The Lakers’ perfect record has been sunk.
After six rounds of victories, the Nagambie women’s side got its first taste of defeat at Princess Park, Shepparton, on Sunday.
Shepparton United won the toss and elected to get bat in hand first.
Nagambie seemed to be at its usual best early on when Sharay Slivarich had Dianne Poole out lbw for a duck with the third ball of the day.
However, Mel Saunders joined Jessie Barassi at the crease and they put on a show.
By the time Barassi’s wicket fell, Shepparton United had added 87 runs, with Barrasi contributing 24 of them.
Saunders remained constant at the crease as Barassi’s departure started a chain reaction.
Slivarich cleaned up the tail and had four wickets to her name, with a hat-trick slipping her by in the 16th over.
After its 25 overs, Shepparton United had set a target of 116 for Nagambie to chase down.
Shepparton started its bowling spell in style, taking the wickets of Shae Merrifield, Evie Merrifield and Kelsey Abbott at the expense of five runs.
The ever-reliable Kait Carracher and Sandy Ezard were forced to dig in.
The two batters complimented each other perfectly as Ezard rotated the strike and Carracher took any opportunity she could to whack balls to the boundary.
The captain brought up her first half-century of the season and the Lakers looked to gain the ascendancy.
It can often be hard to regain concentration after making a milestone, which proved to be true.
Karracher was out without putting another run on the board as Thushali Premarathna caught her to give Saunders her first wicket.
The lower-order batters could not make an impact as Shepparton United charged through the Lakers’ line-up.
Nagambie survived being bowled out, but when its 25 overs were up, it was well short of the opposition’s total.
Shepparton United won by 31 runs.
The loss saw Nagambie drop to fourth, given the close contest at the top of the table.
The Lakers hope to bounce back on Sunday as they travel to Echuca to take on the Green side.