I committed suicide due to my Achilles tendon. I was never able to overcome the weakness I most wanted to hide.

SSG Landers was eliminated in the semi-playoffs without even winning a single game. SSG, who finished the regular season in 3rd place, faced NC Dinos, the winner of the wild card game, but unfortunately bowed 6-7 in the 3rd game held in Changwon on the 25th following the 1st and 2nd games held at home in Incheon. In a best-of-five series, they bowed with a draw and three losses.

SSG pledged to “win unconditionally” in the third game. Starting pitcher Oh Won-seok allowed three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but there was hope until Choi Jeong’s comeback home run in the top of the second inning. It was also the first time SSG took the lead since the start of the series.

However, a crisis came right at the end of the second inning, and they could not get over the critical point. SSG lost the lead right away by conceding 4 runs in the bottom of the second inning, but several chances were lost after that. In particular, he was hindered by the failure to use a pinch hitter in the catcher’s at-bat and the instability of home defense.안전놀이터

The starting catcher in Game 3 was Kim Min-sik. However, Kim Min-sik showed signs of instability in defense by dropping the ball backwards one after another in the bottom of the second inning. And when a chance came in the top of the third inning to score with one out and bases loaded, the SSG bench put up pinch hitter Choi Ji-hoon in Kim Min-sik’s at-bat. The intention was to somehow score points with Choi Ji-hoon instead of Kim Min-sik, who lacked hitting skills.

But it ended in failure. SSG’s third inning attack ended scoreless as Choi Ji-hoon recorded a double play between the shortstop, second baseman, and first baseman.

The biggest deciding factor was definitely the top of the 7th inning. NC also has no additional points after the second inning. The game continued with only a one-point difference, and SSG once again had a golden opportunity in the top of the 7th inning. After two outs, Kim Seong-hyun and Oh Tae-gon received walks after a persistent battle, piling up runners. Opportunity to score on 1st and 2nd base. The next batter was veteran catcher Lee Jae-won, who replaced Kim Min-sik.

Lee Jae-won’s batting average suffered the worst batting slump of the season. The SSG bench first watched the movements of the NC bench and brought up left-handed hitter Choi Joo-hwan as a pinch hitter. Then, this time, NC replaced the pitcher with left-handed pitcher Lim Jeong-ho. The SSG bench made another decision. Choi Joo-hwan was removed before he could even stand at bat, and the second pinch hitter, right-handed hitter Kang Jin-seong, came in. It was the will to score unconditionally. Third catcher Cho Hyeong-woo was on standby for defense. But this time I failed again. The opportunity was wasted as Kang Jin-seong was caught with a fly to right field.

The catcher’s pinch-hit strategy failed and the defense became unstable. It was a painful defeat that most clearly revealed SSG’s current concerns.