Toronto Tigers beat Belmont Seagulls 7-6 in extra-inning victory in the Newcastle Baseball grand final at Miller Field on September 25, 2022

The one-run win came in an extra inning after the two teams were locked at 6-6 following the ninth.

The victory was also three years in the making after two seasons disrupted by COVID and no finals since 2019.

Belmont were playing in a remarkable 30^th consecutive first-grade grand final but could not mark the occasion with glory.

The Tigers, who beat Belmont in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 title deciders, lost just one game on the way to the minor premiership in another disrupted season this year due to ongoing wet weather.

They looked to be cruising early on Sunday before the Seagulls came back at them to lock things up at 6-6 and send the game into the extra inning.

Belmont batted first but came up empty-handed with the bat before Michael Campbell and Kurt Eden combined for the winning run with two out.

Campbell hit a triple to get to third base then Eden hit a single to left-field to get his teammate home.

Toronto coach Justin Norman was thrilled to claim another win after a couple of years off.

"It was a very even contest," Norman said. "Defence from both teams was solid. It just came down to offence and we probably didn't fire as well as we should have and it took us until the last to get across the line.

"We took the lead early and I think were leading 6-1 at one stage but took the foot off the throttle a bit and sort of thought we were going to take it quite easily.

"Belmont fought back like they always do and fought back well and pushed us all the way to the end."

The Tigers had advanced directly to the grand final as minor premiers while third-placed Belmont joined them after beating second-placed White Sox 17-9 in the qualifying final one week earlier.

The Seagulls had not beaten Toronto in two previous encounters this season but a disappointed Belmont player-coach Chris Hook knew they had come close to winning their first premiership since nine in row between 2008 and 2016.

"Toronto got up by five early on and we came back," Hook said. "It was 6-6 for three or four innings where no one scored.

"Unfortunately, we had some chances in the ninth inning to get a hit to try to win it. We had some runners in scoring position and couldn't come up with the clutch hit.

"It's unfortunate but it was a really good game, and it was a good end to the season. We just ended up on the wrong side."

The match was moved from Boomerang Field to Belmont after rain on Saturday.

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