After Sendou was walked in the seventh inning, Hino High School still managed to hold Seidou scoreless through the inning with great difficulty.
At the start of the eighth inning, Seidou handed the mound to Tojo, who had recently begun making his presence felt as a pitcher.
Under Japan's tournament format, there could never be too many good pitchers!
After spending a year building experience as a batting practice pitcher, Tojo had finally earned another opportunity!!
And Tojo's performance was actually better than anyone outside the three main pitchers!!
His control was starting to resemble Yang's from last year!
Though aside from Sendou, no one knew that the two had somewhat similar training methods!!
With Sawamura out of the game, Hino began preparing its final counterattack, but in the eighth inning, Seidou's second baseman-shortstop combination shut them down and sent them away empty-handed.
The truly crucial moment would be the ninth inning—their final upper batting lineup!!
The final will of a powerhouse is especially stubborn at times like this, you know! Tojo! Sendou thought with a smile as he returned to the bench.
There was no longer any need for him to offer encouragement. A crowd had already gathered around Tojo!!
Sometimes, even Sendou could no longer tell...
Did he love baseball now?
Or did he love this team itself?
Or... perhaps both?!
This was not the time to think about that. The bottom of the eighth inning had arrived, and it was their turn to attack!
This inning began with the seventh batter!
With Furuya absent, Tojo was naturally the choice for the seventh spot!
Tojo showed off his offensive ability in this opportunity and successfully reached base!
His good friend Kanemaru, batting eighth, moved him to second, and Senior Asou, batting ninth after just being given the chance