Likened to a young Kane Williamson in terms of natural ability, Patel was named tournament MVP at NZC's National Primary School Girls Cup this time last year, after scoring two unbeaten centuries and finishing as the second highest wicket-taker.
She moved to Bay of Plenty from India with her family as a young child and began playing the game at Tauranga Primary School in Year 4.
In the one-day match, defending champions the Auckland Hearts suffered a shock 25-run loss at the hands of a side that won only two matches last season
Batting first, Northern Spirit's tally of 226/7 was underpinned by a Spirit record for the second wicket, opener Natalie Dodd (who top-scored with 93) and Emma Parker's 154-run partnership eclipsing the 127-run mark that had been set by Dodd and Anna Peterson - now bowling for the opposition - at the Mount in 2012/13.
Parker reached a career best 48 before Hearts bowler Regina Lili'i fought back to pick up 4-47.
Patel made her one-day debut in the Spirit XI and claimed the important maiden wicket of Anna Peterson.
Spirit also had the services of former Proteas Women wicketkeeper Bernadine Bezuidenhout, who is working her way through a two-year international stand-down period after shifting to New Zealand, as well as Scotland internationals Kari Anderson and Katie McGill
By 129/7 in the 34th over, the Hearts had still needed a further 88 - and a big finish from their tailenders to get across the line.
White Fern Holly Huddleston and Lili'i appeared to have answered the emergency call with a 60-run partnership for the eighth wicket, Huddleston top-scoring with 43 before she was crucially run out by Sam Curtis when a further 38 runs were still required.
The heat went on again, Curtis claiming debutant Feala Vaela Pula to have the Hearts 199/9, 28 runs now required from the last 4.4 overs.
But the Hearts would only manage two more singles before Curtis struck again in the same over, claiming a first-up win with her new team against her old teammates.
