The weather played a big factor in the Opp Bobcats 2-0 win over the Straughn Tigers in Monday night’s junior varsity baseball game in Straughn.

“Given the conditions, the temperature and the dampness of the field, I thought we stayed focused really committed to the fundamentals of the game,” Bobcats’ junior varsity head coach Brain Jones said. “Taylor Duffell did a great job on the mound for us in the few innings he pitched. The first few innings we were able to get some runners on, but we couldn’t execute to get them across. We were fortunate to get two runs across in the top of the fourth.”

Jones said that he was impressed by the way Straughn played.

“You have to give Straughn credit,” Jones said. “They are much improved from last year. Their coaches have done an outstanding job and those kids competed tonight. You can really tell that they have worked their tails off in the offseason.”

The game got started just as the rain began to fall and conditions continued to get worse as the game went along.

Neither teams were able to get a run across in the first three inning, but the Bobcats plated two runs in the top of the fourth just before the game was called due to lighting.

Logan Ross led off the top of the fourth inning with a single and then came around to score on a single from River Day.

Seth Butts then scored on passed ball to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.

As the Tigers came off the field after collecting the final out of the top of the fourth, a bolt of lighting struck out behind the outfield fence and the officials quickly decided to call the game.

“It was just tough conditions to play baseball in today,” Straughn junior varsity head coach Bailey Hansen said. “The rain really made it hard to control the ball, but I was really proud of the way that Chandler Mitchell pitched.  We didn’t get in many innings so a game like this is really hard to tell how we played.”

Over the weekend, the junior varsity Tigers competed in the Brantley junior varsity baseball tournament, where they finished in second place.

“After losing a tough game to Brantley on Friday, we were three outs away from not even making the one-game elimination tournament, but were fortunate enough to get in.”

Going into Saturday, the Tigers needed Pleasant Home to defeat Charles Henderson for Straughn to make it into the single-elimination round, and the Eagles pulled off a win in the final inning of the contest.

The Eagles and Tigers then matched up for the tournament’s semi-final round.

“The guys did a really good job of bouncing back on Saturday and getting into the championship game,” Hansen said. “We were able to beat Pleasant Home 14-4, but lost to Brantley 6-2 in the championship game.”