IT was a tough weekend for the Shoalhaven Mariners in the Baseball Illawarra diamond, with the club only registering one victory from five matches during round seven.
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The club's second grade side made its way to Fairy Meadow's Thomas Dalton Park to take on the Northern Pirates on Saturday.
The Pirates, having their regular first grade pitcher on the mound, tested the Mariners in a hard battled game with the first couple of innings close.
The hosts kept the score ticking over throughout the game with hits around the field pushing runners around the bases.
The visitors produced a mini fight back at the closing part of the game but the Pirates were too strong on the day 5-3, giving the Mariners their first loss of the season.
The Mariners four safe hits went to PJ Barbaro (two), Gabe Tate and Marcus Atkinson.
Pitching duties were shared PJ Barbaro (58 pitches, 31 strikes and two strikeouts), Brenton McMahon (33 pitches, 20 strikes and one strikeout) and Will Page Allen (13 pitches, eight strikes and one strikeout).
In third grade, the Mariners also took on the Pirates.
The day didn't start off well for the Mariners, with the team getting shut down quickly in the batter's box, not being able to score.
The Pirates started strongly but a nice double play between Lee Lawson and Stuart Raymond restricted them to just one run.
From there, the Mariners took control - putting seven runs on the board with some sharp hitting and unfortunate errors from Pirates.
For the rest of the game, both teams just coasted with only one more being scored, as the Mariners won 8-1.
The highlight of the game was Mariners pitcher Emmi Lee pitching her first full game and an awesome no-hitter at that.
Callum McNicol had two of the three hits for the Mariners, taking a triple and a double, with Lee Lawson having a double.
Emmi Lee completed the full game on the mound with 84 pitches, 49 strikes and four strikeouts.
On Sunday, the Mariners hosted the Wollongong Cardinals at Ison Park in fourth grade.
The Cardinals are one of the front-runners in the competition but the Mariners put up a valiant effort for the first half of the game, holding Cardinals to a 1-all scoreline.
The Mariners pitchers then started to struggle and the scoreline blew out, with the visitors winning 13-1.
Bruce Jones had the Mariners' only hit of the game in the first innings out to centrefield.
Pitching duties were shared between Zac Douglas (50 pitches, 25 strikes and two strikeouts), Patrick Mannix (44 pitches 20 strikes and one strikeout), Brodie O'Reilly (33 pitches and 12 strikes) and Bianca Cotter (eight pitches and three strikes).
In fifth grade, Shoalhaven hosted the Dapto Panthers.
It was a close affair at the start with nice hitting from both teams.
Each team kept their scorelines ticking over but a strong inning from the Panthers took the game away from the much-improving Mariners - with the game finishing at 17-9.
Bruce Jones and Brodie O'Reilly both had handy double hits with singles going to Bruce Jones (two), Chris Keith (two), Geoff Fulop and Kalysta Palmer.
Pitching duties were shared by Geoff Fulop (101 pitches, 64 strikes and four strikeouts) and Bruce Jones (21 pitches and three strikes).
Finally, in sixth grade, the Mariners took on the Panthers at South Nowra.
The Panthers took control of the game from the start, but the much improved Mariners kept up the fight.
A couple of errors from the Mariners, unfortunately, put the game out of reach but not before the Shoalhaven squad showed how much they had learnt and developed since the start of the season.
Panthers finished 15-8 winners on the day.
Kalysta Palmer had an outstanding game for the Mariners, taking on the catching duties and having two outfield hits.
Other Single hits went to Riley Mason, Andrew Smithson and Perry Alpen.
Starting pitcher Riley Mason has also been stepping his game up both on the mound and in the field.
Riley Mason threw 60 pitches, 28 strikes and four strikeouts, while finishing pitcher Andrew Smithson had 63 pitches, 38 strikes and four strikeouts.
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