SAINT MARYS — The District 9 Class A baseball championship game lasted seven innings.

But it was the fifth frame when A-C Valley lost its grip on a long-overdue team title for the school.

Elk County Catholic sent nine batters to the plate in the inning, scoring six runs on five hits, and went on to claim the district crown with a 10-1 win Thursday.

A-C Valley was in search of its first team title since the boys track squad won District 9 in 1990.

Thursday's game was knotted at 1 entering the fifth, which proved to be the final inning for Falcons starting pitcher Allan Eaton.

The junior right-hander gave up an infield single to ECC's Ricky Pearsall and a run-scoring triple to Eric Wehler to open the inning.

Three of the next four batters reached base, two of them on errors.

Still, the Falcons' deficit was a manageable one at 3-1 when Joe McLaughlin stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and delivered a three-run double to left, pushing the Crusaders' edge to 6-1.

McLaughlin scored on a single by Kyle Schneider before the inning came to an end with the Falcons down by six runs.

In five innings, Eaton gave up seven runs, three of them earned, as the Falcons committed four errors.

"Errors tend to kill us," said Falcons coach John Irwin. "We had a lot of them today and they made us pay for them. But I don't want that to damper what we've been able to do this season."

Eaton, who had been nursing an injured left ankle, struck out three and walked one on Thursday, shouldering the loss.

The Falcons' offense struggled against ECC starter Joe Childs.

A single by A-C Valley's Reed Terwilliger scored Keaton King to tie the score at 1 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

After the Crusaders (13-7) took control in their half of the fifth, Luke Daghir relieved Childs and allowed no runs on one hit over the final three innings.

In all, A-C Valley tallied four hits.

"(Childs) is just a sophomore and he did a great job today," said ECC coach Joe Voght.

"Daghir has a good curveball and that kept us a bit off-balance once he came in, but we just didn't hit the ball like we're capable of," said Irwin.

The eighth-seeded Falcons knocked off top-seeded Clarion (12-7) in the quarterfinals and fifth-seeded Curwensville (6-3) in the semis to reach the title game.

"It was a good run," said Irwin. "We just didn't play our game today."

The Falcons (11-7) will face District 10 champion Mercyhurst Prep Monday in the state playoffs at a site and time to be determined.

Elk Co. Catholic 100 063 0 — 10 13 2A-C Valley 000 100 0 — 1 4 4W: Joe Childs 4 IP (3 K, 2 BB).

L: Allan Eaton 5 IP (3 K, 1 BB).

Elk County Catholic (13-7): Ricky Pearsall 3-1B 3R, Eric Wehler 3B R RBI, Joe Jacob 1B R RBI, Luke Daghir 1B, Jake Cortina 2B R 2 RBI, Ben Daghir 1B R RBI, Zach Brody 2-1B, Joe McLaughlin 2B R 3 RBI, Kyle Schneider 2-1B RBI, Tyler Herzing 2R

A-C Valley (11-7): Matt Bartley 1B, Blayne McGuirk 1B, Reed Terwilliger 1B RBI, Joe Kaufman 1B, Keaton King R

Monday: PIAA playoffs: A-C Valley vs. Mercyhurst Prep, site and time TBD