From the beginning of the game, it seemed as if the Rebels had something to prove. They wanted to avenge a lost they suffered to the Lightning earlier this season in the U12 DCABA game.

Lightning didn’t strike twice as the Rebels beat the Lightning 9-1 on June 5.

“They were ready to play and we weren’t focused, and I don’t know why we weren’t focused,” Lightning head coach Tom Leggins said.

Leggins said he was disappointed with his team because they had won the match up earlier in the season, 10-9.

The two games were not comparable. The first one ended in six innings, this one five, and the first game “was a back and forth game,” said Rebels head coach Will Oughby.

Oughby said the Lightning had the advantage the first time because they were the home team. This time, the Rebels batted last.

The U12 DCABA Lightning step up to bat in the third inning. The Lightning played the Rebels June 5 at 4-H Cowser Field.

The Lightning just couldn’t put much of anything together. In the first inning, two batters were tagged out before they reached first base.

Another batter was hit with the ball, but was left on base because the next batter hit a pop up ball to right field for the third out.

Several innings ended in much the same way for the Lightning.

The Rebels, however, scored two runs in the first and picked things up on defense too.

“Our defense was unreal, just unreal,” Oughby said.

Much like the Rebels defense stepped up, Oughby’s team’s offense picked up its pace in the third.

Kyle McFarland reached first base on an error. Both McFarland and Alex Green scored to give the Rebels a 4-0 lead.

Leggins said his team made lots of errors and the Rebels took advantage of them. Oughby agreed, saying: “They made lots of mistake and we kind of rubbed their nose in it.”

The Rebels all but put the game away in the fourth inning by scoring five more runs, to open up a commanding lead.

With Pace Leggins the only member of the Lightning to score in the top of the fifth inning, the game was called because of the run rule.

“I can’t believe we spread those guys like we did. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that,” Oughby said.