The Perth Heat dynasty marched on last night when the all-conquering Australian Baseball League team denied Adelaide Bite a drought-breaking victory in front of their home crowd at Norwood Oval and clinched a fourth championship in five seasons.

The Heat forced last night’s decider by recording a 5-3 win in extra innings in game two on Saturday night.

They dropped game one 3-2 to the minor premiers on Friday.

But the defending champions were never really troubled in the decider as they stormed to a 12-5 win to ensure the Claxton Shield would head to Perth again.

Catcher Allan de San Miguel, who was the hero with a clutch hit in game two, was named the most valuable player of the championship series.

The result meant Heat manager Steve Fish matched the effort of his predecessor and now Bite manager Brooke Knight in leading the WA outfit to successive championships.

Veteran Tim Kennelly, who got the ball rolling with a home run in the first inning, said it was a wonderful feeling to snare another championship. He said he never doubted Perth could defend their title, despite a poor start to the season.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before it all clicked,” Kennelly said. “We all had that self-belief through the clubhouse that we would get it done.”

Kennelly, 28, has taken up a job as a firefighter and will not be able to play for the Heat full-time next season.

But he denied he had played his final game in Heat colours.

“I’m not ruling out playing,” he said. “I’m still young, I can still contribute to the team.”

It was a run feast in the first two innings for the Heat as they skipped out to a 6-0 lead after 

Canadian Tim Smith notched a home run to put the Bite under serious pressure.

Mitch Denning made it 6-1 with a homer of his own, but when the Heat added another three runs at the top of the fourth they had an eight-run buffer and a seemingly insurmountable advantage.

The Bite hit back with three runs at the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Craig Maddox homer.

This ended Perth starter Daniel Schmidt’s night and brought Mike McCarthy to the mound.

Knight was forced to change his pitching staff as the Heat bats dominated the opening innings, and Josh Tols was effective after taking over late in the fourth.

But Tols’ departure was immediately followed by a Luke Hughes three-run homer which looked to be the killer blow as the visitors went up 12-4 at the top of the seventh.