Whether they won or lost, the significance of playing the Newcastle District Cricket Association (NDCA) women's T20 final last week on No.1 Sportsground was not lost on opposing teams.
It was the first time an NDCA women's match had been scheduled for Newcastle's premier cricket ground in another milestone moment as the female game continues to grow.
In four short years, the competition has exploded from four teams to 14 across two grades this summer - four in division one and nine in division two.
Waratah-Mayfield have played in all four finals and after losing three finally secured their first victory with a seven-wicket win over Newcastle City in a thrilling title decider at No.1 Sportsground on December 21.
"Newcastle cricket have done wonders in promoting the game and getting a lot more girls involved," Waratah captain Skye Lovett, who hit the winning runs in the final with eight balls to spare, said after the club's historic win.
"It's good that they respect us and hold us in high stead to be able to christen the ground basically with a really good final."
Lovett and co-captain Emma-Jayne Howe, who was named player of the match for the final, are among a core group who have played with Waratah-Mayfield since the women's team was formed.
The club entered two sides this season.
"It's taken that four years to develop our crew here, but it's good that we've got a division one and division two team in," Lovett said.
"We've been working on that for the past few seasons."
Howe, who hit 22 runs off 32 balls in the final and took one wicket, had played AFL on No.1 Sportsground but never cricket.
"It gave you runs for your money," Howe said.
"If you played a nice shot it actually went to the boundary. It didn't stop. It was really good to play on."
Newcastle City captain Kirsten Smith described the experience as "unreal".
NDCA chairman Paul Marjoribanks told the Newcastle Herald continuing to grow the game will be the focus of a season review in January.
"We'll look at what worked and what didn't work and what we can do for the future," Marjoribanks said.
"Things like the number of grades. We played nine-a-side in our second tier this year, which was incredibly successful. It took the pressure off player numbers and also left a few gaps in the field for the batters to be able to score a few runs and play good cricket.
"We've just got that growing pain between I suppose the more elite players, who play high-level cricket and play in this competition, and the younger ones coming through and the players coming back to cricket.
"But overall, it's been pretty positive right through the season ... our expectation is to have growth and make sure it's controlled growth."
Charlestown and Waratah both entered two teams for the first time this year while Stockton, Toronto and Wallsend were competition newcomers.
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