ALTOONA, Pa. -- Chartiers Valley coach Jim Jaskowski was a little concerned at how his team would handle the 10 a.m. start for the PIAA Class AAA championship yesterday.

When his players beat him to the breakfast table at the team hotel, he felt good.

The problem, though, was Chartiers Valley's bats slept in.

Chartiers Valley had a case of "too little, too late" and lost to Abington Heights, 3-2, in the title game at Blair County Ballpark.

Chartiers Valley had only three hits in the first six innings and fell behind, 3-0.

The Colts made a charge in the seventh, scoring two runs on three hits. The tying run was on third with one out, but Abington Heights reliever Peter Doggett got a strikeout and groundout to end the best season in Chartiers Valley's history.

"The whole playoffs, we've been getting runs in the first few innings," Chartiers Valley pitcher Dan Colavincenzo said. "We would build on that and get momentum. That didn't happen today."

Colavincenzo pitched a three-hitter and took the loss. As he stood on the field after the game, he glanced at the scoreboard in center field and shook his head.

"The score ends up 3-2. We have six hits. They have three. But we lose," Colavincenzo said. "It's tough."

Abington Heights (19-3), a Lackawanna County school near Scranton, used left-hander Steve Mills for 52/3 innings. Mills certainly was not overpowering (three strikeouts), but Chartiers Valley had trouble with him.

"We kind of lost our approach at the plate in the first few innings, in what we normally do," Jaskowski said. "That's what's frustrating. We usually hit the ball to right-center field a lot, and let the ball come to you from a left-hander. We had too many guys trying to pull the ball too much."

Colavincenzo pitched well, but had two problems -- Corey Spangenberg and Tony Castellano. They both hit their eighth home runs of the year.

"Those were two missiles they hit," Colavincenzo said.

Spangenberg, a VMI recruit, hit a two-run homer over the 375-foot sign in right-center field in the third to give Abington Heights a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, Castellano led off with a long home run to left-center field to make it 3-0.

"Dan threw well," Jaskowski said. "That's a good offensive team he faced. He basically only made two mistakes. But that's baseball."

The Colts had two base-running mistakes that were costly. In the second, sophomore Luke Horew reached first on an error and moved to second on a wild pitch before catcher Matt Mortell picked him off from home.

In the fourth, Andy McIntyre led off with Chartiers Valley's first hit, but Mortell also picked him off, with McIntyre being tagged out in a rundown.

"Those were momentum-changers," Jaskowski said.

In the seventh, Mike Perhosky had a leadoff single, and Colavincenzo walked. Ryan Landy and Brian Rodavich followed with RBI singles off Spangenberg, who had relieved Mills. That's when Abington Heights coach Bill Zalewski brought in Doggett, who choked the threat.

The win was a nice setup for graduation ceremonies last night at Abington Heights.

"Graduation is going to be a special moment for these guys," Zalewski said. "For the seniors, I can't think of a better way to go out.

"A 3-2 ball game and then you graduate. I mean, that's unbelievable."