relieved Caleb Reinhardt in the top of the seventh, and looked strong in his second outing of the season. Recto struck out his first batter, allowed a runner to reach on a HBP, but then got the second out of the night on a flyball to Sciorra. Recto then struck out the #3 hitter for the Raiders looking, to end the game, and put the Chargers into the win column. Recto threw 14 pitches to notch the save.

The Charger offense was led by Kevin Johnston (2B, 2 walk, RBI) , Casey Gittings (2 1B, RBI), and Sonny Romine (2B, walk, 2 RBI). Also contributing were Tommy Vance (1B, RBI), Mike Sciorra (1B, walk, SB), Jake Acosta (1B, walk), Sam Hellman (walk), Eason Recto (walk), and Daniel Speed (walk).

Chantilly (3-1) faces Battlefield Tuesday night in Haymarket.