The Chantilly Chargers and Herndon Hornets met with identical softball records of 7-3 Tuesday to determine who would improve its chance at a better district seeding for the looming playoffs.
Sophomore Alex Sallberg answered the call for the Chargers behind an amazing performance on the mound to shut out the Hornets and improve her team record to 8-3 to take the district advantage with the win, 5-0.
However, controversy surrounds the matter of whether Sallberg pitched a ‘no-hitter’ or not against Herndon. Chantilly head coach Carmen Wise said her star pitcher did throw a no-hitter and counted Herndon’s two on-base singles as errors.
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“Our pitcher [Alex Sallberg] pitched a no-hitter, perfect game and pitched under 60 pitches and we’re very happy with her performance.”
Herndon coach Roy Amps said his team recorded the singles as hits for the Hornets.
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“It was either one or two hits, but it was not a ‘no-hitter.’ Our score keeper is going to turn it in and their score keeper is going to turn it in.”
Each school’s respective athletic director has been contacted and an official ruling on the matter has yet to be determined. Still, Chantilly’s win is official.
Sallberg looked brilliant, striking out five Hornets and staying ahead in the count for the majority of her six innings pitched.
“I was really focused and had a lot of confidence in this game,” Sallberg said. “I was in the zone.”
The game stood scoreless with no hits from either team until freshman Colleen O’Brien hit a line drive single into right field off a full-count in the bottom of the third. O’Brien then advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third on the following pitch. Bryanna Kerbuski drove O’Brien home on what would prove to be the winning run on a single, with two outs to take a 1-0 lead.
Herndon’s Michelle Le pitched solid through the first four innings with four strikeouts. Yet, the defense had trouble communicating and allowed some manageable balls to squeak through the infield while the offense struggled against Sallberg.
“At first we struggled a bit with the outside balls but then once we got the hang of it we started hitting harder,” Le said. “We just need more talking around the field, but I feel we did pretty well.”
Leading 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Chantilly rallied at the plate with three big hits with two outs on the scoreboard. Laura Conaghan crushed a 185-foot double off the wall and Wendy Sloan advanced her to third base with a single up the middle. O’Brien came up big at bat once again with a two RBI single to seal the game at 5-0.
“It really helps when my team was cheering me on,” O’Brien said. “I just hit it as hard as I could for the team.”
Chantilly plays at home against Oakton on April 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, Laura Conaghan's name was spelled incorrectly.
