Despite Kouichi's wild pitches towards the end of the game, Seiko were able to come out with the win against Yamate Gakuin with a final score of 10 to 3. Imai came in for the last 2 innings and was able to shut out the competition, giving up no runs.
It was not as evident during their past 2 games thanks to invoking the mercy rule, but Kouichi was burning out by the end of the game. Now that Coach Yoshida had drawn his attention to it, Ken could see his performance waning in the latter innings.
As the team was heading onto the bus to head back home, Ken pulled Kouichi aside and had a chat to him.
"Hey man, nice work today." He said with a smile.
Kouichi seemed a little out of it, but he still replied with his thanks. He currently had an ice pack on his right shoulder, something that helped with recovery after pitching in a game.