The Shoalhaven Mariners Baseball Association , also known as the Shoalhaven Mariners is a baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 club based in the northern Shoalhaven

Shoalhaven

The City of Shoalhaven is a Local Government Area in south-eastern New South Wales , Australia, two hours south of Sydney. It is more or less conterminous with an area referred to as The Shoalhaven. It is on the Pacific Ocean and the Princes Highway and is the terminus of the South Coast line...

 and is one of the smallest clubs in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n baseball. They are the youngest club participating in the Illawarra Baseball League

Illawarra Baseball League

The Illawarra Baseball League is a sports league based around Wollongong, Kiama and the Shoalhaven. It conducts the sport of baseball as the regions organising body. It has six active clubs, with another two clubs not currently participating in active competition...

.

Despite being the youngest side in the league, the side has avoided being placed in the Minor League

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

.

In previous seasons, the Mariners have fielded only two teams in the three team major league

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

. This allowed the club to develop quickly and in the 2010 season, the Mariners will field three teams in the senior league.

The Mariners currently play out of Fred Finch Park in Berkeley

Berkeley, New South Wales

Berkeley is a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales. The suburb is located in Wollongong's southern suburbs, on the northern shore of Lake Illawarra....

, Wollongong. The club is currently in the design phase of a new complex to be built at the South Nowra Soccer Complex, which will be an exclusive baseball facility.