Chapter 291 – Episode 289. Game 4 of the Semi-Playoffs. (1)
Ta – Aak!
“Nice!”
The cheers that rang out from the beginning of the first inning. The atmosphere began to heat up as Kim Su-ho hit a solo home run.
“Senior, how do you like the ball?”
“You seem nervous? It was a mismatch.”
When I asked how the ball was, Kim Soo-ho answered that Na Seung-yoon seemed nervous. After hearing that answer and looking at the mound, it definitely looked a little frozen.
‘I guess this game will be easier than I thought?’
Hancheol’s fourth starter, Na Seung-yoon. He was not an opponent I was wary of because I had met him a few times during the season and had also faced him a few times during practice with the Asian Games national team. Na Seung-yoon was an orthodox right-handed pitcher who threw a variety of breaking balls, including a fastball in the mid to high 140s, slider, curve, and splitter, so he was a good match for me.
‘If Sangju senior just gets on base, I think we’ll get good results…’
Na Seung-yoon’s pitching, which I watched from the standby at bat, seemed a little messed up, to say the least.
“Ball.”
“Ball.”
“Strike!”
“Ball.”
“Base on balls.”
Perhaps due to the shock of hitting a home run by Kim Su-ho, the ball did not enter the zone properly, and in the end, Ki Ki-joo was allowed to walk.
-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!
-Ji Maeng-ho~! Ji Maengho~! Oooooh! Thunders Ji Maeng-ho! Fly it to the sky!
And the voices of the fans resounding. Everyone was cheering for me with one mind and one voice.
‘Okay, let’s go all the way from here.’
Looking at Na Seung-yoon’s condition, it was clear that he would not be able to get up if he collapsed here.
“How are you?”
“…”
Perhaps because Lee Yong-gi was aware of the seriousness of the situation, he did not respond even to my greeting.
‘Mr. Rossby, what about the first pitch?’
‘It’s a splitter.’
First pitch splitter? Considering the situation with a runner on first base and my speed, there was almost no risk of a double play, but I decided to skip the first pitch because there was no need to make a ground ball by making contact with a falling ball.
“Ball.”
And Na Seung-yoon, who was shaken, was unable to put the ball into the zone.
“Seungyoon, come down! Come down!”
Lee Yong-gi throws the ball to a shaking Na Seung-yoon, encouraging him. Na Seung-yoon receives the ball from Lee Yong-gi and wipes his sweat with his uniform. That much sweat from the beginning of the first episode. There was nothing to think about now. The guy’s condition was not normal.
‘If this is the case, I can choose the best ball possible?’
All balls in the corners of the zone that do not produce good hits are filtered out. And aim for the big one.
‘Ruler… ! Come!’
*
‘Ha, let’s calm down. Calm down.’
Na Seung-yoon, Hancheol’s fourth starter, wiped away the sweat and controlled his breathing. But the more he breathed, the more difficult his breathing became, and only the worst came to mind.
‘Shiba, you’re really throwing up the batting line. Kim Su-ho, Ki Ki-joo, and… Ji Maeng-ho.’
In particular, the image of getting an out against the batter he was currently facing was gradually fading. The pressure of fall baseball was eating away at Na Seung-yoon.
Na Seung-yoon was performing well enough to be selected to the Asian Games as Hancheol’s fourth starting pitcher this season, but if you think differently about being selected to the Asian Games, it means that he was still a young player. And this season was the first time that Na Seung-yoon played a season in the starting rotation as befits his young age.
‘Even when I was in the bullpen, I came up a lot. Why does home plate seem so far away today?’
Pressure that makes it difficult to see the catcher’s mitt. He has had a lot of experience on the mound in fall baseball as a pitcher for Hancheol, a strong team in his fourth year of debut, but this is the first time he has been on the mound in fall baseball as the team’s first pitcher. Na Seung-yoon’s heart pounded even more because it was the first time that the team was eliminated even after losing just one game.
