Episode 10

## Yeah, Right

* Title Screen
* Screenshot

## Episode Guide

**Yeah, Right**is the tenth episode of the *Cross Game* anime.

The game between the prefab and varsity teams at Seishu continues. After realizing that he is tiring too quickly, Kou decides to focus on either the speed or accuracy of his pitches and his decision turns the tide of the game. Meanwhile, the seniors on the prefab team continue their efforts to impress Coach Daimon.

## Plot

The game between the prefab and varsity teams continue. Yokomichi Oukubo comments on how good a fight the prefab team is putting up against the varsity. The score is currently 3 to 2 with the prefab team in the lead. Kou tells Osamu Akaishi that pitching is exhausting and Coach Sentarou Maeno agrees but then says there is still a long way to go in the game. The game is now at the top of the 4th. Makihara is up to bat for the prefab team. Since the announcers isn't announcing the names of the prefab members, Makihara announces himself as he steps up to the batter's box. Makihara says he is going to do whatever it takes to stand out and make it onto the varsity squad. However, Noboru Kamikawa easily strikes him out. Kamikawa's specialty is breaking balls.

Kou, up to bat next, things of a way to hit them. Kamikawa, remember what Yuuhei Azuma said to him about throwing fast balls, tries his luck. The unexpected fast ball catches Kou off guard, but he is still able to hit it and score a triple play. Azuma thinks Kamikawa is a moron. Aoba Tsukishima comments on Kamikawa's pitching, saying that at her family's batting center, where Kou spends a lot of time, it's hard to practice hitting breaking balls, suggesting that Kou would have a hard time hitting those types of pitches. Over in the varsity dugout, Risa Shidou, the varsity manager, yawns as she heads to the bathroom. Coach Daimon comments on Risa's disinterst in the game. Eitaro Shidou reveals that he too isn't interested in baseball, and he just wants the fame of Koshien should the team make it there.

For the prefab squad, Toshio Miya is up next. Miya is the best bunter on the team. Miya bunts the ball but it's sloppy allowing Kamikama to catch the ground ball and throw it to third base, getting Kou out. Three outs. Akaishi silently tells his teammates not to start getting discouraged. Up to bat for the varsity is Azuma, with a runner already on first. Kou pitches and Azuma hits the ball to outfield. As he is running, Azuma looks at Kou who is just standing there silently. The score is now 3 to 4 with the varsity team now in the lead. Risa asks when the varsity team got in the lead and her father answers that it had just happened with Azuma's second consecutive home run. Risa goes to offer Azuma a drink, which he coldly declines and then tells her she's in the way. Risa angerily throws the drink on the ground and walks away. Kou strikes out the next two batters and thanks to center fielder Tsuneki, the third batter is out and the teams switch sides.

Tatsumasa Miki tells Azuma that every player on the varsity team is trying to get a home run to keep up with Azuma. Kou, over in the prefab team dugout is angrily kicking the bench in frustration. Maeno is amused, stating their ace pitcher is in a bad mood. Akaishi agrees saying that thanks to Kou's frustration, he seems to have forgotten about being angry. Kou goes to punch the bench but prefab manager Hiroko Oukubo stops him just in time telling him not to injure his right hand. The prefab team is unable to score. Keiichirou Senda states that the pace of the game has really started to pick up. The seniors state they don't care who wins or loses, they just want to make it onto the varsity team. Problem is, between the three of them, they haven't hit a single pitch forward the entire game.

Oukubo states that even though Azuma was able to hit two home runs off Kou, he doesn't seem to upset about it. Aoba says that Kou isn't that calm and she is sure his is going wild in the dugout. Oukubo notes that Aoba has a lot of data on Kou. Back on the field, Kou strikes out two of the varsity batters, and the seniors on the prefab team are unhappy with how much Kou is standing out. Up next for the varsity team is Miki who bunts the ball. Before Kou is able to catch it, Makihara intercepts the ball and throws it to first, and Miki is out. Makihara congratulates himself but unfortunately for him, Daimon isn't not paying attention. Daimon scolds Miki for taking the game too seriously and tells him to treat the game like batting practice. Miki apologizes. The game continues.

