This year's competition has seen Echuca Green and Echuca White merge and Moama join the competition to maintain an 11-team line-up.
One of the final four sides last season, opponents Katamatite shaped up as no easy beats as the teams to the pitch at Katamatite Recreation Reserve.
Echuca won the toss and sent Katamatite in to bat, hoping the homes side’s batters would suffer from some early-season rust.
However, that didn’t eventuate in the early overs, as Katty captain Christina Roberts played a composed innings, scoring with consistency, while opening partner Abigail Brooker did well to hold onto her wicket.
Brooker eventually fell in the fifth over through the efforts of Sophie Good with the score at 1-23 and new batter Sienna Hutchinson joined her captain for her own extended stay at the crease.
The two advanced the total to 44 before Roberts was forced to retire, having faced 30 balls.
Unfortunate replacement Annika Edis found herself run out two balls later, having not yet faced up to a delivery, triggering a decline in run flow for Katamatite.
The loss of Hutchinson (7) was quickly compounded by the dismissal of Sophie Stanley and Katty had lost 3-4.
Gail Galvin made a hard-fought eight but Echuca’s vigilance in the field prevented the other Katamatite batters from doing much to trouble the scorers and the host limped through the second half of its innings to post 6-58 after its 20-over allotment.
Roberts’s 24 unbeaten was by far the shining light for Katamatite, her retirement coinciding with the runs drying up for her side.
Four Echuca bowlers managed breakthroughs, with Gillian Noelker standing out, taking 2-0 from her two overs.
Seeking 58 for victory, Echuca cruised to the total with little resistance.
Maisy Byrne, reigning best on ground from last year’s grand final, is looking in even more ominous form to start this season, belting 38 from 29 deliveries to stun the Katamatite attack.
Fellow opener Noelker (18) was an able accomplice as the pair put up 60 runs in just 9.3 overs to reach the required total without loss.
The Katamatite bowlers were unable to make any inroads and Roberts’s economical bowling saw her give up just three runs in her two overs.
The opening round also served up an enticing clash between local rivals Rochester and Bamawm-Lockington United at Windridge Oval.
BLU won the toss and sent Rochester in to bat, with Cadence Major and Sarah Taylor at the crease for the first deliveries of the new season.
Major quickly found herself back in the sheds thanks to a nifty piece of work from Daneika Hucker, who reeled in a catch off her own bowling.
Hucker also dismissed Taylor for six, putting Rochy in early trouble.
Miranda Crawford steadied the innings with a valuable 10 before she was run out by the combination of Hucker and Bree Styles.
The presence of debutant Taya Munro in the middle for Rochy was a welcome one, her important 20 from 31 deliveries eventually leading her side to a defendable 84 all out.
Styles was the pick of the bowling unit for BLU taking a tidy 4-11, while Hucker grabbed two wickets and Aurelia Kemp and Chloe Forster chipped in with one each.
The BLU run chase started with promise as openers Amy Fitzgerald and Styles ticked the score over to 20 without loss.
Ruby Brentnall linked up with Styles and the pair put BLU into a strong position, Brentnall’s wicket placing the score at 2-35.
Unfortunately for the Lions, the middle order wasn’t able to replicate the success of its earlier batters and wickets began to tumble cheaply.
BLU lost six wickets for just 14 runs, with mishaps between the wickets a key contributor.
Two were lost via run out during this stretch, while the Lions' final dismissal also came between the wickets as BLU slumped to 62 all out, 22 runs short of Rochy’s total.
Styles’s 13 was the best score among the BLU batters, while for Rochester seven players got their name on the wicket-takers’ list, with Rebecca Wade (2-6) the only bowler to strike twice.
In other results, Mooroopna took down Kyabram Redbacks by 79 runs, and Shepparton Youth Club United defeated Nagambie by six wickets.
Cooma forfeited its tie with Nathalia and Moama had the bye.
Next week’s matches see BLU travel to Cooma and Nagambie host Mooroopna, while Rochester has the bye.
Echuca will visit Nathalia, SYC United will be in Katamatite and Moama will get its debut season under way against Kyabram.
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