It certainly wasn’t its easiest win of the season, but it definitely was the most exciting and came at just the right time.

Northwestern battled from behind twice Thursday to win the Colonial League championship with an 8-7 win over Bangor in nine innings.

The Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, and then two more in the bottom of the ninth to win their first league title since 2006.

“It’s just amazing,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Zimmerman of how his players battled to get the win. “It’s a long journey to get here, and we’re not done by any means, but at the same time, we’re going to enjoy this one for a little while.”

The Tigers (20-1) were down 7-6 with two outs and no runners on base in the bottom of the ninth when Adana Funk worked a walk. Kylie Zentz followed with a base hit to right to send Funk to third. An error on the play allowed Funk to score the tying run and put Zentz on second. Brynn Balliet followed with a single to left, and when the ball was misplayed, Zentz sprinted home to score the winning run for Northwestern.

“I knew that I had to make some sort of contact and put the ball in play,” said Funk of her ninth-inning at bat. “Being up there with two strikes definitely was a little nerve wracking, but when I saw the 3-2 pitch coming in low, I knew I was going to get on base.”

While Funk, Zentz and Balliet provided the ninth inning heroics, there were plenty of other highlights to say the least.

After Bangor (18-2) put up three runs in the first, Northwestern came up with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-triple from Morgan Farthing that scored Novalie Duffy-Slemmer, who was a courtesy runner after Balliet led off with a walk.

The Slaters came back with two in the top of the third to take a 5-1 lead. Bangor pitcher Nicky Smith then delayed a Northwestern comeback in the bottom of the inning, but the Tigers weren’t going to be kept down for long.

The bottom of the fourth opened with Molly Mitman, Marissa Christman, Olivia Stofflet and Izzy Akelaitis all picking up singles to make it 5-2. One out later, Zentz singled to center, driving in two more runs and making it a one-run game at 5-4, which would stand until Bangor picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh.

Down by two, Northwestern didn’t take long to come back.

Sage Toman led off with a walk, and Farthing got a hold of a 3-2 pitch and launched it over the center field fence to tie the game. Smith came back to finish off the inning and deny the Tigers a victory - at least temporarily.

Northwestern loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but were unable to score. Bangor looked to put the game away in the top of the ninth, going up 7-6, but didn’t count on the two-out, two-strike heroics from the Tigers in the bottom of the inning.

“It wasn’t the prettiest hit, but I knew I just needed a little single to get the run in, and I did it,” said Balliet of her game-winning hit. “I struggled in my first two at-bats, and I knew there were some things to work on, so I just focused on that, and it worked.”

THE WAITING GAME ... The Tigers enter districts as the top seed in Class 4A, and will be off until Thursday when they host the winner of the matchup between fourth-seeded Wilson (10-11) and fifth-seeded Tamaqua (9-11). Northwestern opened the season with a 13-2 win over Tamaqua in a non-league game, and later in the season beat Colonial League foe Wilson 12-2.

OOPS ... The game wasn’t the cleanest that either team had played all season. Both teams were charged with six errors that led to a total of seven unearned runs. Six of Bangor’s seven runs were unearned.

Bangor 302 000 101 - 7 10 6

N’western 100 300 202 - 8 13 6

Smith and Harvat; Balliet and Stofflet. W - Balliet. L - Smith. HR: Northwestern - Farthing (7th, one on).