<b>Under the Lights</b>
On Friday, May 15, the Chantilly/Southwestern Youth Association Little League Challenger baseball team -- the Nationals -- teamed up with the U-12 Chantilly Raiders for a fantastic night of food and baseball under the lights at Chantilly Park. The evening started with a dinner buffet donated by Red Hot’n Blue, CiCi’s Pizza and Moe’s Southwest Grill. The families then packed the stands and cheered while the excited Challenger squad took the field, batted and ran the bases. The Raiders, meanwhile, helped out in the field, the dugouts and at the plate, encouraging, cheering and coaching along the way. For more information on Chantilly/SYA Challenger baseball, contact head coach Sean Fitzsimmons at s.fitzp@verizon.net.
The Chantilly Raiders include Evan Baker, Cameron Cardinal, Parker Crenshaw, Wesley Coleman, Brett Dschuhan, Mick Glakas, Kordell Hutzell, Jacob LaFlamme, Zack Perine, Ryne Siesky, Ryan Trzaskoma and Matt Ventrelli. The Challenger team includes Meredith Cripe, Hailey Fitzsimmons, Jacob Franchi, Bradley Hatfield, Jenny Lord, Griffin Nameroff, Michael Rivera, Andrew Cope, Jessica Dempsey, Amy Feuerberg, Joey Komisarcik, Tyler Pizzo, Thomas Rumanes, David Updike, Chris Ward and Jamie Whitaker, as well as assistant coaches Patrick Fedor and David Mears and head coach Sean Fitzsimmons.
<b>Can’t Beat the Mets</b>
With a 5-2 win over the Virginia Bandits of Manassas, the Southwestern Youth Association Mets, a U-10 travel baseball team, finished a 5-0 run through the Greater Manassas Baseball League Memorial Day Tournament. The Mets were one of three SYA teams to win the tournament; the organization’s U-12 and U-14 teams also emerged victorious. In the final, the Mets broke open a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning, scoring three runs and hanging on for the victory.
<b>Moehler Vulcan-ized</b>
Chris Moehler, a senior boys’ soccer player at Paul VI and a Centreville resident, recently committed to play soccer for the California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans. Moehler led Paul VI with 14 goals and 16 assists last fall and was a driving force behind the Panthers’ run to both the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association semifinal rounds. He was also a first team All-VISAA and third team All-WCAC selection. The Vulcans play NCAA Division II soccer and compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. In 2008, they won the PSAC championship and appeared in the NCAA national tournament.
<b>Cheer Tryouts</b>
The Southwestern Youth Association Extreme will hold cheerleading tryouts on June 8, 10 and 11 at Stone Middle School from 6-8 p.m. The organization is planning on two squads, a U-14 (seventh- and eighth-graders) and a U-12 (fifth- and sixth-graders). Tryouts will be open to boys and girls from grades four through eight for the 2009-10 season, and practices will eventually run during the summer on a modified schedule until the official season begins Aug. 3. SYA will also hold its second summer camp with the Centreville and Westfield cheerleaders at Centre Ridge Elementary from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting July 7. Cost is $35 per week. For more information on either opportunity, visit www.syasports.org.
<b>Basketball Camps</b>
The Westfield Athletic Booster Club will hold two sessions of girls’ basketball camp during June and July, with the first session running from June 22-26 (Elite Camp, ages 10-15) and July 6-10 (ages 8-15). Both camps will run from 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Cost is $140. The staff will consist of head coach Pat Deegan and assistant coach Alice Andersen, as well as current college and high school players. For more information or for applications, contact coach Deegan at Patrick.deegan@fcps.edu or 703-488-6363 (Ext. 7201).
The Centreville High School Athletic Boosters will sponsor the Third-Annual Girls’ Basketball Specialty Camp from June 22-25. The times of the camp will be from 5 until 8:00 p.m., and the four-day camp is open to rising seventh-grade girls through rising 12th-grade girls. The cost is $100. Registration forms may be downloaded from the Centreville High School Web site at http://www.fcps.edu/CentrevilleHS/cvhs_old/activity/index.html.
The Centreville Booster Club is sponsoring a boys’ basketball camp for rising third- through 10th-grade boys. The camp will take place at Centreville High School from June 22-26, and the camp’s cost is $135 for the week. Camp will run from 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Contact coach Drew Murphy at 703-802-5476 or by email at andrew.murphy@fcps.edu for more details, or got to www.fcps.edu/CentrevilleHS/boys_basketball_camp.html to download an application.
The Westfield boys’ basketball program will hold a series of four camps throughout the end of June and all of July. The first four-day session runs from June 29 through July 3; the second runs from July 13-17; the third from July 20-24; the fourth from July 27-31. For more information, contact Doug Ewell at 703-488-6406 or via email at douglas.ewell@fcps.edu.