Seido faces off against Ichidai Third High School, the school that beat them last year. While their top-level offense rakes in runs, the ace Tanba struggles, and the game turns into a batting contest. However Sawamura isn't present. Instead he is training back at school. During his training Furuya, another first-year pitcher, approaches him. Showing sympathy to Sawamura's peculiar training method, Furuya offers to play catch with him. Sawamura is in a cheery mood with Furuya's kindness, but the speed of Furuya's throws far exceeds his expectations.

The game concludes, and Furuya and Masuko are promoted to varsity while Eijun and Haruichi are promoted to JV. Along with the promotion comes additional pitchers training for Furuya and Eijun. However their training can only be done with the partners that Coach Katoka assigns them. Furuya is assigned to work with Miyuki while Sawamura is assigned to work with Chris. However instead of catching Eijun's pitch, Chris continually gives him additional work that isn't pitching, making Eijun think the coach has gotten the last laugh and that he won't succeed at Seidou.

To stop the attacks on Chris, Sawamura reverts back to his original pitching form while maintaining the wall against the dangerous Naoyuki Zaizen. The results not only improve Sawamura's speed, but they start putting pressure on Zaizen and reveal an injury he had earlier. With Chris and Zaizen being of equal strength now, the momentum swings back to Seido. After 3 innings Chris and Sawamura are pulled from the game. The game concludes and the Coach calls everyone together. Two players are moved up to the varsity team, and many third years have their hearts broken. While Chris isn't brought up to play, he is brought up as a manager for the varsity team.

Sawamura continues to train hard, but when Chris notices he is overworking, he has Miyuki pul lhim into the indoor training facility for some pickoff training and leg positioning training so he won't get hurt. Furuya is reminded he must trim his nails and is also forced to start pickoff training. Furuya tells Miyuki he has a twisted personality. Tanba watches his rivals and vows not to give the ace number to anyone else. As hell week begins Tanba and Kawakami are sent to the bullpen while Sawamura and Furuya are forced to work on fielding practice and base coverage scenarios. Once their coverage scenarios are done they are sent out for outfield catching. In the bullpen Tanba works on a secret pitch with Miyauchi. When the 100 yard sprints start and the night workouts increase, Sawamura realizes him and his fellow first years haven't prepared for anything like this.

A 3-set of matches takes place to end the training week of hell as Inashiro Industrial vs. Seido, Inashiro Industrial vs. Shuuhoku, and Shuuhoku vs. Seido on Seido's field. Kawakami pitches the game vs. Inashiro Industrial with Miyauchi while Tanba is forced to work with Miyuki. None of the starters play in the match vs. Inashiro Industrial, though Furuya is positioned in left field for the entire game. Inashiro Industrial brings out their starters for the second game, including southpaw ace Narumiya Mei. Mei already has a wicked slider, curve ball, and fast ball, but in the game he debuts a change up pitch that could make him unbeatable. Finally we start the Shuuhoku vs. Seido match. Through 6 innings Miyuki has Tanba throw nothing but curveballs and fastballs, but in the seventh inning Tanba debuts his new fork ball.

With a 15-0 lead in place, Seido brings in Sawamura to pitch inning 4. The game ends up being called, and Seido advances with ease. Seeing how high Furuya's ball was, Chris takes Sawamura aside and teaches him how to hold the ball and turn his pitch into a fine weapon no one will be expecting. Seido then participates in their second game of the tournament against Puplic Murata East High School.

Sawamura's moving fastball and four seamer continue to cause problems for Akikawa's batters. As Seido's batters start to get on base, Miyuki comes to the plate and is able to predict the pitches Shunshin Yeung will make. Miyuki's at bat not only helps Seido's batters improve, but Tanba is sent to the bullpen to warm-up and cause an additional scare for Akikawa's batters. Will it all be enough to reverse the score and give Seido the lead?

Ichidai continues to watch the game between Seido and Akikawa, declaring the next team to score will win in this 2-2 tie. Coach Katoka inserts Haruichi as a pinch hitter, and he responds by getting on base. Sawamura's bunt gets Haruichi to second base and brings up the lead-off batter, Kuramochi. Will Kuramochi finally be able to master Shunshin Yeung's clockwork control and get on base? Which team will score and seize control? No matter the outcome, Yeung is happy because he finally gets to play the style of Japanese baseball he grew up envying in his last summer of play in Japan.

Sawamura is given the role of pitching one more inning. After two outside pitches to Raichi, Sawamura finds himself up in the count. Miyuki calls for a high, inside four-seam fastball to get Raichi out, but Raichi sends it out of the park and cuts the lead down to 5-3. After walking the next two batters, Sawamura is pulled from the game. Yakusi's batters manage to connect Kawakami's pitches and score one more run. However a dramatic catch by Masuko leads to a dramatic double play and Seido gets out of the inning with a 5-4 lead. Sanada is ased to continue on through the end game to give Yakusi a fighting chance. In the bullpen Tanba continues to warmup, and Miyauchi thinks to himself that it is the best Tanba has pitched since getting back.

After the captain hits a home run off Sanada, Seido once again leads by two runs. We reach the bottom of the eighth inning, and Kawakami is struggling. He insists on connecting to Tanba in the next game, but when Raichi is walked and manages to steal second base he finds himself in a pinch. Kawakami is able to get two outs, but Raichi scores, making it 6-5, and Yakusi has runners on first and third. Kataoka steps up and calls for a pitching change. In comes Tanba with two outs for his first appearance for an ace vs. ace showdown.

The current third-years were called "the hopeless year" when they joined. Their upperclassmen had lost all hope for them, but they diligently practiced, continuously encouraging each other. Their hard work changed their rivalry for each other into trust.

At the Baseball Kingdom magazine office, Mine looks back to the summer tournament. The game between Yakushi and Seido was an exciting watch. Seido played their pitcher relay in order to face Yakushi's powerful batting lineup.