Ambitions and determination aside, sometimes a sports season begins on a sour note.

And the Vikings baseball team opened its season on such a note.

With a horror story of walks and missed opportunities at the plate on Friday, the Vikes dropped its season opener against the Bainbridge Island Spartans, 7-6.

“It was a disappointing start to the season,” head coach Jeff Weible said. “I think we had the game in control and didn’t finish it off when we had the opportunity.”

At the plate the Bucs struck out looking five times. On the mound Kingston tallied approximately nine walks and a hit batter. The first two Spartan runs and a total of four unearned runs were the outcome of Kingston’s pitching predicament.

Despite the game’s final tally, the home town hitters got off to a solid start.

The Vikes scored first and led the Spartans 4-0 after the second inning.

Fueled by 10 singles at bat and successful two-out plays, the Bucs bumped its lead to 6-3 at the bottom of the seventh inning.

But in the latter innings the Vikes racked up more walks than runs and couldn’t close the deal.

Two walks were given away in the sixth and four more in the seventh.

“It’s early and we’re still trying to figure things out,” Weible said. “At any level of baseball you just can’t walk people.”

Fortunately for the Vikings the loss came from a non-league opponent.

And a season-opener loss is the perfect platform for improvement.

“(The loss) will show them we have to play seven innings, I think we just sat back,” Weible said. “Hopefully we learned a lesson, we have to play seven innings, we have to throw strikes and we have to be more aggressive at the plate.”

On Saturday the Vikings had the opportunity to shake off Friday’s disappointment and travel to Shorewood for a few light-hearted duals on the diamond during the Shorewood jamborees.

North played two three-inning games and were a more polished team. The pitching roster threw well and the team was more aggressive.

“I was happy with how the kids came out and played,” Weible said. “It was a good day and we got some more bats and opportunities to play.”

The Vikes home game against Peninsula on Monday was canceled due to rain. It has not yet been rescheduled. Today North takes on former teammates the Kingston High School Buccaneers at home at 3:45.