After being added to the bench, first-year Masashi Yuki hits a home run in his first game. Okumura, Yui and Asada, each with their own emotions, are practicing and getting more familiar with the team. The team is preparing for their next game against Ichidai Third High. During practice, Miyuki prioritizes catching for Furuya, which frustrates Sawamura. Having been reproached by Miyuki for clasing with Sawamura, Okumura volunteers to catch for him.

After seeing the result of the spring tournament, the Seido players think about what they lack, and begin to act on it. Sawamura shows an especially strong will to improve, and it propagates to other third-years. Meanwhile, the final game of the spring tournament is being played. Miyuki and Furuya, who has felt pressure ever since playing at Koshien Stadium, are at Meiji Jingu Secondary Stadium to see it.

After a series of successful practice games, the Seido Nine are intensely focused on preparing for the summer tournament. Sawamura, encouraged by Kataoka's words, begins rising early in the morning to train. Meanwhile, after seeing Sawamura's improvement, Furuya tries to help out with batting practice. Their rivalry seems to be having a positive influence on both of them, until...

It's the Tokyo Invitational game against the Wynd Youth Academy. The starting pitcher is Shunshing Yeung from Akikawa Academy. He's known as a precise machine, but because of JHBF regulations, it's his first game in quite a while. How will Yeung's pitches fare against the American team? Meanwhile, Seido's round-robin games against Seiho and Yamamori are underway. How will Seido take on these powerhouse schools without Miyuki?

It's Seido's practive game against Seiho, the beast from Aichi. Sawamura has a great first inning, striking out two batters. They're facing Seiho's ace Akashi, once hailed as the super rookie when he played at Koshien Stadium as a first-year. After an injury caused his form to deteriorate, he spent a year in obscurity. Now, he has returned armed with a muscular body and powerful pitches. The Sawamura-Okumura battery must cooperate to take on Seiho's machine-gun-like batting lineup.

It's the top of the seventh inning in Seido's game against Hachiya Oji. Hachiya Oji has to score this inning or else the game will be called. Kawabata fought his way to a base, but it would be Hachiya Oji's last offensive. Seido's victory is imminent. After hearing Furuya say he'd get to play next game, Sawamura watches the game from the bench, the number one on his back. The story of these two players vying for the title of ace will continue.