Ben Mitchell in action for Warilla last year. Mitchell joined Shellharbour for this year's South Coast Cricket competition.
Brilliant knocks from new signings Ben Mitchell and Brynley Richards guided Shellharbour to an upset win over Warilla, while Oak Flats and Lake Illawarra won outright in the opening round of the South Coast season.
Shellharbour put last season's disappointing campaign well behind them as they lost just four wickets chasing down 225, led by Richards' 97 and 86 from new skipper Mitchell.
Shellharbour went on to post 313 as they claimed first innings points.
"Last season I don't think Shellharbour made more than 150, so it was a great effort," Mitchell, the former Warilla allrounder, said.
"It's only round one but we've got something to build on now."
At Croome Oval, a magnificent unbeaten 94 from Nathan Brown spearheaded Oak Flats to an outright win over The Rail.
Twenty-one wickets fell on the opening day, with Oak Flats scraping home for a first innings lead of five runs. The Rail declared at 8-156 on day two, with Oak Flats skipper Ryan Chatterton taking 4-32.
With Brown leading the way and supported by opener Kieran Gray (30), the Rats won by six wickets.
"The Rail's probably got the best bowling attack in the comp so it was a good win," Chatterton said.
Meanwhile, Lake Illawarra recovered from losing to Gerringong-Jamberoo Jets on first innings on day one to take outright points on day two.
The Jets led by just eight runs on first innings and Lake Illawarra smashed 3-198 off 35 overs on day two, led by an unbeaten 76 from skipper Shane Cody and 72 from Scott Ulcigrai.
The Lakers then dismissed the Jets for 151. Mark Ulcigrai, Cody and Ryan Smith took three wickets each as David Reid top-scored with 46.
Albion Park made a positive start to the season, beating last season's semi-finalists Kiama.
Resuming at 3-90 chasing 160, the Park made 177, led by Jay Ferguson's 39 and 38 from Raheel Chaudhry. Matt O'Brien took 6-63 for Kiama.
Chasing second innings bonus points, Kiama declared at 5-132 and had the Park in trouble at 7-63 in their second dig.