Chester County scored eight unanswered runs in the last five innings to win, and it will next play in the semifinals Sunday against SOL American/Continental. The two teams will meet at Citizens Bank Park.
Last season, Chester County fell one game short of playing at the Phillies' stadium.
"It's exciting," coach John Rozich said. "Any time you get to play in a big-league ballpark, it's exciting for the kids, exciting for the coaches. We're just going to be happy that we're there."
SOL National/Bicentennial jumped ahead early by scoring six in the fourth as pitcher Tyler Eckman couldn't find the strike zone. He faced seven batters in the inning, walking three, surrendering two hits and throwing a wild pitch before exiting. SOL National/Bicentennial scored another in the fifth, building the lead to 8-1.
But Chester County chipped away. Dylan Jenkins brought home three with a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the fifth, and Mike Munnelly followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-5.
Chester County almost added another run in the seventh, but second-base umpire Tom Bartley ruled that Brett Davis had left third too soon while tagging up on a potential sacrifice fly. Instead, Bartley called Davis out, the inning ended, and Chester County fans booed.
"We saw the same thing," plate umpire Stu Rosner said. "He didn't tag up."
Young said that the call motivated Chester County, that the players became angry - "good angry," he said. In the ninth, they broke through. Chester County started the inning with a pair of singles and two walks, cutting the deficit to 8-6.
Eric Sigovich then scored on a passed ball, and Young drove the tying run home with a single up the middle.
Young later stood on second, watching the next two batters strike out. But as he thought the rally would die, the ball ricocheted off the backstop, and Bliss crossed the plate.
In Thursday's second game, Suburban One American/Continental defeated Tri-Cape, 2-1.
Tri-Cape took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Suburban One American/Continental evened the score in the bottom of the first on Zach Prendergast's two-out RBI single and took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Tyler Kirkpatrick's two-out RBI single.
SOL Nat./Bic. 010610000 - 8135
Chester County 010040004 - 9152
WP: Zach Rybak. LP: Anthony Scafidi. 2B: SOL-Cole Creighton, David Blount, Max Vido; CC-Brett Davis. 3B: CC-Dylan Jenkins.
Tri-Cape 100000000 - 192
SOL Amer./Continental 10010000x - 260
WP: Ricky Dennis. LP: Joe Santone.
FIRST ROUND
Sunday
SOL National/Bicentennial 9, Jersey Shore 7
Chester County 13, Philadelphia Catholic 7
SOL American/Continental 9, Delaware North 5
Monday
Tri-Cape 18, Olympic Colonial 3
Lehigh Valley 12, Mercer County 3
Inter-Ac/Independents 12, Delaware South 11
Tuesday
Burlington County 12, Berks County 8
Wednesday
Delaware County 9, Philadelphia Public 3
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday
Chester County 9, SOL National/Bicentennial 8
SOL American/Continental 2, Tri-Cape 1
Friday
At Ashburn Field in FDR Park.
Lehigh Valley at Inter-Ac/Independents, 9 a.m.
Burlington County at Delaware County, 12:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Sunday
At Citizens Bank Park.
SOL American/Continental at Chester County, 9:30 a.m.
Friday winners, 1 p.m.
FINAL
Monday
10 a.m. at Citizens Bank Park.
Inquirer staff writer Phil Anastasia contributed to this article.
