After first win of LLWS, South Korea doesn’t feel any pressure
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Getting to the Little League World Series is the hard part of the summer. That goes double when you have to battle through an always stacked Asia-Pacific Regonial tournament.
Chinese Taipei has been to the Series 33 times, behind only Canada's 65 berths and Japan's 34 for most on the International side. Chinese Taipei is always a favorite to get back to the Series representing Asia-Pacific but this year was different. Instead, it was Seoul, South Korea who battled through that rough bracket and made an appearance here in South Williamsport.
West Seoul (B) Little League of Seoul, South Korea secured the nation's eight-ever trip to the Series with a win this year, and the first for South Korea since 2019 when Chung Nam (B) of South Chungcheong came.
So, is there pressure representing a historically strong region at the Series?
"We won the first game," South Korea assistant coach Da Bin Ju said. "The pressure is not here any more."
That speaks to the confidence that South Korea has. Any jitters in the first game were gone after a superb performance to beat Canada, 7-0. And now the kids are focused and playing with confidence no matter the opponent.
"Our team was selected for first time as an Asia-Pacific team and it was a really tough game to play with Chinese Taipei (in regionals)," Bin Ju said. "We are really enjoying it."
Enjoying it is an understatement.
When South Korea's Ji Hwan Hong crushed a massive home run that stayed fair down the left-field line. As he scored, the emotions were visible with cheering and celebrating. South Korea is playing loose and that could be bad news for other teams in the International field.
South Korea threw four pitchers against Canada and none went more than 36 pitches, meaning there's everyone eligible to throw on Friday in the winners' bracket matchup against Brno, Czechia. That game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday evening at Volunteer Stadium.
"We have a game next and then a game after (that, win or lose)," Da Bin Ju said. "So that's going to be our plan."
South Korea is aggressive on the base paths. On Wednesday, the West Seoul (B) Little Leaguers weren't afraid to head home. And, while it resulted in three players being tagged out, it showed the team isn't afraid to take chances when an opportunity arises.
"Being aggressive on the bases is our No. 1 strength," Hwan Hong said.
South Korea manager Hong Jip Kim was the third-base coach against Canada, the first time he's been on that side of the field during at-bats.
"It was his first time being a third-base coach and next game, I will be the third-base coach," Bin Ju said with a laugh.
If anyone needs to know how tough South Korea is as a team, just as Canada manager Brad Dorwart.
"Jacob (Massel) was even saying this is the toughest team he ever had to pitch against. We're trying to go change speeds and their pitch identification, how they hit, he was pumped he was able to strike out their top hitter and some other guys," Dorwart said. "We knew it was going to be a tough task. Just trying to keep the score low, try to do a miracle and in a sense, the boys aren't upset about losing the game. It's just how they did it. They knew we could have done better and game could have been better."