Na Seung-yoon closed his eyes tightly, opened them, and then looked at home plate again to see the sign Lee Yong-gi was sending. But all Na Seung-yoon sees before his eyes is Ji Maeng-ho standing at bat. Cold sweat broke out from my back again as it felt like Ji Maeng-ho’s large body was covering the entire strike zone.
‘Fuck, I don’t know.’
The catcher’s sign is not visible, and the strike zone is not visible to the batter. In that situation, the ball Na Seung-yoon chose was the one he had thrown the most and was the one he was most confident in.
[Na Seung-yoon throws the second ball!]
The ball that Na Seung-yoon threw flew toward the strike zone while maintaining an almost straight line.
‘Fuck! I told you to take it out with the slider!’
And Lee Yong-gi, who had requested a slider, cursed under his breath and moved his mitt to catch Na Seung-yoon’s fastball. This is a dangerous situation where your fingers could get hurt if a different ball comes than what the catcher requested. However, Lee Yong-gi was not injured.
Ta – Tak!
This is because Ji Maeng-ho’s bat touched Na Seung-yoon’s ball before the ball entered the mitt. As the sound of the ball splitting was heard, Lee Yong-gi stood up on his own.
[This hit is a wall! Fence! Fence! Let’s go!! Ji Maeng-ho hits a home run again today! Ji Maeng-ho’s batting skills are not cooling off! 3:0! AT Thunders run away by three points in one go!]
And after holding a unique sniping ceremony, Ji Maeng-ho throws the bat and walks away.
‘It’s a ceremony that makes me want to hit you every time I see it. Should I just soak it?’
Lee Yong-gi frowned at the ceremony, but soon gave up that thought and went up to the mound.
“Seungyoon! Seungyoon Na! Are you out of your mind?”
“… “I’m sorry.”
“Under… Let’s go according to the sign. As per the signature. Okay? If you just follow the signs, you will take responsibility if you get hit.”
“Yes, … Yes.”
‘I was bad today. Under…’
Lee Yong-gi sighed inwardly at Na Seung-yoon’s unsure answer. He was a guy with quite a bit of fall baseball experience, so I wasn’t worried, but he was in this condition. Lee Yong-gi somehow consoled Na Seung-yoon and returned to home plate, but Na Seung-yoon’s condition showed no signs of improving.
[Na Seung-yoon gives a walk to Choi Jin-cheol!]
[Woo Kwan-hyung’s hit! Now it’s 1 out, 1st and 2nd bases!]
‘Director, it’s impossible to continue like this.’
And Yonggi Lee finally made a decision. There was a chance he would come to his senses in the next inning, but now it was the post season. He said it was important not to give away any more points because the 3-point gap was something he could do anything about.
“Change pitcher!”
Hancheol’s manager, Park Dae-hoon, also knew this, so he quickly ordered a replacement pitcher. It was unfortunate that the starting lineup collapsed, but this was expected, so the pitcher was replaced quickly.
[A new pitcher comes to Hancheol’s mound. The changed pitcher is left-handed pitcher Han Dong-gyun. This season… Out! Two outs with this! … Catch three outs!]
Fortunately, the pitcher replacement worked, and the long first inning ended with Han Dong-gyun getting the remaining two out counts. Although he was a young player, the pressure of fall baseball was so much more than anyone could imagine that even Seungyoon Na, who had a lot of experience in fall baseball, collapsed.
‘Phew, I just have to do well. I just have to do well. It’s 3 points, right? You can do it. Junhyung! ‘You can do it!’
Pitcher Park Jun-hyung, now in his 8th year, was feeling the same pressure.
Unlike the previous three starting pitchers, Park Jun-hyung was a pitcher who experienced the postseason for the first time, so the pressure was extreme.
Crongs was a pitcher who did not feel pressure in the KBA League to begin with, and was also a pitcher who was registered on the postseason roster in the majors. Jang Yoon, from UG, is a pitcher who has more experience in fall baseball than all the AT players except him combined.
The only pitcher who was weighed down by the pressure of fall baseball was Bellingham, and Bellingham was a mercenary pitcher to begin with, a pitcher one level different from Park Jun-hyung.
