The Lakers worked hard to post a total of 6-225 after being sent in to bat by the Tigers, but had to work even harder with the ball to secure all six points from the clash.
Although the home side at Central Park was put on the back foot early in the chase, Nagambie had to negotiate a rescue mission from Andrew Lloyd (68) and Fahad Mirza (40 from 41 deliveries) as well as likely the greatest number 11 batsman in Cricket Shepparton history to eventually reign supreme.
Rohan Larkin's record for the Tigers speaks for itself — with almost 7000 A-grade runs registered on the online My Cricket database alone — but even though the Lightfoot medalist has not played consistent top-tier cricket for a number of years, his arrival at the crease as the last man in the sheds still sent a shiver through the fielding side.
“They needed 30 odd with three overs left and he (Larkin) strode out to the crease and I thought he might be able to get them over the line,” Nagambie captain Mark Nolan said.
“But we held our nerve.”
Larkin finished unbeaten on eight as the Tigers fell 21 runs short of parity, with Brayden Biggs (3-37), Jono Moore (2-46) and Nolan (2-29) doing the damage for the Lakers with the ball.
Nolan also top-scored with the bat in making 61, joined above the thirties by Luke Nolan (40) and Ricky Misiti (47) as Nagambie's entire top six made it to double figures.
“Rick got us off to a flyer and Luke was able to bat through and set up a few good partnerships,” Mark Nolan said.
“It would have been good for one of us to go on and get a big score but it wasn't to be.
“We dropped a few catches early and thought it might come back to haunt us — there were a few nervous moments through the middle period — but we managed to hold our nerve in the end.
“It was good to beat them, they had the wood over us last year and knocked us out of finals.”