PINETOWN — Bath and Bear Grass fought tooth and nail for the “Beaufort County Brawl” championship Wednesday afternoon, but Mother Nature had other plans. Bear Grass rallied in the fifth inning to make it a one-run game before thunderstorms eventually cancelled the remainder of the game.

Bath scored a run in each of the first four innings. The Pirates struck first in the top of the first. Cam Craig hit the ball to shortstop and reached on an error. Tyler Modlin followed up and reached on a fielder’s choice when Bear Grass tried to throw out Craig at second.

With one out, Matt Adams drilled a line-drive shot into centerfield to load the bases. Carter Boyd put Bath on the board first with a base hit to center that plated Craig from third. Bear Grass escaped the inning with minimal damage when Ty Johnson caught Doug Woolard looking, leaving the bases loaded in the process.

Bear Grass was able to load the bases, despite having its first two batters retired. Logan Hale got hit by a pitch, Luke Taylor singled to right field and Logan Coltrain drew a walk. With the opposition threatening to respond quickly, Adams was able to induce a groundout to second base to strand the three baserunners surrounding him.

Modlin extended Bath’s lead in the top of the second. With two outs and Nate Van on second base, he singled to no man’s land in shallow center to bring across a second run. The Pirates carried over the momentum into their defensive end of the stanza. Adams picked up his second strikeout and only faced four batters.

Bath, again, scored in the third. Adams led off with a groundout, but Boyd and Ryan Woolard followed him with back-to-back base hits. Consecutive two-out walks gifted the Pirates a 3-0 advantage by bringing home Boyd. Once again, though, they failed to capitalize further and left the bases loaded.

For the second inning in a row, Bear Grass only sent four batters to the plate. Bath scored its fourth and final run of the evening in the top of the fourth. Doug Dixon belted a one-out double deep into right field. Boyd drew a walk and, with Dixon threatening on third, stole second base. Dixon was able to score on the pickoff attempt.

Caleb Barber finally struck for Bear Grass in the bottom of the fourth. He knocked a hit through the right side that gave Futrell the opening to score from second. Bath had a runner on third in the fifth, but Bear Grass was able to escape the inning without any damage.

Bear Grass’ offense, which had been making contact throughout the game, kept finding some holes in the bottom of the fifth. With a full count, Hale led off with a double to right center. A pitch hit Luke Taylor and Coltrain moved his teammates into scoring position with a well-placed bunt.

Futrell brought Bear Grass within one, 4-3, by plating Hale and Taylor with a base hit just inside the first-base line.

With one out and the tying run on, lightning forced the delay, which eventually turned into a cancellation. The Pirates, perhaps with a little help from the weather, claimed the tournament championship thanks to their offensive output over the first four frames.