Post season round 3 review
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| Joensuu celebrate their sweep of Tahko and progression to the semi finals Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2019 |
Postseason review: Round 3
Quarter finals
Congratulations to Vimpelin Veto, Sotkamon Jymy, Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat and Joensuun Maila for winning their respective series and advancing to the semifinals.
Vimpelin Veto 3 v 0 Kiteen Pallo-90
2-0 (5-2, 6-2)
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| Matias Rinta-aho lays down a hit in Vimpeli’s impressive win Photograph from Vimpeli Facebook (c) Vimpelin Veto 2019 |
Prediction: At the outset we predicted that Vimpeli would win, 3 games to 0, which was spot on!
Summary: Vimpeli dominated this series. The away game to Kitee was tight and was a narrow victory for them; however they looked in control of this series from the start. Vimpeli scored in every inning that they took to the batters box and had almost double the 3rd base situations that Kitee had (21 to 11). Mikkolanaho Kanala and Sami Haapakoski had big games going 89% and 82% respectively at moving the point runner, with 3 runs batted in from 4 attempts. Perttu Ruuska showed dominance in the Joker spot, converting 5/6 runs from players on 3rd base. There were very few chinks in Vimpeli’s game and despite 5 players scoring at or below 40% when moving the point runner, the teams overall percentage was a staggering 66%. In the face of such offence, Kitee did their best to keep the game in reach, but simply couldn’t match Vimpeli’s pace. Hannes Pekkinen had a strong showing, producing results in many different situations for 7/10 overall, with 1 run batted in and reaching home once himself. Runs came for Kitee when they could, but they didn’t have a consistent player to bring runners home. Sami Mikkolanaho was 1/4 with runners at 3rd base in one of the joker spots, but the bigger problem seemed to be getting runners safely to first in the first place, with the team 8/22 overall. Despite Kitee’s efforts they were truly outmatched in this series by the slick performance you expect from the league leaders.
Sotkamon Jymy 3 v 0 Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe
2-1s (4-2, 6-3)
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| Markus Tuikka dives for home as Sotkamo score again Photograph from Sotkamo Facebook (c) Sotkamon Jymy 2019 |
Prediction: Our prediction in the preview was for Sotkamo to win, 3 games to 1. We picked the right winner, but expected a win from Raahe. Having said that, Raahe did keep Sotkamo honest and the series score does not reflect how close the games actually were.
Summary: Sotkamo and Raahe were deadlocked in the first jakso until the 4th inning when Juuso Keski-Koukkari brought Teemu Juntunen home to score. But as so often has happened during the regular season, Sotkamo came back to win the second jakso and force the supervuoro and seal the win from there. It was fitting that Sotkamo should win in this way, having won more 2point games than any other team during the regular season. The second jakso was however, in reality, a fairly tight affair as well, with the game being tied going into the 4th inning. Lauri Rönkkö’s run in the top of the 2nd inning was short lived as Raahe equalised thanks to Juuso Keski-Koukkari in the bottom of the same inning. With pressure building before the bumper crowd of 2739 people, Sotkamo’s Roope Korhonen did what he does best and brought lead off man Niilo Piiponniemi from 3rd base safely home. Lauri Rönkkö made it 3-1 with Markus Tuikka making it 4-1 to win the second jakso. Sotkamo were pumped as manager and former Sotkamo superstar Jani Komulainen cheered his team back to their dugout before dispatching Raahe in a very swift inning. Going into the supervuoro Sotkamo continued their offence and Roope Korhonen scored the first run, bringing Niilo Piiponniemi home to score. The second run came off Topi Korhonen’s hit and gave Raahe a target to bat against. Unfortunately for the visitors, they could not take advantage of runners on 3rd and the game was over.
Sotkamo’s top of the lineup were highly successful in the game, with all 5 of the top 5 being above 57% at moving the point runner, 3 of which were 67% or higher. Roope Korhonen scored runs when it mattered for Sotkamo, but his stats were disappointing, going 2/7 with runners on 3rd and being 33% overall. Both teams in reality were highly restricted by their opponents and neither had a high number of 3rd base situations. Raahe fought valiantly in this series and the 3 losses without a win is misleading of the efforts they put in, but as we have seen countless times this season, Sotkamo are the masters at winning games from tight or even losing positions.
Kouvolan Pallonlyöjät 3 v 0 Seinäjoen JymyJussit
2-0 (3-2, 3-1)
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| Photograph from KPL Facebook (c) Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat 2019 |
Summary: This matchup was not as close in the end as we had predicted, but when you look at the games in more detail it looks far more competitive.
Joensuun Maila 1 v 0 Hyvinkään Tahko
2-1s (5-2, 6-8, 1-0)
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| Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2019 |
Summary: Joensuu opened this game by winning the first jakso; however Tahko stared elimination from the playoffs in the face and said no! Tahko mounted a comeback to take the second jakso and force the supervuoro. By a single run, Joensuu pipped it and swept the series. Special mention goes to Juha Korhonen, who scored 5 runs on the day for Tahko out of a possible 6. 2 more of Tahko’s runs came from wild throws in the 2nd inning of the second jakso. Joensuu had significantly more 3rd base opportunities than Tahko, but could not keep up with them in runs scored during the second jakso. Aleksi Rautiainen scored 5 runs for Joensuu and Juha Puhtimäki had another outstanding game going 3/3 at reaching 1st, 3/3 at moving the point runner to 2nd and scored a run. Puhtimäki is showing his versatility and helping keep the dreams alive to retain the championship. Joensuu have shown great strength in this series, despite being 4th seed in the playoffs. Joensuu will now play Vimpeli in the semi finals and will be an epic matchup.
Elimination series
Siilinjärven Pesis 2 v 1 Alajärven Ankkurit
0-1 (4-4, 2-3)
Prediction: In the Elimination series preview post we pegged Siilinjärvi to win, 3 games to 1. The win here keeps Alajärvi alive and so far is in keeping with our prediction.
Summary: In our round 1 review we stated “if only Alajärvi could match their performance against Sotkamo to end the season”, well in game 2 they kept it tight and forced the game to a kotiutuskilpailu. In game 3 however Alajärvi went one better and won. The game as a whole was a back and fore affair and both sides held the lead several times before the dust settled and Alajärvi were declared the winners. Alajärvi’s resilience to tie the first jakso having conceded 2 runs at the top of the 4th inning showed SiiPe that this series is not over yet. The breakthrough in the game came in the second “winner takes all” jakso where Markus Hallasuo and Martti Viitasalo scored in the 3rd inning to give Alajärvi a 2 run lead. Despite narrowing the lead to just 1 run in the 4th inning, Siilinjärvi could not score any more and the game was over. Alajärvi had more 3rd base situations in this game than Siilinjärvi (18 compared to 14) for the first time in the series. One standout player for Alajärvi was Severi Piispanen who was 8/9 overall on the day and had the best record of moving the point runner on either team. Markus Hallasuo was the other hero for Alajärvi as he batted in 4 of the teams 7 runs in the game. Siilinjärvi was fairly even across the lineup, with no real success stories in a game that was on a knife edge. Alajärvi will take the series home and try to win game 4 to keep their Superpesis hopes alive.
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