Ansan Industrial High School won 5-4 in the final match against Chungam High School at the 58th Presidential Cup Korea National High School Baseball Organization held at Pohang Baseball Stadium on Sunday. With the victory, Ansan Industrial High School won its first championship. Coach Song Won-guk also made it a feat to rank Ansan Industrial High School among the strongest teams in just five years since his inauguration. Even the heat wave of 36 degrees Celsius was too extreme to prevent the Ansan Industrial High School from experiencing gusts of wind. “After winning the championship, I can’t feel the heat at all. Now I feel refreshed,” said Song.스포츠토토
Ansan Technical High School, which opened its baseball division in 2000, has produced several representative star players of Korean baseball, although it has a shorter history than other schools. Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG Landers), Hong Chang-ki (LG Twins), and Jeong Cheol-won (Doosan Bears) hail from Ansan Technical High School. However, when they were young, they had no chance to win a championship or play in the finals of the national championship. All of them failed to make it to the semifinals.
Ansan High School won the semi-finals once in 2005 during the Golden Lion (2006), twice in the Blue Dragon (2006 and 2017), once in the Phoenix Recorder (2006), once in the Presidential Cup (2022), and once in the Shinsegae E-Mart Cup (2022). Kim Kwang-hyun served as the ace from 2004 to 2006, but failed to reach the final stage.
During this presidential race, he made it to the finals for the first time, and was on top of the list with momentum. No one could stop Ansan Industrial High School, which was once in the mood. He won a cold game 13-3 in the quarterfinals against Shinsegae E-Mart and Deoksu who won the Golden Lion this year, and also won an 8-7 victory in the semi-finals against Gwangju Jeil High School, a traditional powerhouse.
Ansan High School of Industrial Science and Technology, which also had a great showdown with Chungam High School until the end in the final, played six ⅓ innings, and pitched 105 all-out innings. Park had five hits, four outs, eight strikeouts, and two runs. In the batting lineup, Park Kyu-min also had one hit, two RBIs, one run and one stolen base from three times at bat, and Ahn Byeong-yong (two hits from four times at bat) and Lee Byung-joon (two hits from four times at bat) also had multi hits, displaying robust hitting performance.
Manager Song Won-guk, who led the team to its first victory, said, “I am so happy that I can’t express my feelings. I was so nervous until the ninth inning. It was a great worry to set the timing to replace the pitcher. Park Sang-hyun threw the ball to the fullest. I felt like I was about to cry.”
Coach Song Won-guk said, “Without the full support of the school, it would have been difficult to win the championship.” He also thanked principal Lee Jin-yeol and general manager Lee Sang-hyun. Manager Song Won-guk said, “I won the championship thanks to the help of school officials. When I first took the post, there were six players, and the school gave me a lot of support and encouragement, saying, “Let’s slowly build a team even if we can’t get good results right away. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you very much.”
The players who did not participate in the competition did not forget, either. “Some of the seniors in our team didn’t participate in the competition. However, the history of winning was possible because seniors were present. I want to thank them all. I am so proud of them all,” coach Song said, giving a thumbs up to his students.
Meanwhile, Ansan Industrial High School, which won the title, produced many winners at the award ceremony. Park Sang-hyun (pitcher) won the most valuable player award and the outstanding pitcher award. Kim Do-young (pitcher) won the most points award, Lee Byung-joon (outfielder) won the most points award, Park Kyu-min (outfielder) won the most points award, manager Song Won-guk received the coach award, and principal Lee Sang-hyun received the guidance award, and principal Lee Gong-yeol received the achievement award. Park Gun-woo (pitcher at Chungam High School) won the most hits and most RBIs, Heo Yoon ( infielder at Chungam High School) won the most stolen base award, and Hwang Gwang (catcher at Sooncheon Hyo-cheon High School) won the most home runs award.