Chantilly rallied to beat host Herndon 3-1 in a tough Concorde District matchup on Tuesday night. Caleb Reinhardt notched the complete game victory for Chantilly, allowing 6 hits and 0 earned runs with 4 strikeouts. Reinhardt needed just 83 pitches to get through 7 innings in a quick game that was over in 85 minutes. The Chargers once again backed up Reinhardt’s stout pitching with outstanding defense. Except for a mistake on a pickoff play, Herndon matched Chantilly’s pitching and defense in this tightly contested game. Down 1-0 after 5 innings, timely hits from Tommy Vance, Sonny Romine, and Eason Recto and successful execution on two critical sacrifice bunts led to 3 Charger runs and the win.

Chantilly was unable to reach base in the top of the first, but Herndon immediately threatened with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning. The next batter lined a hard grounder up the middle but 2B Jake Acosta dove to his right, cleanly fielded the ball, and flipped it to SS Tommy Vance from his knees for a pretty 4-6-3 double play. Sonny Romine led off the 2^nd inning with a single up the middle, but then Herndon turned its own double play on a hard hit ball from Eason Recto. Herndon threatened again in the 2^nd inning with a leadoff single, but catcher Kevin Johnston gunned down the runner trying to steal 2^nd base in what appeared to be a failed hit and run attempt.

Cory Donovan walked and advanced into scoring position in the 3^rd inning, but Daniel Speed’s sinking line drive was run down by the Herndon center fielder and Chantilly was again held scoreless. Jake Acosta made a highlight defensive play in the bottom of the 3^rd, covering a lot of ground and diving to his right to field a hard hit ball and then and then rising and spinning from behind second base to throw the runner out at 1^st. Kevin Johnston singled with 2 outs in the top of the 4^th inning and Matt Louis entered to run for Johnston. The speedy Louis made it to 2^nd on a wild pitch but Sonny Romine just missed hitting the ball on the nose and his towering fly ball was caught in deep left field for the 3^rd out.

Herndon finally broke through in the bottom of the 4^th. Chantilly’s lone error of the night was followed by a single and the Hornets had runners on 1^st and 3^rd with no outs. The next batter hit a clean single to right and Herndon led 1-0 and was looking for more with runners on 1^st and 2^rd, still with 0 outs. The next batter popped a bunt high enough into the air that Casey Gittings, sprinting in from 1^st, was able to catch the ball for the 1^st out. Gittings handled a groundout unassisted for the 2^nd out. After a walk to load the bases, Reinhardt buckled down and struck out the next batter to end the inning. All things considered, Chantilly was fortunate to get out of the 4^th down just 1-0. Neither team threatened in the 5^th inning, which set the stage for an exciting 6^th.

Cory Donovan led off the 6^th inning with a walk and he advanced to 2^nd base on a perfect sacrifice bunt from Daniel Speed. After Mike Sciorra nearly tied the game with a line drive ripped down the left field line that was barely foul, Tommy Vance came through with a clutch, two-out two-strike hit past the 3^rd baseman that scored Donovan from 2^nd base. After 5 ½ innings the score was 1-1. Herndon responded with 2 singles to open the bottom of the 6^th. With runners 1^st & 2^nd with 0 outs, hard charging 1B Casey Gittings made possibly the play of the game when he came up with a bunt attempt and threw to 3^rd base to get the lead runner by inches. The heads up play by Gittings grabbed momentum away from the Hornets, and P Caleb Reinhardt took matters into his own hands from there - first by fielding a grounder back to the mound for the 2^nd out and then by closing the inning with a strikeout.

Chantilly opened the top of the 7^th with consecutive singles from Sonny Romine and Eason Recto. Jake Acosta moved the runners into scoring position with a textbook sacrifice bunt. With Casey Gittings at bat, Herndon then opted to try a rare pickoff play at 3^rd base. The errant throw sailed well past the 3^rd baseman and Romine and Recto both easily scored. Chantilly led 3-1 heading into the bottom of 7^th. Herndon’s leadoff batter in the last inning hit a tough grounder to SS Tommy Vance, who got a good jump on the ball and made a difficult play look easy. Caleb Reinhardt, who like his Herndon counterpart pitched a beautiful game, appropriately closed things out with consecutive strikeouts and Chargers had another tight win against a good opponent.

Chantilly’s offense was led by Sonny Romine (2 singles, run), Tommy Vance (single, SB, RBI), and Eason Recto (single, run). Also contributing were Kevin Johnston (single), Cory Donovan (walk, run), Jake Acosta (sac bunt), and Daniel Speed (sac bunt).

Chantilly (10-2) next travels to Robinson to play the Rams at 6:30 on Friday night.