When Yuki Miyata is hopsitalized with an illness, her best friend, Minami Kawashima, offers to take her place as manager of Hodokubo High School's baseball team, despite the fact she hates baseball herself. She buys Management: Tasks, Resposibilities, Practices by Peter Drucker which she later discovers is about business management as opposed to managing a baseball team, but Minami nonetheless becomes intrigued by its contents. Deciding that she first needs to 'define what the team is', she talks with Masayoshi Nakai, who hopes to become the team's CEO someday. Later, Yuki recalls a memory on how moved she was when Minami scored a winning bat during elementary school, which inspired her to join the baseball club. Having determined what the goal of the club is, Minami's decides to move onto the next step: Marketing.

As the team work on their strategy, designed to reduce the time the pitcher spends on the field and encourage defense, Minami learns Yuki is due to undergo surgery on the day of the exhibition match. It is revealed that Minami used to love baseball when she was little, but as she grew older, her hopes of becoming a professional baseball player were dashed. The exhibition match goes underway, with the team implimenting their new strategy to only aim for strikes. Whilst the match appears one-sided, the team notices their improvement as the game goes on. After managing to improve on defense, they start to impliment their no bunt strategy on offense which takes the other team by surprise. Despite losing the game, the team feels proud

The tournament begins, with the team winning their first five games thanks to their 'no bunt no ball' strategy, earning them a place in the quarter-finals. Afterwards, Yuki gives her thanks to Minami for all the courage she had given her the past year, though feels downhearted when Minami appears to put more focus on results than the overall experience. As the team start to struggle in the quarter-finals, Minami has the crowd sing Keiichirō's favourite song to give him encouragement, and the team make a comeback, winning thanks to the pinch runner, Fumiaki Kutsuki.

Yuki's condition takes a turn for the worse and she is put on life support, with nothing more that can be done to save her life. As Yuki's mother brings everyone to say their last goodbyes, Minami can't bear the bad news, wanting Yuki to fight through it, but her mother reveals that she had been fighting for a whole year despite being expected to only have three months to live. Minami feels guilty about the last thing she had said to Yuki before the quarter finals. Yuki passes away by the morning of the finals and Minami becomes angry, believing everything she has done has become pointless and blaming herself for making Yuki suffer for so long. As Minami reveals her hatred for baseball, it is revealed the team already knew having been told by Yuki. Conflicted, Minami runs off, but Ayano catches up to her, bringing her back to the stadium as the team are down 4-0. Overcoming her fears, Minami begins to cheer her heart out for her team.

With encouragement from Minami's cheers, the team start making a comeback making the score 4-3 as it comes to the last inning. With Yūnosuke forced to make the definitive bat, he makes the same play that Minami once did when she was younger, the play that inspired Yuki to love baseball, allowing the runners to reach home and clinch the match. As the team celebrate their victory, Minami has a vision of seeing Yuki, remembering all the good times they shared together. With the memories of Yuki in their hearts, the team moves on to the nationals, hoping to play baseball the way the customers want.