Whimoon clinch Bonghwang title

Players of the Whimoon High School’s baseball team run from the dugout as they celebrate their Bonghwang High School Baseball Tournament title win at Suwon KT Wiz Park, Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

By Baek Byung-yeul

With a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 13th, Whimoon High School defeated Gunsan Commercial High School 4-3 to clinch the Bonghwang High School Baseball Tournament title, Tuesday.

Co-hosted by Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, and the Korea Baseball Association (KBA), 69 high school baseball teams across Korea competed in the 44th tournament for 14 days from Aug. 3 to Tuesday.

The victory was Seoul’s Whimoon High School’s second title win after the team’s 2014 win over Yushin High School. Gunsan Commercial High School remained the runner-up for the second time following their second-place finish in 2010. The school, located in North Jeolla Province, clinched the Bonghwang title three times in 1982, 1996 and 2013.

A day before their clash at Suwon KT Wiz Park, Whimoon advanced to the final after defeating Busan’s Kyungnam High School 7-4 while Gunsan took a win over Seoul’s Duksoo High School 8-4 on the same day.

At the final, the Whimoon got off to a good start, scoring the first run from the bottom first as Lee Jeong-whoo came across home plate when Kim Dae-han sent a groundball to shortstop.

Whimoon earned their second run in the following inning. With a runner on third and one out, Kim Jae-kyeong dove into home when Kwon Ki-hwan hit a short sacrifice fly to the left to make the score 2-0.

Gunsan who scored a run with Sung Jong-hun’s hit in the third, tied the game 2-2 in the fourth with Choo Seung-min’s triple.

Gunsan also turned the tables, raising the score to 3-2 in the fifth thanks to Lim Ji-hoon’s infield hit.

Facing certain defeat, Whimoon tied the game at 3-3 in the eighth as the team’s senior Park Yong-wook hit a sacrifice fly to score third base runner Choi Kyeong-ho for an insurance run.

After scoreless innings, the game was settled in the bottom 13th as Ko Myeong-kyoo’s sacrifice fly led to the team’s fourth run.

“We could make it to the final thanks to the players,” Lee Myung-soo, manager of the Whimoon team, said after the game.

He also expressed his special thanks to pitchers. “I am thankful to pitchers. Without their great performance, the game would be tougher.”

For the most valuable player award, Whimoon’s An Woo-jin took the honor for allowing only one run while throwing 21 2/3 innings throughout the tourney.

An shined in the final as well. While throwing 105 balls from the fifth to 11th inning, An only allowed one run with two walks and five hits.

The sophomore, who named former major leaguer Pedro Martinez as his role model, shed tears after the victory. “I didn’t expect that I would receive the MVP award. And the reason why I am crying is because I realized that this is the last time for me to play together with the seniors,” An said.