On May 15, 2009 the CYA / Chantilly Little League Challenger baseball team, the Nationals, teamed up with the 12U Chantilly Raiders Travel Baseball Club for a fantastic night of food and baseball fun under the lights at Chantilly Park.  The Challenger Division of Little League baseball is for children with special needs.  The game of baseball provides a perfect opportunity for the kids to participate in sports and work towards a team goal.

The Raiders, who hold their Friday night practices on a baseball field adjacent to the Challengers’ home field, are a competitive yet community minded team.  The team looks for ways to help where they can and seized the opportunity to work with neighborhood kids and friends on the Challenger team during the Challengers “Night Under the Lights” event.

The evening started with a dinner buffet of mouth-watering food donated by Red Hot’n Blue of Herndon, CiCis Pizza of Chantilly and Moe’s of Westfields.  Thank you to these wonderful sponsors for helping make this event extra special!  The families then packed the stands and cheered while the excited Challenger squad played the field, batted and ran the bases.  The Raider Buddies helped out in the field, the dugouts and at the plate, encouraging, cheering and coaching along the way.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the special game and forged new friendships.

After the game, Raiders coach Bob Cardinal summed up his take on the game by saying, “It was an honor and a pleasure to join forces with the Challenger families this evening.  We were both humbled and inspired by the love and enjoyment your players and families displayed toward our players and families.  I’ve been on many baseball fields for many years, and without a doubt, tonight’s game was my favorite of all time.” 

If you would like to participate or volunteer with CYA / Chantilly Challenger Baseball, please contact Challenger Head Coach Sean Fitzsimmons at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Division schedules have been updated with rescheduled games. Many games have changed start times and/or fields. Please check the division schedules carefully.

The 11U Chantilly Chargers travel baseball team won the 2009 11U Ripken Memorial Day Tournament this weekend going 6-0 over the 3-day tournament in Aberdeen MD.  

In the Semi-Final game, the Chargers defeated the Dynamite 9-7 on the strength of right-hander Jared DiCesare on the mound and the hitting of Garrett Snedeker (2-2, 1 RBI) and Brett Norwood (1-2, 2 RBI).  The Dynamite tied the game in the top of the 5th, only to have the determined Chargers score 2 in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back hits from Snedeker and Norwood and a sacrifice fly to deep center by Shane Butler to take the lead for good.  

In what was truly a team effort, the Championship game saw the Chargers defeat the Savage Spirit 18-4.  Jared Enders led off the game with a single and scored the games first run. The Chargers would score 2 more to take an early 3-0 lead.  The Spirit led off the bottom of the first with a single, but the runner was thrown out trying to steal second by Mike Eshleman ending a potential response rally.  Connor Bigelow pitched a masterful game going 4 innings giving up 4 runs and walking only 1 batter.  The Charger bats gave Connor all the run support he would need in the 2nd inning when the team erupted for 11 runs, all scored with 2 outs.  John Imperial had 2 hits and scored twice in the 2nd inning and  Brady Ryan, Garrett Snedeker, Jared DiCesare, Shane Butler, Mike Eshleman, David Tammaro and Connor Bigelow all had clutch 2-out hits to extend the Charger lead.  Joe Miller had an ESPN web-gem moment snagging a line drive to end a Sprit rally, went 3-3 at the plate and was named the game MVP.  Up and down the line-up, the team contributed with great pitching, stellar defense, exceptional hitting and smart base-running to take the Championship!