After hearing that Gibson collapsed Goro rushes to the hospital and is invited in by Junior at his father's request. Gibson finally tells Goro what happened to his family and why Junior has a grudge against him. He also tells Goro how his mom made him promise to wait until he faced Goro before he retired so Goro could always talk about how his dad homered off such a great pitcher. As the day of the Championship arrives Goro takes a letter from Toshi to Miho. Shimizu meets up with Yamane, Oobayashi, Muta, Tashiro, and Fuji to go to the game in America. Komori joins the old Little Leaue squad at Ando Sports after learning his practice has been cancelled, Seishuu moves the baseball team into one classroom to watch the game, other old coaches and friends are shown watching the game on their TV's, and Goro's uncle who allowed Miss Hoshino to take him comes to the game. At the same time Mayumura ends up taking the starting job after a bad night's sleep costs Japan their starting pitcher before the game.
결국 훈련중에 쓰러진 깁슨. 그 소식을 듣고 병원으로 달려간 고로.
고로, 그리고 모모코와의 약속을 지키기 못한 걸 자책하는 깁슨과 그 모습을 보고 위로하는 고로는 더 이상 진짜 대결에 집착하지 않는 것 같았다.
한편 시미즈 외에도 태평양을 건너 고로를 응원온 옛 팀원들이 속속 모여들면서 결전전야가 찾아온다.
