“I wanted to win with a cold game,” says Kim Hye-sung of her solo heroics
“I really wanted to end the game with a cold game,” said Kim Hye-sung (Kiwoom Heroes), the baseball team captain who led her team to victory in the first game of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. “Fortunately, it turned out well and I think it will have a good impact on the team atmosphere.”
Liu Zhong-il’s baseball team struggled against Hong Kong in their first game of Group B at the Hangzhou Asian Games at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Centre 1 Stadium near Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on Monday.
The team was expected to win easily due to the large power differential, but the batting line-up failed to break through and the score remained 3-0 until the seventh inning.
In the second and third innings, they had runners on first and second with no outs and missed opportunities.
It was Kim Hye-sung who broke through the ‘blockage’.
With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, he smashed a two-run double to the right of the right field fence for a 1-0 lead.
Kim’s performance continued in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 3-0 lead.
He singled up the middle and stole second, setting the stage for the big inning.
South Korea piled on the runs in the bottom of the eighth, and Kim completed the cold streak with a single up the middle to put runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth for a 9-0 lead.
In this tournament, cold games are declared when the score is 15 runs or more after the fifth inning and 10 runs or more after the seventh inning.
Hye-Sung Kim went 3-for-6 with three doubles, three RBIs and one run scored. She had the most hits and RBIs on the team.
“I haven’t seen a ball that slow since I was in middle school,” Kim said of Hong Kong pitchers’ 80-90 kilometres per hour pitches. “In the beginning of the game, I think all of our batters had a hard time getting their timing down.”
“In the second half of the game, everyone relaxed and our batting came alive and we were able to score a lot of runs,” he said. “We won the cold game and will be able to approach tomorrow’s game with a lighter heart.”
South Korea will play their second group game against arch-rivals Chinese Taipei at the same venue on the 2nd. 스포츠토토
