“My older brother, who is in the third grade, was injured, so I suddenly got to play, and I’m happy to hit a home run.”
Seoul High School freshman Kim Ji-woo (16) announced his star emergence with a huge home run in the second game of the 79th Cheongryonggi National High School Baseball Championship and weekend league championship between Seoul High School and Korea Masa BC at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Monday.
Kim, who started the game as the No. 5 designated hitter, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth inning with his team leading 9-1 and took a pitch from Korea Masa BC pitcher Kim Chang-ju. The ball went straight down the left-field line and cleared the left-field fence. The dugout and the stands erupted in gasps and applause. The ball traveled about 130 meters and reached a speed of 169 kilometers per hour. It was a big home run that is rarely seen in high school baseball.
Kim Ji-woo, a freshman, made a surprise appearance as the designated hitter when the starting third-year player was suddenly injured. But he lived up to the faith of Seoul High coach Kim Dong-soo. He drew a walk in his first at-bat in the first inning and reached base on an infield single in the third inning on a ball that nearly went to the left of the second baseman. In the fourth inning, she capped it off with her biggest home run of the day. She went 2-for-2 with a double, one walk, one RBI and three runs scored before being replaced by Kim Se-jung in the fifth inning. She reached base in every at-bat and scored in every at-bat, contributing to Seoul Go’s fifth-inning comeback win.
After the game,
Kim Ji-woo smiled shyly, saying, “I knew I wasn’t supposed to play today, but I suddenly got the chance to play, so I thought I would try to hit the ball well to avoid embarrassing my brothers, but I didn’t expect to hit a home run.”
Kim Ji-woo, who attended Seoul’s Isu Elementary School and Gangnam Middle School before entering Seoul High this year, had already made a name for himself as a promising player at Gangnam Middle. With a height of 184 centimeters and a solid physique, he already attracted attention as a pitcher in middle school, 카지노사이트 추천 posting a fastball in the 140-kilometer range and hitting home runs and other long balls at the plate. This season, he is still going strong, batting .571 with seven hits and four RBIs in nine at-bats in eight games.
“Kim Ji-woo has been a promising player since middle school, and as a pitcher, his fastball is currently around 147~148km and he has a good batting feel,” said Seoul High coach Kim Dong-soo. “His main position right now is third base, and I think he will grow into an infielder and hitter by his sophomore year.” “If he continues to train and work hard, I think he will be a great talent in the KBO in the future,” Kim said.
Kim’s idols are Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who is a two-hitter in the major leagues, and Kim Do-young, who has been playing MVP-level baseball for the KIA this season. “I will continue to do my best to become an outstanding player like Kim Do-young and Ohtani,” Kim said.
On the day,
Seoul Go advanced to the Round of 16 with a 15-1 fifth-inning cold-game victory over upstart Korea MasaBC, pounding out 16 hits behind Kim Ji-woo’s evenly matched performance. In the top of the first inning, the team scored five runs on an RBI single by No. 4 Wang Ji-hoon, an RBI double by No. 6 Jeon Yoo-min and an RBI double by No. 7 Kim Ji-heon.
In the bottom of the second inning, Hankook Martha BC pulled within one run, but Seoul came back with four runs in the top of the third. Jeon Yoo-min’s RBI double, Kim Ji-heon’s RBI single, a fielding error and a sacrifice bunt plated one run each.
After Kim Ji-woo’s grand slam in the top of the fourth inning made it 10-1, Seoul Go exploded for five runs in the top of the fifth inning and held the opposing bats scoreless in the bottom of the fifth inning to secure the 15-1 fifth inning victory. In addition to Kim Ji-woo, who hit a huge home run, No. 6 hitter Jeon Yoo-min went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored, and No. 7 hitter Kim Ji-heon went 3-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored.
Seoul Go will face Gangwon’s baseball powerhouse Gangneung Go in the round of 16 for a spot in the quarterfinals.