It’s Yakushi v. Seidou for the chance to play at the Koushien.
What They Say:
Episode 40 – “The Final Eve”
The third-years stop by the night before the final. Sawamura asks Chris for some advice on his two-seamer. The third-years realize how far Sawamura has come seeing him pitching various pitches. Kuramochi is seen elsewhere talking to Shirasu about a possible injury Miyuki is hiding.
Episode 41 – “The Leadoff Man”
It’s time for the Tokyo Fall Tournament Final. It’s Yakushi’s chance to go to nationals for the first time, and Seido’s chance to go back after seven years. The play ball is called and Seido starts on the offense. “My job is to create an opportunity for the team to score.” Kuramochi tenaciously gets on base.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s the night before the finals and the winner gets to go to Koushien. The last year they were here, this Seidou team was supported by a bevy of third years that anchored the team’s best offense in probably years. This year, it’s a handful of first and second years that got significant playing time during the previous tournament, led by who is the best catcher in the tournament, Miyuki.
This isn’t last year. This isn’t Tanba v. Narumiya and this isn’t Seidou v. Inashiro. If Seidou wants vengeance for their late inning breakdown last year, it’s going to have to wait until next year’s tournament when Miyuki, Kawakami, Narumiya, Kamiya, and Shirakawa are all third years. The game right now, the only game on their minds, is the one between Seidou and Yakushi. It’s the platoon of Kawakami, Sawamura, and Furuya v. Sanada et al.
The third years are back though, at least to help with the game preparation. Haruichi gets some new bats from home, Isashiki and Yuki give some pointers to this Seidou’s offense, and Chris helps Ono with catching some of Sawamura’s moving pitches. In addition, Sawamura is trying to add a two-seam fastball to his ever-growing repertoire. As it stands now, he and Kawakami are the most versatile, with Furuya only throwing the fastball and slider really well. But Sawamura holds a four-seam fastball, changeup, cutter, and two seam (in order of usefulness) in his glove. But just trying to find one pitch to get Todoroki out is going to take all of them to do.
In previous high pressure situations, Sawamura has given up two home runs to Todoroki and hit Shirakawa. But he also came through against Ouya, so everyone’s wondering which Sawamura will come to play. But this isn’t the Sawamura that gave up home runs to Todoroki or hit Shirakawa or even the one that played against Ouya. This is the Sawamura that’s been to the bottom of the barrel, climbed his way up, fell back down again, and has clawed back to the top. He’s trusted by the coaches now, and his play has demonstrated that he’s more than just a loud mouth with a moving fastball.
The important note is Miyuki, who appeared injured in the home plate change against Seiko, but completed the game and got the game-winning hit. The day after, he’s sure to feel the weight of the huge pitcher plowing into him, and he certainly does. Kuramochi played with an injured Ryosuke, and it likely cost Seidou a chance at the tournament last year. He’s not going to make the same mistake with Miyuki.
Regardless, it’s Miyuki in the game behind the plate and Kawakami to start things off. Furuya’s limited to an inning—doctor’s orders—because of a sprain, but that could be a huge inning. It’s Seidou up first in the top of the inning, so we’ll see what the unpredictable Yakushi team can do to start things off.
Mishima’s on the mound for Yakushi and Sanada’s at first. Seidou changed their lineup a bit to compensate for the loss of Furuya, putting Tojo second and moving Shirasu down in the order. It’s still Kuramochi up first for Seidou, and he’s batting left to try and get a man on base. The pitcher is also right handed, so that helps the case. Kuramochi takes a long at bat with quite a few foul balls, but he’s not trying to force the balls into play. The count goes to full fast before Kuramochi puts it into play just past the first baseman. It’s mind games from here as Kuramochi takes a big lead. Mishima tries a pickoff, but fails. On the next pitch, the catcher can’t even get the ball out before Kuramochi makes it safely to second. Tojo throws a bunt and Kuramochi is already on third. Now it’s Haruichi in the three hole with Kuramochi on third and one out. Haruichi’s walked and it doesn’t look like Mishima will last too long with Miyuki up to bat with one out and men on first and third. Miyuki hits a liner straight back to the pitcher and, on a stroke of luck, Seidou’s out on a double play.
It’s Seidou on defense now with Kawakami on the mound. It’s Kawakami’s first start in the tournament, and probably first start in a long while since the upstart first years have upended him. Kawakami starts things off with a strike to the inside looking. Miyuki calls the sinker next, a pitch Kawakami hasn’t shown in probably years since a mishap before the show started. The sinker goes to the shortstop for the out. It’s a strikeout on the slider against the next batter and it’s Mishima up. He hits a long ball to center and it’s a man on first with Todoroki up next. The cheers are louder than they’ve ever been as his classmates walk out from the hallway, expecting the quiet kid in class to be a benchwarmer. It shows the contrast between Todoroki’s baseball personality and his every day one.
Kawakami’s pitching well against Todoroki, but it’s still only the first inning. Todoroki can take a while to heat up, but I guess not this time. Todoroki hits it to right and almost gets out at first. A heads up defensive play on Shirasu’s part keeps men on first and second instead of second and third. And now it’s Sanada up to bat with the momentum in Yakushi’s corner. He hits a slider deep into right field to Shirasu for the out. With both team’s pitchers in clutch positions, both team’s defenses step up for the outs needed to end the innings. The game could break open at any moment, but it could stay a low scoring affair.
One pitch can change it all.
In Summary:
I’ve said it a million times, but Seidou and Yakushi know each other, which both complicates and alleviates this game for both sides. On one hand, they have a lot of data to study up on the other team. On the other hand, they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses intimately. The first inning displayed that more than any amount of words. They go after the other side’s perceived weakness and end up in more clutch than they expect to be. It’s heads up plays on both sides that saved them. This game isn’t getting any easier…
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar
