Defending champions the Auckland Hearts suffered a shock 25-run loss at the hands of a side that won only two matches last season.
Tauranga whizzkid Nensi Patel, 14, made her one-day debut in the Spirit XI and claimed the important maiden wicket of Anna Peterson.
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 Mount Maunganui in 2012/13.
Parker reached a career best 48 before Hearts bowler Regina Lili'i fought back to pick up 4-47.
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.