Tamworth went into the division one final of the annual June baseball carnival buoyed by a confidence-boosting win over defending champions Interport in a round clash.
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Chris Bird starred in that match - smacking a key triple in Tamworth's 19-8 defeat of the perennial strong Brisbane outfit.
But there were no such batting power plays - at least not from the home side - when the two sides met in the final at Tamworth on Monday morning.
This time it was Interport who prevailed - the 13-3 result deflating a Tamworth side who, according their their centre fielder Brock Ridgewell, truly believed this would be their year.
Tamworth topped the table after the round games, with three wins and a loss. The loss was to Sydney side Deadstars.
Ridgewell said: "We finished in first place, so we were pretty confident [of winning the final]. But things happen."
He added: "We're disappointed with the result after beating Interport in the round games. Interport's a quality side.
"Just a few things didn't go our way [in the final] - basic errors.
"And when you do that against a quality side like them, a score like that is gonna happen."
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On the plus side, Ridgewell said Tamworth did well just to make the final.
Prior to this year, Ridgewell said the last time Tamworth made the final was eight years ago and they did not win, although that could not be immediately confirmed.
He is hopeful that if Tamworth can keep the nucleus of the side together, they can go a step further at the 2020 carnival - its 52nd instalment.
"People came into and out of the side [since last year's carnival] but predominately the core of the side was exactly the same [as 2018]," he said.
"We've got the country championships in August [in Blacktown]," he added.
"This weekend was a good chance to see where we sit for the country champs ... and try and take that out, I guess."
Ridgewell said veteran pitcher John Warren was among Tamworth's best players at the carnival. "He pitched well all weekend," Ridgewell said.
Country, Deadstars and Canberra finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in division one.
In the other finals, Misfits beat Beers 5-4(B-grade); Muppets down Team Duff 4-1 (C-grade); Bees crushed Chiefs 16-1 (D-grade); the Gunnedah Giants edged Black Beers 10-9 (E-grade) and Panthers beat Beers 6-3 (F-grade).
"Congratulations to all the winners, especially to our local team Gunnedah Giants," said event co-ordinator Warren Radford.
"Great effort to our Tamworth men on making the A-grade grand final," he added. "It's been awhile. Next year we will go one better."
