Halli SM review - Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe v Kempeleen Kiri (02.02.2020)

With a number of well placed hits PattU ran up a huge score to beat Kempele
Photograph from PattU Twitter (c) Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe 2020

Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe v Kempeleen Kiri
2-0 (11-1, 6-3)
To round out an exciting weekend of Pesäpallo, PattU faced off against Kempele. PattU finished the 2019 regular season strongly, whereas Kempele went off the boil and soon slipped into the fight for survival. Although PattU’s postseason journey was cut short by Sotkamo, they have made some adjustments to their lineup for 2020 in the hope of bringing more firepower to the club. 

Kempele started the 1st inning in the first jakso, but were unable to score, with a narrow call at home saw Tommi Koivisto out at home plate to end the inning. PattU started immediately with Severi Piispanen and Paavo Pelto reaching base safely with well placed shots. Timo Kallio’s bouncing shot loaded the bases to set up Sami Haapakoski with a 2 run ground rule double. As Kempele were trying to find their feet in the game, Topi Kosonen made it 3-0 with a tap shot to the right could line that took Kempele by surprise. Whilst Sami Haapakoski was unable to score of Jussi Keski-Koukkari’s hit to the midfield line, the subsequent looping hit to centre field was thrown inaccurately and skimmed the pitcher’s outstretched glove to allow Topi Kosonen to score. Things went from bad to worse as Kempele misfielded a soft ground ball to right field and Harri Kolehmainen made it 5-0. 

The 2nd inning proved equally as challenging for Kempele who remained scoreless, before PattU came to the plate. Another well placed hit by Sami Haapakoski bounced just before the Kempele right outfielder and made its way for another 2 run ground rule double. If things looked bleak for Kempele, they were about to get worse as Topi Kosonen’s hit along the right foul line turned into another ground rule double, bringing home 2 more runs.  With 2 outs later in the inning, PattU started a rally from nowhere - after Topi Kosonen walked to 1st base, Jari Törmänen brought him to 2nd base with a line drive to right filed and then hit a ground rule double to left field to make it a staggering 10-0. Jussi Keski-Koukkari added the final run of the inning with a looping hit to centre field which seemed to just pass the Kempele outfielders for a ground rule double. With the jakso now well and truly over, Kempele bagged a consolation run in the 3rd inning, but never really looked like they could overcome the deficit. The run came when Ossi Meriläinen’s bouncing hit cleared the PattU 1st baseman who was between bases and gave Miss Märsyläample time to reach home. PattU won the jakso 11-1.

Photograph from PattU Twitter (c) Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe 2020
The second jakso started with PattU at bat and saw Kempele a little more settled in the field. Jussi Keski-Koukkari’s hit down the right could line was fielded by the Kempele 1st baseman; however in fielding the ball he was unable to get a quick clean throw to home and Topi Kosonen ran home to score. In the bottom of the inning Kempele levelled the score when Marko Pelkonen’s line drive zipped past PattU’s 1st baseman and went on through right field for a ground rule double. For the first time in the game Kempele took the lead in the 2nd inning. Following a scoreless frame from PattU, Ossi Meriläinen’s hit to centre field took a bounce in front of the PattU outfielder and slipped past him, giving up a ground rule double and seeing Markus Keski-Petäjä score.  

The 3rd inning however was all PattU’s and a 5 run flurry put the game beyond reach for Kempele. Jari Törmänen started the scoring with a well placed hit to centre field that found a huge gap beyond the midfield line, bringing Timo Kallio home to score. Harri Kolehmainen’s shot to right field seemed to pass Kempele by as they watched the ball bounce and go to the back wall for a ground rule double, scoring Sami Haapakoski and Topi Kosonen. 

Teemu Juntunen’s hit past the catcher and 2nd baseman went for yet another ground rule double and saw Harri Kolehmainen add to his incredible inning by coming home to score. As the inning continued Harri Kolehmainen came round to bat once more and reached second base with another ground rule double. He then ran home for the second time in the inning off Miikka Matikka’s hit between the shortstop and 2nd baseman for another ground rule double. PattU now led the jakso 6-2. Kempele’s 3rd run came when Ossi Meriläinen’s hit to the PattU shortstop is misfielded, bringing Jussi Korhonen home. Whilst Kempele closed the gap to 3 runs the lead remained too great to overcome. PattU won the second jakso 6-3.

If PattU were concerned about producing runs in 2019, this performance seems to have emphatically shown that they have made strides to address this. Outstanding performances from legends Sami Haapakoski and Topi Kosonen was a real pleasure to watch and is likely to be of concern to other teams. PattU outplayed Kempele across the board, with twice as many successful hits (66 out of 107 compared to 33 out of 61) and a significantly higher number of 3rd base situations (25 compared to 14). Also of note was the difference in leadoff players - PattU’s Severi Piispanen was 8/13 overall with 6 successful hits to 1st base out of 9 attempts, compared to Kempele’s Miss Märsylä who was 1 from 3 attempts in total.

In our Halli SM preview post we said that Sotkamo are favourites for this group, but PattU where the most likely team to cause an upset - with a performance like this Sotkamo will be studying PattU carefully ahead of their match. PattU’s match against Sotkamo comes the following day after Sotkamo’s game against Kempele, so could give PattU an edge in terms of fatigue. Can PattU beat Sotkamo and advance? Only time will tell.


Up next
Kempeleen Kiri v Sotkamon Jymy 15.02.2020
Sotkamon Jymy v Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe 16.02.2020


Game statistics


 Pattijoen Urheilijat

pj:1.pj Jussi Haapakoski 2.pj Antti Mäkelä
3-tilanteet:25, harhat:0, vapaat:0
#PelaajaUpLyTuKL1%2%3%K%KL %P 
1Severi Piispanen2P28/136/92/30/162%
2Paavo Pelto3P28/113/55/673%
3Timo Kallio3V36/101/21/34/40/160%
4Sami Haapakoski2V427/121/31/21/24/558%A
5Topi KosonenL347/92/21/21/23/378%
6Harri KolehmainenS236/82/32/20/12/275%
7Miikka Matikka3K16/92/33/41/267%
8Teemu Juntunen2K13/80/22/41/238%
9Eetu Suni1V1/41/20/10/125%
10Jari Törmänen316/91/22/23/567%
11Juuso Keski-Koukkari35/82/33/562%
12Jere Achren3/63/50/150%
171766/10719/3115/2715/2417/2562%

 Kempeleen Kiri

pj:1.pj Jussi-Pekka Tanskanen 2.pj Ilkka Hirvonen
3-tilanteet:14, harhat:0, vapaat:0
#PelaajaUpLyTuKL1%2%3%K%KL %P 
1Misa Märsylä2K11/31/333%
2Onni Määttä1V18/83/34/41/1100%
3Markus Keski-Petäjä3P13/42/21/275%A
4Marko Pelkonen2V13/62/31/350%
5Jani LassilaL3/82/61/10/138%
6Jussi Korhonen3K13/51/20/12/260%
7Juhani Ojala3V2/61/31/10/233%
8Valtteri Kleemola2P0/10/10%
9Pekka HepokangasS0/10/10%
10Ossi Meriläinen33/53/560%
11Tommi Koivisto4/73/61/157%
12Jonne Luhtavaara3/71/12/30/343%
4433/6111/2310/128/124/1454%

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