...Possibly

That afternoon, Maeno dismisses practice early. In a bookstore, Mishima and Ryuo backup pitcher Oikawa talk about how unlikely it is they will get to play against Seishu. Midori visits the Tsukishima batting cages, where Aoba tells her Seishu might beat Ryuo. That evening, Akaishi reviews tapes of Ryuo's games one more time, particularly Shimano's batting, while the rest of the team prepares their equipment. The next morning, after a press conference for Idol Ace, former manager Risa tunes in to the start of the game. In the first inning, Ryuo quickly retires all three Seishu batters, and Ko strikes out three Ryuo batters with nine pitches. In the second inning, Azuma hits a home run on the first pitch, while Shimano hits a single but is left on base. At the top of the fourth inning, Seishu still leading 1 to 0, Mishima asks to be sent out to the first base coach box during Ryuo's next at-bat.