19 years from ’53 to 0′ to ’10 to 0’… Korean women’s baseball has grown once again 

 It took 19 full years. During the time when the river and mountain changed twice, Korean women’s baseball also grew little by little.

On the 26th (Korean time), the Korean women’s national baseball team suffered a 0-10 cold loss to the ‘world’s strongest’ Japan women’s national baseball team.

It was a predictable sequence. Unlike the reality of women’s baseball in Korea, where there is no unemployment or professional team due to lack of support or interest, in Japan, men’s baseball is so popular in Japan that it is nicknamed ‘Samurai Japan’ and women’s baseball is ‘Madonna Japan’.

The elite course for girls who want to play baseball is also one of the best in the world. Japanese female students have mastered the basics of baseball from elementary school and head to the business team after graduating from high school. When he retires after serving as a national team member, he goes to a front-line school and continues his leadership career. The virtuous cycle of training elite female baseball players is repeated.

The coaches of the Korean women’s baseball team were also surprised to see the Japanese team. Pitching coach Jeong Yong-woon, who played for the KIA Tigers and LG Twins, said, “From the moment I throw, I feel like a professional player. He is also generous with receiving. Japan is a total pro,” he said in amazement.

From the basics to the ability, system, support, interest, and player base, everything was different, so winning was like hoping for a miracle. However, today’s game proved that the difference in skill is narrowing.

In 2004, South Korea lost 0-53 to Japan. I couldn’t even score a single point and suffered a cold game loss in the 5th inning. At that time, there was no national women’s baseball team in Korea, so ‘Secretly’, a women’s baseball club led by Hyang-mi Ahn, ‘the first female baseball player in Korea’, competed in international competitions as a national team. It was only natural that the club, which was established less than four months ago, lost a lot of points to the Japanese national team, which had undergone systematic training.

However, today, 19 years after that, the national team faced Japan with an improved appearance. During that time, not much has changed. Still indifferent, he quietly prepared for the tournament, and was at a loss as he couldn’t even find a main sponsor, until Osstem Implant reached out and received 30 million won in support. Even this was sponsored by Choi Song-hee, a pitcher of the national team, because he is an Osstem employee.

Although they suffered a 0-10 cold loss with only one hit that day, the performance of the national team was hopeful. Until just a few years ago, he never missed the infield and outfield play that he often missed.

He even had one perfect ‘double play’. The double play of second baseman (Lee Ji-ah), shortstop (Park Joo-ah), and first baseman (Jang Yoon-seo) brought out exclamations from everywhere. Pitcher Lee Ji-suk, a university student in her early 20s, also made a clean pitching of one scoreless inning, which made the rest of the tournament full of anticipation.

Pitcher Kwak Min-jeong, who started this day, gave up 5 runs in 1.2 innings early, but this is the future of women’s baseball in Korea. Although he is the youngest member of the national team as a freshman in high school, he has the fastest ball among the eight pitching staff. In this way, the future of Korea has grown once again.

Yang Sang-moon,토토사이트 head coach of the national team, said, “I just envy Japan, where both men and women emphasize basic skills.” I hope that our country will also have a system in which basic skills are well established from a young age.”

It was the same ‘cold game loss’, but the contents of the game have changed qualitatively in 19 years. Korean women’s baseball has grown once more. And it is growing little by little despite the still indifference and lack of support.