A diving catch by Daniel Speed in right field ended the game early Saturday, as Chantilly downed a strong Woodbridge team 4-3 in 8 innings in the first game of the “Let’s Play Two” Spring Break tournament. The tying run was on base and most likely would have scored when Speed made his play on a ball tailing in and away from him in short right. The umpire signaled the out, and the Chargers moved to 5-1 on the season, with a thrilling, come-from-behind win over the Vikings. Eight different Chargers had hits, but none were as big as Kevin Johnston’s 2 run double in the 5^th, and Sam Hellman’s game tying single that followed. Casey Gittings’ clutch sac fly scored Sonny Romine who led off the 8^th being hit by a pitch, for the winning run. Chantilly used its season long formula of strong pitching + big defense + timely hitting to put another victory on the books. Caleb Reinhardt pitched six effective innings, throwing 105 pitches, and scattering 6 hits, with 4 K’s and 2 walks. Chris Fraser relieved and pitched the 7^th and 8^th innings, picking up the win in relief. And Chantilly continued playing great baseball on defense, getting two pickoffs of runners from Reinhardt and Johnston; strong infield play by Tommy Vance – who finished off 3 different Woodbridge rallies with nice plays to end innings; more flashy glove work from Jake Acosta at second, and the game ending diving play from Speed in RF.

 

The game was 0-0 through 3 innings. Reinhardt came out strong, striking out 3 of his first six batters. He allowed 3 hits over the first three innings, but picked off one of those runners himself, keeping things tight. For the first two innings, CHS only had Mike Sciorra’s leadoff single to speak of, but then came the third. Jake Acosta opened the third with a 4 pitch walk, and Gittings singled through the hole between short and third. Daniel Speed then laid down a perfect bunt, and the bases were loaded with no outs. A short fly for the first out didn’t allow a run to score, and then Chantilly had some bad luck as Vance’s line drive back through the middle found the Woodbridge SS playing almost directly behind second base, for an easy double play.

Chantilly again put two men on with one out in the 4^th, on a Hellman walk and a Romine single, but again could not break through. Woodbridge did in the bottom of the inning, however. A leadoff walk was followed by a one out single, which moved the lead runner to third and the batter taking second on the throw. CHS brought the infield in, and a hot smash was knocked down by the infield to load the bases. With one away, the Vikings got on the board first with some good defensive hitting, as the Woodbridge batter flared an opposite field 0-2 pitch into short LF, scoring two runs. Chantilly caught the batter in a rundown after the single, and got the second out, but just missed the runner going home after the out, and it was 3-0 Woodbridge going into the 5^th.

 

True to form, the fifth inning turned out to be when the Chargers came to life at the plate. The inning started off uneventfully with two outs, but the top of the order then came up, and Chantilly started a two out rally. Sciorra walked to start things, and Vance followed with a single to right center. #3 hitter Kevin Johnston then came through with a long double into the gap, scoring both runners easily. Cory Donovan came on to pitch run, and Sam Hellman scored him after a great at bat, going full and fouling off pitches before singling to right to tie the game. Woodbridge changed pitchers after the hit, and the new pitcher ended the CHS rally.

The fifth inning saw Woodbridge get two more singles and a HBP, but again – Chantilly’s defense prevented any runs from scoring, as Johnston picked a runner off first for the first out, and Vance made a nice play to end the inning with two runners on base. The sixth inning was more of the same. Jake Acosta got the first out with a great play coming up with a ball smashed to his right. Woodbridge then threatened with two more runners, but Reinhardt pitched out of the jam, getting the last better to pop out to Hellman at third.

Chantilly went quietly in the sixth, but in the top of the 7^th got two walks sandwiched around an out. Nothing more would come of it, as a strikeout and a fly out ended the inning. In the bottom of the seventh with a tie score, Fraser mowed down the first two batters, including one strikeout looking, and then a single and a stolen base put the winning run in scoring position. A hard groundball to Vance at short ended the rally, and the game went to extra innings.

 

Sonny Romine led off the 8^th with the at bat of the season for the Chargers. He loaded the count, and then fouled off 7 pitches, before getting hit on the arm with the 13^th pitch of the at bat. Eason Recto then singled, and CHS had its first two batters in the 8^th on board. Acosta then came through huge, laying down a 2 strike pitch for a bunt, sacrificing the runners to 2^nd and 3^rd. Gittings then hit the first pitch to deep center field, scoring Romine on the sac fly and giving Chantilly a 4-3 lead.

 

Ending the game required more effort, however, as the Vikings wouldn’t go down without a fight. The leadoff batter hit a dangerous pop down the line in short RF, and Acosta again made a big play to get there and make the tumbling catch for the first out of the inning. The second batter popped out to Gittings at first, two outs. Then, the Vikings stroked a single, and the tying run was on base. With two outs, and the runner on the move, the #9 batter hit a soft liner to right, that was tailing away from Speed, and he dove full out to his left – and came up with the ball. Chantilly had a big win against a good Woodbridge team to open the Spring Break tournament.

 

Chantilly finished with 9 hits to Woodbridge’s 8 hits. They also drew 6 walks and had one HBP.

The team got a short break on Saturday, and then went up against Mt. Vernon in the second game of the “Let’s Play Two” tourney.