When the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs began, Upper St. Clair and South Fayette were not favorites to reach the finals.

Upper St. Clair (12-9) was seeded No. 12, and South Fayette (14-9) was No. 10.

But both teams proved everyone wrong, and they met for the third time this season in the finals Wednesday.

The third time was the charm for Upper St. Clair, which defeated South Fayette, 3-2, at EQT Park in Washington.

The section rivals met twice during the regular season and South Fayette won both games, 17-6 and 7-6.

But this time, it was Upper St. Clair winning and holding up its first WPIAL title since Sean Casey led the Panthers to the 1992 championship.

“I am happy for the players,” Upper St. Clair coach Jeff Donati said. “These players will remember this forever.”

South Fayette coach Marc “Bubba” Snider called Section 2-5A the best in the WPIAL. Both teams proved that in the WPIAL playoffs by defeating higher-seeded teams.

“They are not the same team we played earlier this season, and neither are we,” Snider said. “In my mind, this was a race to 21 outs and they won the race.”

Upper St. Clair pushed across the winning run in the top of the seventh inning when Brooks York doubled and courtesy runner Aaron Goettler scored on Tanner Schroeck’s RBI hit.

“I take the blame for this loss because I did not have my team ready,” Snider said. “Baseball is not a game of inches; it is a game of centimeters.”

Winning pitcher Max Dietrich then worked out of jam in the bottom of the inning to clinch the title.

Dietrick allowed four hits, walked two and struck out three.

“Max was phenomenal,” Donati said. “He asked for the ball. He wanted it and that is a huge moment. He did not flinch.”

Dietrick added: “I knew I could shut them down. I pitched four innings against them and gave up two runs.”

South Fayette grabbed a 1-0 lead when Bo Stover hit the first pitch of the fourth inning from Dietrick over the left-center field fence.

Dietrick said Stover crushed a mistake pitch.

Upper St. Clair responded with two runs in the fifth inning off South Fayette starter Trey Skeen, who retired the first 12 batters he faced.

“I knew we could get to their pitcher,” Donati said. “Their kid was really good, but so was ours.”

Cooper Stutzman started the inning with a single to center field, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Schroeck.

Schroeck then moved to third on a single by Luke Marchinsky and scored on Finn Baird’s infield single.

“I feel we are the best hitting team in the WPIAL,” Dietrick said. “Anytime we go down, we responded.”

South Fayette tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Evan Mazia doubled and scored an out later on a single by Colt Cloherty.

South Fayette was seeking its third WPIAL title.

Upper St. Clair will face New Oxford, the fourth-place team from District 3, while South Fayette gets the District 6 champion on Monday at site and time to be determined.