"Clang!"
Whether it was because of Kitamura Kou's earlier encouragement or not, Akaishi Osamu managed to drive the ball deep into the outfield. Although the Seihou High School outfielder caught it, the hit was more than enough for Kitamura Kou to tag up and score.
"YEAHHH!!!"
The entire Yakushi High School dugout exploded in celebration, the players leaping to their feet as if they had already secured victory.
And honestly, their confidence wasn't unfounded.
Since the start of the Summer Tournament, Yakushi High School had never lost a game after taking the lead. Now, with Kitamura Kou dominating on the mound, their belief only grew stronger.
More than 80% of the crowd had begun cheering for Yakushi and Kou.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside Seihou High School's dugout was completely different.
Their unstoppable fourth batter, the monster slugger Shuzo Sano, had already been struck out by Kou in overwhelming fashion. Now they had also surrendered the first run of the game.
The momentum Seihou had built after defeating Osaka Kiryu was rapidly fading, and a heavy silence settled over their bench.
Little by little, the scales of victory were tilting toward Yakushi High School.
Still, Seihou's ace pitcher showed tremendous resilience. He quickly retired Daiki Fukuda and Yutaka Yamauchi, preventing the situation from spiraling further out of control and preserving Seihou's hopes for a comeback.
At the end of the second inning, Yakushi High School led 1–0.
In the third inning, Kitamura Kou continued his dominant performance, shutting down Seihou's offense once again.
"Kitamura-san is simply overwhelming out there! He has already recorded nine strikeouts, including one against the monster slugger Shuzo Sano! Is Yakushi High School really about to continue their miracle run? And how will tournament favorite Seihou High School fight their way back into this game?!"
In the bottom of the third inning, Yakushi's offense failed to score, but Keisuke Kobayashi and Isao Ota still battled fiercely at the plate, forcing Seihou's pitchers to throw a combined ten pitches.
Then Mishima Yuta ripped a sharp grounder past the second baseman for what looked like a clean hit.
But Seihou High School's defense was truly exceptional.
Their center fielder charged in immediately, cut the ball off with incredible speed, and fired a laser to first base.
"Out!"
"Smack!"
"Three outs! Change!"
Mishima Yuta was thrown out by a razor-thin margin.
At the top of the fourth inning, Seihou High School adjusted their offensive strategy.
Before reaching two strikes, they refused to swing at any difficult pitches. Once cornered, they focused entirely on dragging out the at-bat and increasing Kitamura Kou's pitch count.
It was their last remaining option.
At the very least, it gave them a sliver of hope.
Kou immediately understood what they were trying to do.
After striking out the leadoff batter, he faced a disciplined hitter and deliberately lowered his fastball velocity to around 145–150 km/h, hoping to bait the batter into swinging.
But the batter remained patient.
Two borderline fastballs barely clipped the edges of the strike zone.
"So you want to play this game? Fine. Let's see who breaks first."
Seeing Seihou's determination to wear him down, Kou stopped holding back and began pitching entirely at his own rhythm.
"Boom!"
The second batter finally swung.
"Thump!"
As the ball neared home plate, it suddenly darted sharply toward the outside corner, slipping past the bat completely.
"Strikeout!"
Kou repeated the same approach against Seihou's third batter, quickly getting ahead in the count before finishing him off with a vicious cutter.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Yakushi High School's batting lineup finally erupted.
Akiba Kazuma opened the inning with a first-pitch single. Though the play was close, he safely reached first base.
Next came Todoroki Raichi.
Compared to the original story, his batting ability had improved even further. After already getting accustomed to Seihou's ace pitcher, Raichi fearlessly attacked a fastball well outside the strike zone.
"Clang!"
The ball rocketed through the gap between second base and shortstop, turning into a long hit toward center field.
No outs.
Runners on first and third.
And now, it was Kitamura Kou's turn to bat.
Seihou High School, unwilling to simply surrender and lose all dignity, chose to face Kou head-on instead of intentionally walking him.
Of course, they weren't reckless enough to challenge him directly.
The first two pitches hovered dangerously close to the corners, somewhere between balls and strikes. Fortunately for Seihou, both were called strikes, quickly putting Kou in a difficult count.
Then came the third pitch.
It missed the strike zone entirely.
Everyone watched to see whether Kou would swing.
Without hesitation, Kitamura Kou attacked.
"Clang!"
The ball flew foul.
In truth, Kou was confident he could have simply driven the ball into the outfield and brought Akiba home safely. But instead of settling for a safe play, he chose the more aggressive option to completely crush Seihou's morale.
The fourth pitch was even farther outside.
But Kou had already anticipated it.
Taking a huge step forward, he swung with all his strength.
"CLANG!!!"
The bat failed to catch the absolute center of the ball, but Kou's terrifying power still sent it soaring deep into center field.
"HOME RUN!!!"
"Yakushi High School finally breaks the game wide open! Fourth batter Kitamura Kou launches a three-run homer to center field! Once again, this man refuses to disappoint! Seihou High School is now in serious danger!"
Seihou's ace desperately tried to hold the line, but Yakushi's batters had already adapted to his pitching.
Akaishi Osamu and Daiki Fukuda followed with consecutive singles, putting even more pressure on Seihou.
Left with no other choice, Seihou's coach replaced the pitcher.
The reliever performed admirably and managed to stop the bleeding after allowing only one more run.
But by then, the momentum had completely shifted to Yakushi High School.
At the top of the fifth inning, Shuzo Sano stepped into the batter's box once more.
This time, however, the terrifying confidence he showed during their first encounter was gone.
Even so, he stubbornly fought through the at-bat.
But after a fierce battle, Kou finally struck him out again with a devastating fast forkball.
Yakushi High School continued to play with increasing intensity throughout the rest of the game.
Although their score didn't rise much further, their hit count kept climbing. The problem was that nearly everyone on the team became overly aggressive. Each player wanted to show off, swinging recklessly and stealing bases whenever possible.
Ironically, this gave Seihou High School countless opportunities to display their incredible defensive abilities.
"Boom!!!"
"Thump!!!"
"Strikeout! Game set!"
Kitamura Kou smiled as he looked toward the utterly dejected Shuzo Sano standing in the batter's box.
Then he raised his hand and flashed a "V" sign toward the camera.
He knew she was watching.
"I kept my promise."
"We've made it to the quarterfinals."
"I'll be waiting for you here."