It's hot, it's raining, and the crowd's cheering for the opposing team. They're cheering for a first-year pitcher named Natsumi Tanba, who's just struck out five batters in the first inning. The crowd is already booing for the other team, which is led by the tournament's favorite, Inashiro Industrial. Nah, that's not good enough for Natsume Tanba. He's only one year old, so he's got a long way to go before he can catch up to the likes of Hiroyuki Nakajima, who has struck out more than anyone in the tournament so far. The other team's batters are having trouble dealing with him, and they're getting a lot of foul balls, which means that they have to hit more fouls to keep him from striking out. Nat thinks this is a good sign, but he doesn't think that the other guys are cheering for either of them. He thinks that the tournament is a two-year process, and that the condition of Inajitsu isn't good yet. In fact, he thinks that it'll be a while before he'll even be able to catch up with Hiroyuki, who is striking out more often than anyone else in the game. The pitch count is getting higher and higher, and Natsue Tanba is getting more and more frustrated. He wants to change his undershirt to represent the pitching team,