Post season round 1 review

Photograph from Raahe Facebook (c) Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe 2019

Postseason review: Round 1

Quarter finals

Vimpelin Veto 1 v 0 Kiteen Pallo-90

2-0 (7-1, 4-2)

Prediction: At the outset we predicted that Vimpeli would win, 3 games to 0, this emphatic win over Kitee looks like Vimpeli have their eye firmly on the Semi finals already.

Photograph from Vimpeli Facebook (c) Vimpelin Veto 2019

Summary: Vimpeli put a marker down early in this series - Kitee may have won their place in the top 8, but Vimpeli are the top team in this league! Vimpeli showed strength up and down their lineup in this game, with 8 players having over 50% success at moving the point runner. Perttu Ruuska leading the team with 4 runs batted in, albeit it could have been more as he was 4/7 with point runners on 3rd base. Mikkolanaho Kanala was the other standout player for Vimpeli who had success across the bases and showed versatility in moving 5/9 runners to 2nd, 3/3 to 3rd and scoring a kunniajuoksu. Kitee were entirely outplayed and the first jakso was a clear display of Vimpeli’s intentions. Kitee had 8 3rd base situations compared to Vimpeli’s 21, highlighting how well Vimpeli shut the visitors down before they could pose a threat at 3rd base. Topi Hurskainen had good numbers, going 6/8 on the day, but overall half of the team were below 50% in advancing point runners. It’s hard to see how Kitee can beat Vimpeli 3 times out of the next 4 (potential) games. If Kitee can muster a victory over the league leaders then it will be an achievement. 

Sotkamon Jymy 1 v 0 Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe

2-0 (4-2, 6-3)

Prediction: Our prediction in the preview was for Sotkamo to win, 3 games to 1. If Sotkamo keep up their performance they will win the series easily. The difficulty comes however when Sotkamo turn in performances like those against Siilinjärvi, Kankaanpää and Alajärvi A’s happens in the latter stages of the season.

A Sotkamo runner gets some air-time as they try and beat the throw to home.
Photograph from Raahe Facebook (c) Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe 2019

Summary: Sotkamo showed their resolve in this game, dusting off their end of season defeat to last place Alajärvi on 13th August. Niilo Piiponniemi was perfect in his role as no 1 in the batting lineup, reaching 1st base 6/6 and 2nd base 1/1 as well as making it home for 3 runs in the game. Roope Korhonen showed that his years of experience and cool head can still lead the offence for this team going 4/5 at bringing runners from 3rd base home to score. Despite Raahe scoring twice in the 1st inning of the first jakso from wild throws, Raahe’s offence was not as strong as Sotkamo’s and they only had 10 3rd base situations in the game compared to Sotkamo’s 20. Raahe’s offence came alive in the 4th inning of the second jakso and the home team started to feel uneasy as they saw their lead cut from 5 runs to 3, but Raahe simply could not keep the inning going and a sharp throw to 2nd base for the out ended the inning and the game. The next game in the series will be a home game for Raahe, where during the season Sotkamo beat Raahe 0-2, outscoring them by 7 runs. Raahe will need to put the breaks on Sotkamo in round 2 otherwise they will face the daunting task of a must-win game at Sotkamo in round 3.

Kouvolan Pallonlyöjät 1 v 0 Seinäjoen JymyJussit

1-0 (2-2, 5-4)

Prediction: We predicted that this series would be tight, but overall KPL would win, 3 games to 2. With the first game being a fairly tight affair, it looks as though this series will go down to the wire.

Summary: This matchup looks to be a lot tighter than some of the other playoff series and KPL’s poor form of late will be a worry for them. History has KPL as favourites and as discussed in the preview article, it would be foolish to say that KPL are not the favourites; however of all of the matchups this post season, this is the one that could buck the trend and see the underdogs advance to the semi finals. If there is one thing to take from this game for either team it is that missed opportunities cost games. KPL had 21 3rd base situations compared to Seinäjoki’s 11, yet KPL only scored 7 runs compared to Seinäjoki’s 6. Of the missed opportunities, KPL 12 runners fail to reach home and being put out compared to Seinäjoki’s 2. Seinäjoki made good use of their jokers and number 10 Jukka-Pekka Vainionpää went 6/9 when attempting to bring point runners home. In contrast KPL’s jokers combined for 2/8 and scored no runs. Antti Hartikainen was flawless in the game and was 100% in moving the point runner, including crossing the home base line 3 times. Without a good performance in the team’s jokers KPL were tactically found wanting and this showed in their poor conversion rate from 3rd base into runs. KPL have the punch to win these kind of games and of course they did actually win here, although Seinäjoki will be eager to get back out into the field for round 2 sensing there could be an upset.

Joensuun Maila 1 v 0 Hyvinkään Tahko

Prediction: The preview post pegged Joensuu to win, 3 games to 1 despite their being only 1 place between the two teams in the table. Having said that, the current champions gave a spirited performance to show Tahko that they will have to pull out something special to win this series.

Juha Puhtimäki surveys the field as he comes to the plate.
Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2019

Summary: Joensuu won this game with good discipline and performance in their top end of the lineup, with numbers 1-5 all being above 50% at moving the point runner with superstar and East v West 2019 starter Juha Puhtimäki scoring 5 of the teams 6 runs with a kunniajuoksu (3 runs) and 82% overall at advancing the point runner. Puhtimäki is a strong number 4 in the lineup, but Joensuu will need to get a better performance from their jokers if they want to retain their title, as they combined for 5/16 at moving the point runner. Tahko was shut down in the game with their top end of the lineup struggling to advance runners safely. Tahko’s only runs of the game came from their jokers, but overall they just could not get runners to 3rd base in order to score; Joensuu had almost 3 times as many 3rd base situations with 17 compared to Tahko’s 6. Tahko are not out of this series by any stretch of the imagination, but Joensuu are playing slick pesäpallo at present and look like taking the series easily.

Elimination series

Siilinjärven Pesis 1 v 0 Alajärven Ankkurit

Prediction: In the Elimination series preview post we pegged Siilinjärvi to win, 3 games to 1. Given the result here it seems as though Alajärvi have gas still left in the tank, but Siilinjärvi’s performance in the second jakso was telling and shows that Siilinjärvi remain favourites in the series.

Summary: If only Alajärvi could match their performance against Sotkamo to end the season... well the first jakso seemed to be going all Alajärvi’s way when they were 0-4 up going into the 4th inning thanks to a 4 run kunniajuoksu from Markus Hallasuo; however Siilinjärvi pulled themselves back into the game with their first run coming from a. Wild throw before Toni Toivanen scored a 3 run kunniajuoksu and added a 4th when he came back to the plate latter in the inning to leave it 5-4. Alajärvi were saved by a wild throw to tie the jakso, but that was the final success in scoring in the game. The second jakso was frustrating fro Alajärvi who simply could not convert runners from 3rd base, with all 6 outs in the first 2 innings coming off attempts to reach home from 3rd. Alajärvi failed to advance runners safely to 3rd base for the remainder of the game and Siilinjärvi warped up the first game of the series comfortably in the end. 

As stated in the preview post, it is likely that Alajärvi will rack up a win against Siilinjärvi, but expecting them to win 3 times is probably a stretch too far; Alajärvi’s efforts in the first jakso proved that they are capable of putting runs ahead of Siilinjärvi, but they will need to re-assess their performance in the second jakso if they want to see another year in Superpesis.