Rams start season with stylish win

New diamond, new season ... but it was business as usual for Saints Rams when the 2017-18 senior men’s softball season opened on Saturday.

The province’s dominant club side over the past few campaigns began the new season with two comprehensive victories at Lansdowne Ball Park.

Playing on the province’s new synthetic turf diamond for the first time, Rams beat Central 11-3, then accounted for clubmates Saints Aces 12-1.

Despite the absence of their ace pitcher Kurt Schollum, Rams’ all-round batting prowess and sharpness in the field was too good for their opponents.

Players and onlookers did not have to wait long the see the first pitch dispatched over the outfield fence.

In the opening inning of the first game, Rams’ lead-off batter Denham Wisdom became to the first player to achieve that feat on the new diamond, with team mate Kyle Marfell repeating the dose later in the same match.

Drew Roberts began on the mound for Rams in the first game, with Ethan Jones throwing for Central.

Rams scored two on the back of Wisdom’s homer in the first, but Central replied through a run to their best batter Wiremu Tuhimata.

Rams added two more runs in the second, then four more in the fourth with Marfell slamming a three-bagger to lead 8-1.

Although Central replied with two of their own in the fifth, a change of pitcher from Roberts to Marfell sat them down.

Then when Marfell found the fence in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three more, the game was over.

There was no let-up in the following game. Rams scoring regularly in a match that went only four innings. Although Aces were regularly able to get bat to ball, too often they picked out a fielder and were unable to string a sequence of hits together.

Marfell continued on the mound for Rams with William Macdonald and Blake Wisdom both pitching for Aces.