Channel A

On Channel A ‘Queen of Baseball,’ the ‘Black Queens’ suffered a 0:36 rout in their first practice game against a powerhouse stacked with former national-team players, but in just one month they improved so much that they set the tone in their first official game and delivered a thrilling ‘dopamine shower’.

In episode 2 of the Channel A sports variety show ‘Queen of Baseball,’ aired on the 2nd, the ‘Black Queens’the 50th women baseball team in Korea, assembled from ‘legend retirees’ Kim Min-ji, Kim Bo-reum, Kim Seong-yeon, Kim On-a, Park Bo-ram, Park Ha-yan, Song Ah, Shin So-jung, Shin Soo-ji, Ayaka, Lee Su-yeon, Jang Soo-young, Jung Yu-in, Joo Su-jin, and Choi Hyun-miwere vividly shown ‘rapidly growing’ on the back of their first practice-game defeat, capturing the attention of sports fans.

First, the initial practice game between the complete newcomers to baseball, the ‘Black Queens,’ and the strongest women team Real Diamondsfeaturing eight former national-team memberswas broadcast. With the Black Queens batting first, leadoff hitter Ayaka struck out, and No. 2 Joo Su-jin flied out. But No. 3 Song Ah produced a hit with a swing leveraging her tennis forte, and an ensuing defensive error turned it into a double, bringing a jolt of excitement. Cleanup hitter Shin So-jung then came up amid rising expectations, but after a battle of fouls she struck out swinging to end the inning.

The ‘disaster’ began in the bottom of the first as they took the field. Each time starting pitcher Jang Soo-young delivered, the opponents kept stealing successfully, leaving them rattled. Manager Choo Shin-soo and coaches Yoon Seok-min and Lee Dae-hyung sighed, “They do not even know what a slide step is (a pitcher quickening the delivery to check a runner).” To make matters worse, even after Jang recorded a strikeout, she did not know the dropped third strike rule (when the strikeout pitch becomes a bounced ball or the catcher does not catch it cleanly, the batter is not out and can run to first), letting the runner reach; the entire squad fell into ‘mental collapse,’ asking, “What is a dropped third strike?” From there, defensive errors born of inexperience, clumsy relay plays, and Jang’s wavering command piled up, and even after switching the pitcher to Ayaka after discussion, they surrendered 27 runs in the first alone, barely escaping the inning after an hour and a half on defense.

In the top of the second they set a realistic goal: “Let us just score one run!” but Jang Soo-young, Kim On-a, and Park Bo-ram went down in order and the offense ended in just seven minutes. In the bottom of the second, Real Diamonds’ merciless barrage continued, and even with a drastic change on the mound from Kim Seong-yeon→Shin So-jung to protect the pitchers from fatigue and injury risk, they yielded 34 runs. After allowing two more in the bottom of the third, when Jang complained of back pain, Choo asked the umpire, “For player protection, let us end it,” and the game ended 0:36. After the crushing defeat, Choo assessed, “It did not feel like a game; it felt like being punished. The concentration is far too low,” and general manager Park Se-ri comforted the squad, saying, “Now that we have checked our objective strength, let us use the remaining month until the official game as a chance to grow.”

Spurred by the shocking loss, from the next day the players arrived at the stadium at 6 a.m. and embarked on a late-into-the-night ‘training blitz.’ Under Manager Choo and his instruction, “Strengthen defense first,” they repeated fundamentals such as outfield fungoes, rundowns, relay plays, and infield defense, building their skills. They also played practice games against two Little League teams to sharpen their game sense, then, renewed in spirit, took the field for their first official game.

Having secured a dedicated locker room and official uniforms, their first opponent was the ‘Korean National Police Agency Women Baseball Team,’ ranked 17th among women teams nationwide in 2024, and upon hearing that it included Olympic and Asian Games medalists, the Black Queens players revealed their nerves, saying, “We are scared; it will not be easy…” Moreover, starting with that game, the rule ‘one player released after three losses’ would apply, so the players approached the game with firmer resolve, saying, “We practiced a lot, so let us just show what we have done.”

With the Black Queens as the home side, starting pitcher Jang Soo-young took the mound in the top of the first, struck out the leadoff hitter in four pitches, then fanned the second batter as well, showcasing completely different pitching and setting dopamine alight. She did allow the first hit to No. 3 Lee Sun-hee, a Sydney Olympics taekwondo gold medalist, but Park Ha-yan and Joo Su-jin executed a perfect combo to cut down a steal attempt and closed the inning on a high note. In the bottom half, taking advantage of the starter Lee Sun-hee having shaky command, Joo Su-jin, Park Ha-yan, and Song Ah drew consecutive walks to load the bases with none out, seizing a golden chance. Then cleanup Shin So-jung hit a grounder to the infield, the opponents went for a double play, and as Shin sprinted all out to beat it, the day’s broadcast wrapped on a cliffhanger.

Meanwhile, ‘Queen of Baseball’ climbed to fifth in TV-OTT non-drama buzz in the Good Data Fundex Report for the fourth week of November right after its premiere week, posting a 1,177% surge from the previous week, and it topped Tuesday TV non-drama with an overwhelming share. The full version of episode 1 released on YouTube surpassed one million views in just five days as well, sweeping buzz and word of mouth from the very first episode and signaling the start of a ‘Queen of Baseball syndrome.’

The tight showdown between the Black Queens and the Korean National Police Agency women baseball team, and what happened after the ‘bases loaded with none out’ situation, continues in episode 3 of Channel A ‘Queen of Baseball’ at 10 p.m. on the 9th (Tue).