Episode 24: Don't You Quit

Ko, Akaishi, Azuma, and Nakanishi scout a practice game of Ryuo Academy, who is favored to win the prefectural tournament, and while there meet a former varsity teammate who transferred to Ryuo. Ko is impressed by a Ryuo batter who is not a regular starter, Mishima, whom Azuma remembers from a single meeting. Azuma talks with Miki, who is also scouting Ryuo for another school, and they tell each other they do not regret their choices, leaving and staying at Seishu. For Wakaba's 17th birthday, Ko buys the scheduled present of a shiny pendent. When the tournament schedule is announced, Ryuo is seeded first and Seishu is bracketed to play them in their third game. Seishu's first game of the tournament is called in the fifth inning. Afterward, Ko catches pitches for Aoba, who was for the first time not allowed to play because she is a girl, and when it gets dark, he tells her not to give up on baseball.