Goro returns home and looks into going to Mifune, but upon seeing how much his old friends have developed he gives up on that idea and tries other high schools. Egashira blocks Goro from joining the baseball club in any other high school, so Goro decides to outsmart Egashira and enrolls at Seishu, where he is reunited with Shimizu, with the goal of creating a team that can win the tournament next year.
After easily disposing of Fuji, Goro must find a way to try and get the other guys to have an interest in baseball. Meanwhile Fuji practices hitting at the local batting center and comes back to challenge Goro a second time. He promises if he loses, then he will join the team.
Seishu's baseball team is officially recognized. Yamada Ichiro is placed over the club as the club adviser. We learn why Fuji quit baseball, and we see a side of Shigeno no one has seen before, the side of him getting ready for his retirement.
Seishu holds their first exhibition match against Yokohama Teijin High School. Goro strikes out the first 18 batters and hits 1 home run giving Seishu a 1-0 lead, but then the other guys threaten to cancel the bet since Shimizu is catching, forcing Fuji to step in as a new catcher. Fuji is able to catch the ball, but with Fuji as catcher Goro is only able to throw down the middle, allowing Teijin to start getting some contact. Tashiro makes an intentional error, giving Teijin a 2-1 lead in the 7th. After Goro flies out and Shimizu grounds out, Fuji delivers a speech saying why he wants to play baseball with Goro. Fuji follows it up with a hit as the episode ends, but can Seishu rally?
Fuji hits a double, allowing Shimizu to score and tie the game. Toshiro threatens again to withdraw, and Goro finally consents to let them leave if they wish to. Fuji breaks his hand while catching Goro's pitches. Much to everyone's shock Toshiro steps in and takes his place. Toshiro reveals he was a Little League and Senior League catcher, and he begins calling plays. Goro strikes out the side in the 8th and 9th and hits a solo home run in the 9th to give Seishuu the win. The next day Yamada Ichiro says the first step to make the team official is to build a field on the roof. At first it's only Goro and Fuji, but Toshiro and the 1st years get motivated and also join in. Uchiyama eventually joins in, and the last straggler joins. Seishuu finishes their field on the roof, and Yamada Ichiro decides it's time to move onto Stage 2 with some special training assistants.
Hashimoto and Shigeno are brought in as practice coaches. Their attention to hard line drives from the beginning scares away most of Goro's teammates. However Goro doesn't give up. He runs into the 3 first years at a batting cage and starts teaching them the basics alongside Toshiro and Fuji. Goro also learns of Uchiyama's younger siblings and agrees not to take Uchiyama away from the time he needs to be with them. Uchiyama begins to come to morning practice. Finally Goro reaches out to Miyazaki and tries to become his friend. Miyazaki eventually agrees to join the team as long as Goro doesn't yell at him and constantly say he sucks. With all 8 members united practices resume, but will Seishu be able to find a ninth member in time for the upcoming summer tournament?
As training progresses, Goro is in charge of deciding each players position. An unknown junior high school also shows up to test Goro. After he manages to get a hit off of Goro's third pitch, the boy decides to come to Seishuu. The young boy is none other than Shimizu's younger brother, Taiga Shimizu. He requests shortstop be left for him, so Goro places Uchimaya at 3rd, Miyazaki at 1st, Fuji at 2nd, and the 1st year trio in the out field. The batting order is also determined with Taiga 1st, Uchiyama 2nd, Toshiko 3rd, Goro 4th, Fuji 5th, Miyazaki 6th, and then the outfield trio. The team also gets a second trainer in none other than Suzuki Ayane. Once all the training is completed, the team is turned over to Yamada. Yamada calls all the older more powerful schools, and they all turn him down for an exhibition. Seeing no choice left, and not knowing Goro's history with them, Yamada contacts Kaidoh. Egashira takes the call. As soon as he learns its Seishuu he decides to make a match-up between Kaidoh's 2nd string and Seishuu. To make sure something happens to Goro, he also decides to go into the dugout himself. What is Egashira's plan, and can Goro overcome it?
The match between Kaidoh's 2nd string and Seishuu takes place. Kaidoh's ace, Enomoto, is the younger brother of the varsity squad the previous year, and he strikes out Seishuu. Afterwards Kaidoh seems to get easy hits off of Goro, but it's revealed it's all a ploy to give Seishuu some fielding practice. A home run gives Kaidoh an early 2-0 lead, and a few fielding errors push it up to a 4-0 lead. As the match continues Seishuu begins to work more and more as a team and keeps Kaidoh scoreless from innings 3-6. Taiga gets a base hit, and Uchiyama follows it up with a sacrifice to move Taiga to 2nd. Toshiro's base hit advances Taiga to third, allowing Goro to get a sacrifice fly and cut the deficit to 6-2. However in the bottom of the seventh Egashira calls for a pinch hitter. The pinch hitter has been instructed to bunt, but in reality he is to run over Goro's ankle and make it look like an accident. Goro falls for the ploy and goes down hard. The game is cancelled, and Goro is left agonizing in pain on the field.
