Seeing this, Yuki Masashi felt even greater admiration for his cousin.
After all, almost every run scored so far had something to do with him.
The run in the second inning came from a joint effort between him and Masuko, before he returned to home plate to score.
The run in the fourth inning was also created through his cooperation with his teammates, followed by his return to home plate.
In the sixth inning, his long hit to the outfield brought both Isashiki and Yuki back to score.
Aside from the one run in the seventh inning, which had nothing to do with him…
Now, at the start of the eighth inning, he had hit another home run.
That brought Ushijima Wakatoshi's total contribution tonight to 3 runs scored personally, plus 2 runs driven in for his teammates.
"Nice!" Ushijima Wakatoshi returned to the dugout and gave his cousin a high five.
"Isashiki, you're the only one who hasn't hit a home run yet," Coach Kataoka reminded him.
"…" Isashiki, the third batter in the core lineup, was left speechless.
After all, Yuki—the fourth batter—and Ushijima—the fifth batter—had both already gone deep.
At the start of the eighth inning, Seido added another 3 runs, completely shaking Maki's composure.
Throughout the entire inning, Seido's batting lineup dominated almost completely.
After the third, fourth, and fifth batters had their turns, Masuko seized the opportunity and smashed a deep hit to center field, nearly sending it out of the park.
In the end, he settled for a stand-up double.
Miyuki, the seventh batter, stepped up with a runner in scoring position—and immediately found his rhythm.
Bang!
He decisively sent the ball flying.
Seido's third home run of the game.
"Whoa~ Another two-run homer! That's the third home run in this inning!"
"Wow! Sensen has completely collapsed!"
"They've already given up 5 runs in the eighth inning!"
Sensing the situation spiraling out of control, Sensen's coach quickly brought in a relief pitcher.
That barely managed to slow Seido's momentum.
The third out finally came when Kuramochi was retired.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sensen's offense had already lost its momentum after being overwhelmed in the top half.
Even their core lineup couldn't respond.
Ushijima Wakatoshi continued his dominance, striking out three batters in a row once again.
After eight innings, Seido held a commanding lead:
Seido: 0.1.0.1.0.2.1.5
Sensen: 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0
A full 10-run lead.
"How many strikeouts?" Ushijima Wakatoshi asked Chris after returning to the dugout.
"All eight innings were three up, three down—24 strikeouts," Chris replied.
Hearing that, Ushijima turned to Isashiki beside him.
"Do you know what 24 strikeouts means?"
"A new record?" Kuramochi cut in.
"No! 24 strikeouts—24K! That's just pure… awesome!" Ushijima said, making a playful gesture.
"…" Kuramochi's face twitched in exaggerated annoyance.
"Hahaha!" The rest of the team burst into laughter.
In the ninth inning, fate had Sensen face Seido's core batting order once again.
Kominato led off with an infield single, safely reaching first base.
Isashiki followed with a hit to the outfield. Although the landing point wasn't ideal, he still managed to reach base.
Next came Yuki.
He smashed a powerful hit that nearly cleared the fence—
—but it was caught by a well-positioned outfielder.
Even so, Kominato and the runner from second base both scored, while Isashiki, who had reached third, was left stranded.
Yuki Tetsuya himself ended up on second base.
With one out in the top of the ninth, Seido added another run, with a runner still in scoring position.
Then came the fourth batter—
Ushijima Wakatoshi.
Already having contributed heavily throughout the game, his mere presence at the plate put immense pressure on the opposing pitcher.
This substitute pitcher was clearly weaker, and now, under Ushijima's overwhelming presence, his composure began to crumble.
His very first pitch—
was met with a merciless swing.
Although Ushijima's home run ability was only at the Silver level…
the pitcher's fastball barely exceeded 130 km/h.
Combined with its predictable trajectory and Ushijima's overwhelming momentum, it became the perfect target.
Ushijima didn't hesitate.
He attacked without mercy.
Bang!!!!!
The clean, explosive sound of the bat hitting the ball at the sweet spot echoed across the field.
Every spectator looked up.
The baseball soared high into the sky, flying deep toward right field.
"It's out!!! Seido's ace hits his second home run of the game!!!"
"It's gone!!! Ushijima Wakatoshi delivers a three-run blast!"
The stadium erupted into cheers.
Isashiki from third base and Yuki Tetsuya from second both ran home, smiling brightly.
"That's incredible! Two home runs today!" Yuki couldn't hide his amazement.
After returning to the dugout, Ushijima clasped hands with his teammates and roared:
"The finals! Here we come!!!"
"Whoa!!!"
The entire Seido bench erupted in celebration.
Yes—
they had reached the finals.
And they would face Inashiro.
"Ladies and gentlemen, students—we are about to announce a record!"
"Ushijima Wakatoshi, the ace pitcher of Seido High School, has set two high school baseball records!"
"26 consecutive strikeouts in a single game!"
"27 total strikeouts in one game!"
The moment the announcer's voice echoed through the stadium, the crowd fell into stunned silence—before erupting.
Yes.
In today's game, nearly every batter Ushijima faced was struck out.
In the ninth inning, he came incredibly close to completing three full rounds of strikeouts—27 in total.
The reason it wasn't 27 consecutive strikeouts…
was because of a single mistake.
He hit a batter with a pitch.
That allowed one runner to reach base, breaking the perfect streak at 26 consecutive strikeouts.
However, since that batter still didn't put the ball in play, Ushijima continued and ultimately completed 27 total strikeouts in the game.
Both records were legitimate.
After hearing the announcement, Ushijima Wakatoshi smiled.
But what excited him even more—
was something else.
Two new rewards had appeared in his system panel.
Only after hearing the announcement did he think to check it.
Then he saw the notifications:
[Achieve 27 strikeouts in a single game — Reward: Gold Chest]
[Complete 9+ innings with no hits and no runs — Reward: Diamond Chest]
Ushijima hadn't expected that achieving 27 strikeouts in a single game would grant a Gold Chest.
But thinking about it, it made sense—this was a record in high school baseball.
A Gold reward was justified.
However, since the 27 strikeouts were not consecutive, only the Gold Chest was granted.
If he achieved 27 consecutive strikeouts…
would that yield a Diamond Chest?
Today's game had only reached a 26-strikeout streak.
That meant it was something he could aim for in the future.
As for the no-hit, no-run condition—
he hadn't expected that to grant a Diamond Chest either.
He had pitched several no-hit, no-run games before.
However, most of those games only lasted around five innings.
The only time he pitched more than nine innings without allowing a hit or a run was against Akikawa.
But during that game, the hidden reward hadn't triggered.
Most likely, it was because he had already completed the "Complete Game" condition at the time.
In addition, during that match, Ushijima hadn't achieved 27 consecutive strikeouts.
There were several batters where he intentionally pitched to contact, allowing his defense to handle the outs.
Because of that, in the Akikawa game, he was far from reaching even 26 consecutive strikeouts—let alone 27.