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Chantilly American comes out on top
Figuring his baseball team would've wrapped up its season by the end of July, Chantilly American coach Raghu Mani went ahead and blocked off a week for his family's vacation. Little did he know, Mani would still be coaching when that vacation finally rolled around.“It's funny, this is our planned vacation,” said Mani from Virginia Beach. “We never thought we'd [still] be playing, so the tournament kind of came into our vacation.”
There's nothing like starting off your vacation with a bang. Keyed by a five-run first inning, Mani's 10- and 11-year-old All-Stars snagged the state title Thursday with a 10-0 win over West Springfield American.
For teams like Chantilly American, which was formed on June 16 and has practiced -- sometimes for three and a half hours -- every day since, your average game almost seems like a vacation.
“The games are a lot easier because you don't have to do as much fielding and everything,” said team member Colby Matthews. “They're a little more fun too.”
After cruising through its first four games, Chantilly American has been off since Monday, even making a two-day trip back to Virginia. On the other hand, several teams -- including West Springfield American -- had to wage a three-day battle for who would earn the right to challenge Mani's bunch.
Coach Curt Nutbrown's team had been buoyed by its 12-5 loss to Chesterfield on Sunday and a subsequent trip to the loser's bracket. After the loss, West Springfield American posted outputs of 12, 20 and six runs while the most recent win -- a 6-3 victory over Chesterfield -- was highlighted by pitcher Jon Doran's 70-pitch, 60-strike effort.
Nutbrown's group had posted 38 runs in those three games but was held to only a single and a walk Thursday against Chantilly American, who finished the district and state tournaments with a combined 10-0 record.
“We just played flat. We had nothing left in the gas tank after our seventh game in seven days,” Nutbrown said. “We had some hard hits; they were just right at 'em.”
For Chantilly American, a group of “six or seven” players will team with several members from the 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars and travel to Cooperstown for an 11-year-old tournament at the end of August. The 10- and 11-year-old schedule doesn't involve any regional tournaments.
But for now?
“This is our week of vacation and we ended up playing baseball through most of it, so we'll be here through Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Mani. “I think a bunch of guys are here. We saw a bunch of their cars go ahead of us.”
Added Mani's son, Shankar, “We are partying because won won. We're having a good time.”
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