‘Ugh, how did the bullpen guys throw from this mound?’
Park Jun-hyung, a pure-blooded AT man who has been a fan of AT since he was young, has been the pitcher most loved by fans over the past few years. Park Jun-hyung also knew this, so a huge burden was weighing on his shoulders.
The first fall baseball stage. He wanted to show a better side of himself than anyone else, and Park Jun-hyung, who wanted to repay his fans, ended up putting more pressure on his shoulders than usual.
Perfect!
[A clean double hit, Hancheol starts a counterattack right away. Leadoff hitter Kim Dong-jin’s double gives us a chance to score.]
And in baseball, such pressure does not lead to good results. Although he blocked second batter Kim Jeong-hyeon with a ground ball to second base, Park Jun-hyung’s hardships did not end there.
[Now, Joo Seung-cheol, Hancheol’s third batter, comes in.]
[During the semi-playoff period, AT’s Ji Maeng-ho is leading the team by showing incredible hitting ability, but the reason the series is tight is because of Joo Seung-cheol?]
As the commentary says, if AT had Ji Maeng-ho, Hancheol had Joo Seung-cheol. .400, 60 home runs. In addition, Ji Maeng-ho, a batter who recorded a percentage stat that is difficult to come by again. And there were few batters in the KBA who could even be compared to Ji Maeng-ho.
However, Joo Seung-cheol was one of the few players who was allowed to be compared to Ji Maeng-ho despite such public opinion. Just before Ji Maeng-ho appeared, it was Joo Seung-cheol who stamped his name with the authority of a hitter who dominated the KBA League.
And Joo Seung-cheol, who was getting closer to becoming the best hitter in the KBA League before Ji Maeng-ho appeared, was not a hitter who could tolerate a shaky pitcher.
Ta – Aak!
[Joo Seung-cheol! Joo Seung-cheol’s batting ball flies high! This batted ball is a wall! Let’s move on!]
[Ji Maeng-ho hits, so Joo Seung-cheol also hits. Haha. It is very fun to watch the performance of these two hitters during the semi-playoff period.]
Ta – Aak!
[Lee Yong-gi’s back-to-back home runs! The game ends in one go! This is Game 4 of the semi-playoffs, which will be a batting contest from the first inning!]
Perfect!
[Ahn Si-Hwon’s hit with 2 outs! Hancheol succeeds in turning the tables in an instant!]
Back-to-back home runs by Joo Seung-cheol and Lee Yong-gi. And consecutive hits. Hancheol Grizzlies quickly turned the tables by adding 1 point to the 3 points lost, and Park Jun-hyung ended the inning with his hair turning white.
‘What, how did I throw the ball?’
He couldn’t even remember how he threw the ball, but before he knew it, the bottom of the first inning was over and the pitching coach was right next to him.
“Junhyung! Junhyung, are you okay? What do you want to do for episode 2?”
The pitching coach clearly looked at him and asked if he was going to come off the mound.
“Yes? Yes. Are you okay? It’s okay. I will throw it.”
Park Jun-hyung, who came to his senses when asked that question, answered that he would take responsibility.
‘I can’t end my first fall baseball season like this. For me too. For the fans too.’
Because I had to repay the fans who always supported me in a situation where the team’s results were not good.
‘Please, turn the tables just once. ‘I’ll protect it this time!’
After making a firm determination, Park Jun-hyung raised his voice and began cheering for the batters.
“Go for it! Joo-yeop hyung! “Blow me one!”
Perfect!
“Out”
‘Fuck… No, now is not the time.’
“Kim Su-ho, fighting! Brother! Please do just one!”
And is it thanks to Park Jun-hyung’s prayer that it reached heaven? AT’s batters slowly began to fill in the bases.
[The batted ball passes through the infield. With this, AT has a chance with 2 outs and 1st and 3rd bases! Now the batter at bat is Ji Maeng-ho! He is currently the hitter with the hottest hitting feeling.]
‘Please, Meng Hao! Please just do it once!’