It's not the top of the 6th inning. Senda, Tsuneki and Sekiguchi are fired up. Maeno tells them to make Kamikawa throw a lot of pitches to give Kou time to rest up. However all three of them are struck out immediately. Kamikawa only threw a total of five pitches to the three of them combined. Kou is raring to go, despite barely getting any rest. Akaishi asks Kou if he is okay to pitch and Kou assures him that he is. Noticing that Kou is tiring, Akaishi calls for a time out and approaches Kou on the pitcher's mound. Kou finally realizes why pitching is so tiring. Kou is trying to focus on both his accuracy and speed instead of one or the other. With that being said, Kou decides to sacrifice the accuracy of his pitches and focus solely on speed. This decision catches the next batters, Tooru Onoda and Keisuke Kishibe completely off guard. While Onoda is able to hit the ball, Senda is able to get him out at second base. Kishibe is struck out. Up next is Azuma.

Daimon asks Kishibe why he didn't swing. Kishibe says he's never seen a nobody pitcher like Kou before and Daimon coldly tells Kishibe that he's a nobody as well. Back to the game. First pitch to Azuma is a strike and second pitch is a ball. Kou remembers the conversation he had with Aoba about Azuma being impossible for her to take out so it was Kou's job to do what she can't do. Kou tells himself that it is indeed his job to take Azuma out and pitches again. Azuma is able to hit it but it's a foul ball. Oukubo comments on how tense the game is becoming. Next pitch is a ball. However, the pitch after that, Azuma was able to hit and it results in yet another home run. Akaishi tells Azuma who makes it back to home plate, that this is the first time Kou pitched in a real game, something Azuma finds hard to believe.

Kou remembers Aoba telling him that she doesn't believe in him. Kou turns toward the stands, takes his hat off and bows. Aoba mutters that she just wants to believe what her sister and Akaishi told her: "if he puts his mind to it, Kou could be the best pitcher in Japan." Remember that statement, Aoba stares speechless at Kou as he pitches. The next varsity batter is out, thanks to Tsuneki who is still trying to impress Daimon. Akaishi thinks the seniors are trying way to hard and Daimon isn't even paying them any attention. Over on the varsity squad, varsity member Tanabe is taking score, something Daimon tells him not to do as it's a waste of time in a game like this. The score is now 3 to 5 with varsity in the lead.

Makihara tells Kou that he allowed clean up hitter Azuma to score home runs in a row, therefore he doesn't have a chance of making varsity. Makihara gets two strikes but is able to hit the third breaking ball. Kou realizes that Kamikawa has both a fast and slow breaking ball. Akaishi deduces that since Kou hit the fast one last time, Kamikawa will be hitting him with slow ones. Kou misjudges the pitch as going inside but it cuts to the outside instead. However Kou is still able to hit the ball and make it to first base. Makihara is out at home. He thinks Kou is going to make it to varsity. Senda however reveals that Daimon has no intention of recruiting anyone from the prefab team, no matter how well they play. Daimon is only keeping players he recruited himself and taking them to Koshien.

Akaishi is struck out and the teams switch sides. Miki tells Azuma that besides his three home runs, the only other run they scored was from his sacrificial fly. Meaning if the prefab team had simply walked Azuma instead of pitching to him, the prefab team would be leading 3 to 1.

## Characters

### Order of appearance

* Aoba Tsukishima
* Yokomichi Oukubo
* Osamu Akaishi
* Kou Kitamura
* Sentarou Maeno
* Makihara
* Kinji Takizawa
* Shuugo Daimon
* Noboru Kamikawa
* Yuuhei Azuma
* Kazuo Ogura
* Yuuji Kubo
* Sekiguchi
* Keiichirou Senda
* Tetsu Iwai
* Daiki Nakanishi
* Eitaro Shidou
* Risa Shidou
* Toshio Miya
* Keisuke Kishibe
* Tsuneki
* Tatsumasa Miki
* Minoru Ishiguro
* Hiroko Oukubo
* Nomo
* Tooru Onoda
* Wakaba Tsukishima (memory and flashback)
* Tanabe

## Important Events

* Kou ultimately decides to be a power pitcher rather than a control pitcher

## Trivia

* **Title drop/reference**: "Yeah, right" is said by Azuma to Akaishi not believing that Kou had never pitched in a game before