Skipper Paul Harrison won the toss and decided to bowl first.
New Tasmanian left arm quick bowler Brendan Godfrey and Chris Lyth opened the attack with no luck on their side.
The first wicket to fall was from Godfrey who got one to nick to keeper Mark Harrison.
Forge Valley were looking at a huge total with a few big scores from N Kendrew (53 from 73) and M Glew (82 from 104).
Whitby's pace attack was heading nowhere until captain Paul Harrison called on to Mark Jackson to get a few wickets.
Jackson, who bowled with great spin, took out the top order taking seven wickets for the match with figures of 14-2-56-7.
Whitby were chasing an achievable target of 178 to claim victory but lost three wickets for 14 runs.
Whitby needed a few big scores from their batsmen. Two men who stepped up to the challenge were Mark Harrison, who hit 43 from 93 runs, and Paul Buck (59 from 83).
The home side were getting back on track to chase down Forge Valley's runs until Mark Harrison skied one to keeper Hartley.
Whitby relied on Godfrey (31 off 38) – who made a decent debut – and Paul Buck to finish off chasing the runs.
The home side were looking aggressive until Buck was bowled a full toss which he hit above waist height to be caught and Whitby fell 20 runs short.