The long winter is finally over for baseball fans in Dufferin as diamonds across the area resound to the call of “play ball!”

One of the first teams to take to the field were the Orangeville Kings who are off to a 1-1 start in Intercounty Fastball League action for 2010.

Favoured by many to repeat as league champions last season, the Kings bats went silent in the playoffs, forcing the champions to relinquish their crown in 2009.

In their season opener however, those bats didn't take long to shake off the winter rust, putting together a combination of singles, doubles, triples and a solo home run to take an 11- 3 decision on the road against Puslinch last Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs would take an early 1-0 lead on a stolen base and Orangeville error before the Kings started swinging in the third.

With bases loaded, Mike Lake tripled to score all three base runners before Puslinch would retire the side and add a pair of their own in the bottom half of three.

Kent Campbell cashed in Kyle Anderson with a single early in the fourth and Joel Pegg was awarded an RBI after reaching base on a Puslinch error to make it 5-3.

Anderson’s two-run RBI triple in the fifth brought home Rich Long and Scott Gordon, widening Orangeville's lead to four runs.

Slow and steady, a procession of singles by the Kings added three more in the sixth before Campbell's solo shot over the fence in the top of seven sealed the scoring with Puslinch going 0-for-three with their last trio of batters to give Orangeville a 7- 3 decision with Scott Gordon recording his first win of the year on the mound for the Kings.

Right back at it the next night in Rockwood, Orangeville got things started in the third with Anderson crossing the plate on a RBI single by Campbell, only to have Rockwood reply with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Not wanting to fall behind, Pegg earned his way onto base with

triple to start things off and made his way home when Jeff Donaldson scrambled to first on a Rockwood error. A single by Long and walk to Gordon put runners in scoring position for Orangeville, but they were only able to collect one more run off

Brad Seltzer single before having to again take to the field in the bottom of four tied up at 3-3.

A combination of errors by the Kings allowed Rockwood to score another in the bottom half of the inning which proved to be the game winner, as both teams hut each other down in the final three innings to give Rockwood a 4-3 win.

Orangeville makes the trek north to Dundalk for their next game on Monday, May 11 against the Dundalk Smoke. They then wind their way back to Orangeville through Arthur on the 13th and Ponsonby May 17th before settling in at home on the Idlewyld diamond for a game against Alma on Tuesday May 18th