The Sudbury U9 Shamrocks dipped their toes into the competition pool in northeastern Ontario last weekend.

This coming weekend, they take a full plunge.

The locals swept a two game set with the Muskoka Hornets at the Terry Fox Sports Complex on Sunday, showing mid-season form offensively and learning from their mistakes defensively.

The Shamrocks kicked things off with a 23-13 victory as pitcher Brock Lafortune and third baseman Jack Stone both reached base on all five of their respective at-bats.

"We came out hitting well, led by Brock (lead-off hitter)," said head coach Scott Ginson. "Our defense was strong, but we threw it around a little too much and gave some extra bases away that led to some unearned runs."

Lafortune continued his flawless weekend at the plate, going 6/6 in game two, a stat-line that was matched by teammate Cole Ginson as Sudbury blasted Muskoka 28-5.

"Our bats picked up where we left off in game one, but the big difference was our defence was solid - we minimized our mistakes," added coach Ginson.

The diamond crew are back in action this coming weekend, hosting the Soo Black Sox in a four game set, the same opponent who took three of four from Ginson and company earlier this summer (two of the losses came by a single run).

The solid Sudbury lineup was also bolstered by the return of shortstop Adam Dabliz, a youngster who "adds depth defensively as well as a big second year stick to our lineup", in the words of his coach.

Rounding out the U9 Shamrocks roster are Andrew Pollack, Cole McNeil, Nate Didone, Blake Gertz, Nathan Serafini, Cohen Boyuk and Matheos Carriere. Joining Ginson on the coaching staff are Mike Serafini, Blake Didone, Sami Dabliz and team manager Melissa Serafini.

Game times this weekend are set for Saturday at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m., and then Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.