DESPITE a delayed start to the Illawarra Baseball season due to COVID-19, Shoalhaven Mariners came out firing in round one at the weekend.
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This year the club is supporting teams in four grades and in the major league, second grade started the season with a bye as third grade took on Dapto Chiefs at Berkeley on Saturday.
Both minor league teams took to the home diamond at Ison Park, on Sunday.
The fourth grade Mariners took on the Northern Pirates to start the 2020 baseball season on a beautiful day at Ison Park.
The Pirates squad started well with a safe hit to third base.
Mariners lead off pitcher Andrew Pearson then hit another gear and shut the Pirates down.
With a couple of easy plays and a nice strikeout, the Pirates were retired and it was the Mariners turn to bat.
Lee Lawson started strongly, hitting a stand up double before newcomer Jessica Bennett hit a ball to right field scoring Mariners' first run.
After getting a couple of players on base, Stuart Raymond cracked a ball over left field's head scoring another two runs.
Second innings was a mixed bag with Pirates having numerous hits and strikeouts.
A few errors from the Mariners contributed to the Pirates putting two runs across the plate.
The Mariners didn't trouble the scorers that innings, as they held a 3-2 lead.
In the third innings, Andrew Pearson did all the work for Mariners - getting two strikeouts, then fielding a hard hit ball and completing the play throwing to first base.
With the bat, the Mariners scored two runs with Stuart Raymond getting on base before a big three base hit from Clinton Towill brought the former home.
He followed soon after stealing on a wild pitch.
The fourth innings saw the Pirates shut down again without scoring a run, thanks to handy pitching by Pearson.
In reply, the Mariners added two runs through Lee Lawson and Gabe Tate, who both produced solid hits.
The final innings saw Mariners bring in their closing pitcher Andrew Provest.
Unfortunately, the field let him down with a couple of errors, seeing the Pirates add two runs to their total.
At the change of innings, the Pirates also put on their closing pitcher but he struggled, walking a number of batters - sealing the Mariners 9-4 win.
Pitcher Andrew Pearson led the way pitching 71 pitches (46 strikes with five strikeouts), while closing pitcher Andrew Provest pitched only 24 pitches for 16 strikes and one strikeout.
Hits were shared with a triple to Clinton Towell, doubles to Lee Lawson and Stuart Raymond supported by singles to Lee Lawson (two), Gabe Tate (two), Jessica Bennett and Stuart Raymond.
On Saturday, the Mariners' their grade side opened the club's 2020 season, with a tight tussle against Dapto.
In the first innings, Rod Angel had the only double of the game hitting to right field for the Chiefs, while Ben Elliott led the Mariners' batting with two hits from as many bats.
After a backwards and forwards tussle, the game was tied at 3-all going into the bottom of the fifth.
The batting line-up then saw Degan Brekelmans force an error and scramble to first.
Fast round the bases, Degan managed to get to third.
Ben Elliott was up next, helping bring Degan home.
Stephen Pearson drew his third walk and then stole his way around the bases.
Great running enabling Mariners to score the winning runs, in a 6-3 win.
Lachlan Rosser was the strongest of the pitchers for Dapto Chiefs only allowing two hits and two runs over the plate while striking out nine.
Ben Elliott completed the full game of pitching duties for Mariners allowing only five hits and three runs.
This match also marked the senior debut of juniors Cameron Goulden, Riley Mason and Mackenzie Mannix.
Mackenzie took a fantastic reflex catch at second base.
Also joining the club this year with some additional girl power is Kailey Ehrig and Cheyanne Wenham.
The final Mariners team to take the field as their fifth grade side, who battled the Northern Pirates at Ison Park on Sunday.
The team welcomed a number of new players to the club including Tom Box, Matt Forster, Samantha Harbinson, Luke Hennessy, Bruce Hennessy, Dan Miranda and Natalie Moore.
Some of these are new to baseball, while others have returned to the game after a significant time away.
Pirates went into bat first and hit strongly.
Assisted early by a couple of errors from the Mariners, the Pirates looked set.
Two strike outs by newcomer Luke Hennessy and a sharp catch in centre field by Tony Burgess could not prevent the Pirates from bringing home 10 runs across the plate.
The Mariners, who went into their first innings of the year with a lot of new players, were unable to bring any home.
Second innings saw Pirates kept scoreless with some great pitching from Luke Hennessy, who closed the innings with a double play involving Tausia Antonio.
Chris Keith and Dan Miranda both recorded hits for the Mariners but unfortunately the team was unable to convert them to runs scored.
The third innings saw a change to Tausia Antonio pitching.
Pirates, again hitting well, got two home before Tausia Antonia combined with Matt Forester to close out the innings with a double play.
With the bat, Tom Box, Tausia Antonio and Luke Hennessey put runs on the board with impressive hits out to centre field and shortstop.
The fourth innings for the Pirates saw no runs across the plate for a quick change of side bringing Mariners back into bat.
Despite the Mariners having a few hits around the park, they were not able to add any runs to the scoreboard.
The final innings saw a change of pitcher with Ben Quiney taking to the mound for Mariners.
The Pirates added one more run to their total before being caught out by consecutive infield flyballs taken by Luke Hennessy at shortstop and pitcher Ben Quiney.
The Mariners came out to bat for the last time with Ben Quiney and Tony Burgess both having single hits, bringing one more over the plate - closing the margin to 13-3 to the Pirates.
Pitching duties were shared between Luke Hennessey (76 pitches with 43 strikes and two strikeouts), Tausia Antonio (35 pitches with 25 strikes and three strikeouts) and closing pitcher Ben Quiney (13 pitches with nine strikes).
