Well of course, not everything will be shown to us unless the characters name is Sawamura whose training is mostly shown. Ochiai have already seen him seeing that their trainings have already begun so he can just go ahead and recommend him. As for us, we'll just have to wait for a formal introduction.

Not flashy but capable has that Shirasu ring to me. So maybe he's something like that.

Are you saying an underdog team that no one has never heard of before they beat Ichidai in the summer and made it to Koshien the FIRST time in their history more overglorfied than an all star team that has a long history of winning in Koshien almost every year? Any underdog team who's been winning a lot an doing good would brag about their consecutive victories.

Agreed Raichi has everything it takes to hit off a tough pitcher like Narumiya but Terajima decided to make Inashiro unstoppable again and set up Seido's rematch with them.

Lol! Inashiro is already a strong team from the get go, yet they continue to improve. There's the chance of Yakushi winning of course, they could've hit off Narumiya in the earlier innings because we all know it just gets harder to score off him at later innings -- we'll they could still have if Narumiya's tired which he wasn't-- and Yakushi lost their chance. There is a clear difference in skill and teamplay between the two teams during that match. Narumiya's pitching alone can cause a psychological effect to their opponents-- which is actually nothing new-- and this happened to Sanada. Moreover, Narumiya takes strong 4th batters very seriously --which is also nothing new-- and Raichi seemed to be so focused about blasting Narumiya's pitches away instead of a hit that connects to score (this is one of the differences between Tetsu and Raichi).

I have nothing against Yakushi but for a team that has been bragging all the while, they let their wins get in their heads and forget that they're up against one of the strongest teams in Tokyo. Its not that Inashiro is unstoppable, they just have gotten stronger and Yakushi was just careless.

I for one am glad that Yakushi were put to their place. XD

Yakushi has always been an enthusiastic team but after going to Koshien for the first time in their school's history I can understand why they would brag a lot. I don't like the author's writing that much. He says Yakushi has a "powerful" batting lineup but in reality the only good batters are Akiba, Mishima, Todoroki, and Sanada. I wonder why they have Masuda in the top of their lineup (he sucks and we have never seen him hit). I hope the 4 new first years will add some power to their team. Anyway, YES I called it! Yuki Masashi and Yui Kaoru made the first string! Now we might see a Yuki Masashi vs Narumiya showdown which will be awesome! The author also made Furuya have a ball control problem again even though his pitching was PERFECT when he played Komadai. I feel sorry for those two former first string players who got demoted. If anyone wants to read the new chapter you can find it on Tumblr, but it's raw.

Who else agrees the games in Act 2 are fast paced? Every game is like 2-3 chapters now which translates to 1 episode in the anime. In Act 1, the games are usually 10-20 chapters. I hope when Seido plays Ichidai or Inashiro, or we see good teams play each other Terajima makes it longer than 2-3 chapters and doesn't rush.

I guess it's short because the games aren't that important. They mainly highlight the important things for each game, so I think TJ wants to get the Spring T over with and set it up for the Summer.

It's still Spring though so the season will be mostly a set up for the summer. If we're going with how Act 1 went, the start will be very slow and character focus than the summer which will definitely all about games and in-between trainings. Also, remember Tanba's injury sent the plot in motion in Act 1, something parallel would happen by that time in Act 2 as well. I think it would be Furuya's demise that would make Eijun pushed through (in Act 1, Eijun was chosen because of Tanba's injury to cover the pitcher problem) and shoulder the responsibility in the summer.

To the person above who said that Furuya's control problem was brought up suddenly again even though he pitched perfectly in Komadai game, please Furuya has been inconsistent in the whole series and now almost everyone knows it and are vocalizing it. Even Eijun is calling him out on it. I don't hate Furuya before anyone calls me to it. But his stamina roll problem has been ignored in the Komadai game and that's what I would call out Terajima for.

Don't you love it when Eijun acts all mature and senpai-like and still can be so cute? When he called out to Asada, that was very thoughtful. Asada was worried but boy, there is no need to worry since it's Eijun. And Yui! Bless him for wanting to catch Eijun's pitches and what will be the new pitch? The 2seam or a new one, screw or slider? If Yui is practicing for it, I am seeing him catching for Eijun the next game already.

Koshuu. Oh, this guy. So stubborn. XD At the end with his declaration to Miyuki, I am really liking their relationship as catchers and kouhai and senpai. It's like with Chris and Eijun in the beginning. I hope Koshuu can be a starter as well and interact with Eijun but with Yui already, it's gonna be a clusterfuck to have another catcher in the bench. Poor him.

Those 2nd years in the end. I really like them somehow.