Goro is in the hospital with an Achilles tear, but he vows to Egashira that he'll be back before the summer tournament. Nakumura and Shimizu have a brief squabble over Goro at the hospital where Shimizu prevails and Nakumura is able to provide the voice of friendship of someone who went through a similar procedure when he lost the ability to compete in track and field. After thinking about quitting, Taiga becomes the new pitcher, working on a fastball and a curve ball, and a track member, Hattori, joins as the new shortstop. After being dispatched Goro works on strengthening his lower body to get back in form. Meanwhile Shigeno meets secretly with Yamada and tells him of Goro's plan, but he begs Yamada to not let Goro into any of the games no matter how well he seems.
Goro pushes his rehab to where's he's able to pitch back to normal speed, but his ankle still can't handle the pressure. Yamada declares that Taiga will be the starting pitcher for the teams 1st game against Youaka, so Goro tries to sleep in. Toshiro and Fuji prevent him from doing so, and Yamada admits he wasn't going to make Goro come to the game, but the team wanted him to watch since they wouldn't be a team if he hadn't formed them. Seishuu uses baseball basics to get a 1-0 lead, and they get a bit overconfident. Goro goes out to run and work his leg, but while he's doing so the team falls behind 8-1. Taiga's bad attitude disgusts Goro, so he throws Taiga out of the game and hits a double. Goro then steals 3rd, and Uchiyama hits him in, cutting the lead to 8-2. Toshiko gets a hit followed by Hattori. Seishuu begins to rally. Even Miyazaki gets a hit against a new pitcher. As the episode ends Seishuu has cut the lead down to 8-5, and they are still batting with only 1 out, but Youaka's coach thinks that luck will remain on their side giving them the win. Can Seishuu find a way to get back those last 3 runs and take the lead?
As the episode resumes, Yamamoto and Noguchi, two of the outfielders that were previously 1st years, ground out and fly out leaving the score 8-5. Goro takes over pitching in the 8th and strikes out the side. Seishuu's Takahashi starts the bottom of the 8th with a walk. Goro's ankle is hurting, but he goes up and gets a base hit. Uchiyama follows it up with a dead ball, and then Toshiro hits a grand slam giving Seishuu a 9-8 lead. The next 3 ground out or strike out, and Goro comes out to pitch the ninth. His foot is hurting so much that his fast ball literally becomes a ball. the opposition loads the bases, but Goro's fighting spirit tricks them int striking out and grounding out. As the episode ends Yamada takes Goro to have his leg looked at again, and Komori, Oobayashi, and Yamane reveal they aren't afraid of a team with a wounded Honda.
The episode begins as Goro goes to the Doctor. The doctor informs him he shouldn't even walk for the next month, but when Goro vows he will play in the next game, the doctor drops Goro as a patient. Goro secretly goes to many clincis until he finds a doctor that says Goro could play if he has freezing injected into his foot before each game, but he would only be allowed 30 pitches. After being caught trying to find the family stamp, Goro's mom gives in and allows him to play. Before the game Goro lets Taiga know about the freezing, and Taiga vows to pitch the entire game so Goro won't have to come in. Goro tries to talk to Komori before the game, but Komori pushes him off as he reveals his only emotion right now is to get Mifune to Koshien. Komori thinks he has Taiga scouted, but Taiga tricks him with an inside fastball to get Seishuu through the 1st inning scoreless.
The battles continues, and Taiga begins to tire. Mifune is able to get out to a 1-0 lead thanks to some errors by Taiga and Fuji. Mifune intentionally walks Toshiro whenever he comes to bat. The two teams reach the 4th inning, but bad luck strikes Seishuu again as Miyazaki's glasses break. Goro is put in for Miyazaki at 1st base, but Goro being on the field adds to the tension and sparks some life back into Seishuu.
Down 4-0, Goro decides to swing at an intentional ball. He is called out due to stepping out of the batters box, but he has sent his message to Komori and Yamane. He wants a head-to-head challenge. Seeing Goro's attitude provides a spark in taiga's pitching . Taiga is able to pitch into the 7th, until a line drive bounces off his wrist making him unable to pitch. Goro comes in as pitcher. On the batting side Seishuu uses Hattori's speed to score 1 run and cut the lead down to 4-1. Goro comes up with Toshiro and Fuji on base, and this time Yamane refuses to walk him. They challenge Goro, and he answers the challenge with a 3-run homerun to tie the game at 4. Now with an injured Goro and a tiring Yamane, the question is which team can endure longer.
With the score now tied at 4, Goro vows he will endure the game til the end pitching. Shimizu arrives only to see the game has ended. She asks who has won and is surprised to learn that Seishuu has advanced. In the next game Goro once again uses freezing. Taiga returns to shortstop with a dislocated thumb, and Miyazaki returns to 1st base. Scouts come from all over, including the Blue Oceans, to watch Seishuu take on the #2 team in the region. Shigeno comes expecting it to be Goro's last high school game. Instead Goro strikes out all 27 batters and begins to be recruited by the Blue Oceans. However the longer he pitches, the more likely he is to need surgery to fully repair his tendon.
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