Promotion series review - round 1

Photograph from Oulu Facebook (c) Oulun Lippo Pesis 2019
Promotion series review - round 1


Oulun Lippo Pesis (Y) 1 v 0 Siilinjärven Pesis (S)
2-1k (1-3, 3-2, 2-2, 4-3)
Prediction: Oulu to win, 3 games to 1. After this thriller there can be no doubt that Oulu have the drive and determination to win this series, the question is whether Siilinjärvi have anything left in the tank after such a long and difficult season.
Summary: An epic battle between the two teams went right down to the wire, with Oulu edging Siilinjärvi in an extended kotiutuskilpailu. Siilinjärvi took the first jakso 1-3 with all 3 runs coming in the third inning. The second jakso started to shape up well for the visitors as  Kimmo Lukkari brought runners home in the 1st and 2nd innings to give SiiPe an 0-2 lead. Oulu however were not to be beaten and scored twice in the 3rd inning thanks to Oskari Salmela and Tapio Salo. With the game on the line Siilinjärvi let the win slip through their fingers as a wild throw resulted in Oskari Salmela reaching home in the 4th inning to force the supervuoro.


Oulu refused to be beat in a thrilling game 1 of the series
Photograph from Oulu Facebook (c) Oulun Lippo Pesis 2019
Siilinjärvi put down a marker in the supervuoro scoring twice thanks to a wild throw and Sebastian Lahti. But again Oulu refused to be beaten and levelled the score to take the game to a kotiutuskilpailu. In the first round of the scoring contest Siilinjärvi scored twice, only for Oulu to yet again equalise. With an additional round in the contest SiiPe made it 2-3 thanks to Samu Vainikainen. With the game on a knife edge Oulu dug deep and scored twice to take the win and give them an edge in the series. Despite poor numbers in the game, Eino Järvelä was considered the second best player for the home side; his 2/7 was dwarfed by his significance in the kotiutuskilpailu, driving home the winning runs with a looping hit to centre field that made its way out of the field of play allowing him to run to 3rd and score a kunniajuoksu. Samu Vainikainen was dominant in all areas in the game and gave SiiPe their go ahead run in the extra round of the kotiutuskilpailu. Vainikainen’s perfect 8/8 included 1 run batted in and him crossing home base once himself. 


Kempeleen Kiri (S) 1 v 0 Puijon Pesis, Kuopio (Y)
2-0 (8-0, 6-3)
Prediction: Kempele to win, 3 games to 0. It certainly looks like Kempele will sweep this series if game 1 is a shape of things to come.

Kempele scored big in their opener against Kuopio
Photograph from Kempele Facebook (c) Kempeleen Kiri 2019
Summary: Kempele were ruthless in their series opener against Kuopio, scoring 7 runs in the 1st inning and dominating both jakso. Kempele had 22 3rd base situations compared to Kuopio’s 11 in the game and converted 12 of 19 overall. Kempele’s best player was Juhani Ojala who went 9/14 overall with 2 kunniajuoksu and 2 runs batted in. Ossi Meriläinen went 4/4 at bringing runners home from 3rd to help Kempele reach an insurmountable lead in the game. The rest seemed to have suited Kempele well and they were in now way rusty, scoring 14 runs over the 2 jakso. Kuopio were scoreless in the first jakso and struggled to move runners effectively and only Misa Märsylä had a good record moving runners from 1st to 2nd base (4/4). 

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