The Chantilly Chargers had their best game of the season on Monday night, downing the Potomac Panthers 8-1, advancing to the Championship Game of the “Let’s Play Two” Spring Break tournament. Chantilly used ten timely hits, five walks, and a strong complete game pitching outing from Tom Wood to go to 3-0 in the tournament, and 7-1 on the season. Sam Hellman led the way offensively, going 2-2 with 3 RBI, while Mike Sciorra went 2-3 with 2 RBI, and Kevin Johnston got on base all four times up, with a hit and 2 walks included, leading to 3 runs. It was a long overdue outburst for the Chargers, who scored runs in each of the first four innings, and plated all 8 runs with two outs.

It was a solid night on the mound for Wood, as he scattered 7 hits over his 7 innings, needing only 83 pitches to close this one out. He was assisted by strong defensive plays all night long by his teammates, including: Sonny Romine gunning down a runner trying to stretch a single into a double in the 4th; a nice play on a short pop to RF by Turner Budd in the 6th, and three consecutive flashy glove plays in the 7th, by Sam Hellman at third, Matt Galle at second, and Sam at third again to end the game. The only Potomac run scored in the third inning on a squeeze bunt. The only other time that Potomac threatened was in the 6th inning, where the Panthers had runners on 1st and 3rd but could not score.

Chantilly's offense was productive from the beginning in this game. With two outs in the first inning, Kevin Johnston drew a walk. Cory Donovan pinch ran for the CHS catcher, stole second, and Sam Hellman promptly singled to left center, and it was 1-0 Chantilly just like that. The second inning saw more of the same, as after two quick outs, Casey Gittings and Daniel Speed both singled, and scored as leadoff hitter Mike Sciorra drilled a double to the left center gap pushing the score to 3-0.

The third inning had Tommy Vance lead off with a walk. With Vance on the move on a hit-and-run, Johnston followed with a perfect groundball towards the second baseman, who was moving on the steal to cover second. The Panther’s secondbaseman couldn’t change directions quick enough, booted the ball, and everyone was safe. It was a nice piece of hitting by Johnston with two strikes on him. Hellman followed with a sacrifice bunt to move both runners over for the first out. With two men in scoring position, Sonny Romine grounded to third, and a CHS runner was nailed at the plate for the second out. But, Eason Recto and Jake Acosta came through with consecutive two-out RBI singles, scoring Donovan and Romine, and it was 5-1 Chantilly after 3 innings.

The fourth began with a flyout, and then Sciorra singled down the third base line. A strikeout brought the second out of the inning, but then timely hitting came through again. First, Johnston singled to knock out the Potomac starter. Hellman greeted the Panther reliever with a long double to deep right center, scoring Sciorra and Donovan (running for Johnston), and giving CHS a 7-1 lead. Romine followed with an RBI single to left, driving in Hellman, and the scoring was complete. The Chargers stayed sharp closing out the last three innings for the win thanks to Tom Wood's outstanding effort on the mound and contributions from Matt Galle, Turner Budd, Zak Rhodes, Matt Louis, Cory Donovan, and Kyle Rhodes. With 16 different players making an appearance this was a strong team win for the Chargers.

Overall for CHS, Sciorra had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Vance had a walk in three AB’s. Johnston had a hit and two walks. Donovan scored 3 runs as the designated runner for Johnston. Hellman had 2 hits, a run scored, and 3 RBI. Romine had a single, a run scored, and an RBI. Eason Recto had a single. Jake Acosta had a hit, a walk, and an RBI. Casey Gittings had a hit and a run scored. And Daniel Speed had a hit and a run scored.

Chantilly (7-1) faces off against Osbourn Park in the Championship game of the tournament at 6:30 Tuesday at Osbourn Park.