Around the league - 28th August 2020
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| Manse claim victory in the last of 4 games this season against KPL |
Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat v Manse PP, Tampere
1-2s (6-3, 3-5, 0-1)
KPL have been struggling to keep pace with the other teams in the top 4 and were left deflated after their 2-0 loss to Vimpeli where they failed to score a single run. Manse lie on the very edge of the playoff race, although in reality it is not a realistic outcome for the team. The matchup between the 2 teams is an interesting one and Manse have proven to be a worthy opponent; whilst KPL have been victorious on each of the 3 games in the regular season (and the Halli-SM game in February), Manse have not been beaten comprehensively and have only handed KPL 3 points once. The game saw an unexpected but much anticipated return of Toni Kohonen to the role of pitcher. Kohonen has been a phenomenal pitcher in his career and has led Kitee and Sotkamo to greatness, filling heir trophy cabinets as a result.
The first jakso started with a strong presence from KPL who scored 3 runs in the 1st inning. The first run came from Matti Latvala’s short hit between 1st and 2nd base, which gave Matti Saukko the time to score as the infielder took a second longer to gather the ball. The second and third runs came later in the inning thanks to hits from Toni Kohonen and Sasu Toikka. With a further run to KPL’s tally in the 2nd inning, the game looked set for a KPL victory and 2 more runs in the 3rd inning looked decisive. Sasu Toikka and Valtteri Luoma brought home Iiro Nokkala and Toni Kohonen to leave the score line at an impressive 6-0; however Manse broke through with Jukka Tuomisto’s low hit to right field finding a gap in the bottom of the 3rd inning to kickstart their game. Manse scored 2 h runs in the 4th inning, thanks to hits from Kimmo Carlson and Juha Niemi but the score line was too much to overcome and KPL took the first jakso.
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| Kohonen plays as a pitcher in the loss to Manse |
In the second jakso KPL opened the scoring in the 1st inning with Matti Latvala once again making his mark, this time with a hit into space in left field. Manse responded with 2 runs in the top of the 2nd inning to take the lead for the first time in the game. Despite KPL regaining the lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning, with 2 runs off the bat of Jere Dahlström, the second jakso was a reflection of KPL’s season as it started to slip away from them. Manse’s Juha Niemi grabbed 2 runs in the 3rd inning before adding another in the 4th inning to give his team a 2 run lead.
With Manse forcing the extra innings, it was Juha Niemi who struck again for the visitors bringing Juuso Myllyniemi home to score. With the game on the line, KPL could not get anything going and their offence stalled. Manse won the game and left KPL wondering where to go from here - this was an opportunity to get their performance back into shape ahead of the playoffs following their tough loss to Vimpeli last week.
Juha Niemi was an unstoppable force in this game with 6 RBI that led Manse to an historic victory over KPL. Despite KPL having more 3rd base situations in the game (23 compared to Manse’s 18), it was Niemi’s flurry of runs in the second jakso and supervuoro (extra inning) that made the difference. KPL’s leadoff man Tommi Mäentausta was 8/8 getting to 1st base, which was a welcome improvement on his recent games; however he was only able to score once in the game off the bat of Jere Dahlström.
KPL continues to struggle finding the same level of performance that they had in the first stages of the season and will almost certainly finish in 4th. The effect on them finishing 4th will be that they will play the team who finished from 5th to 8th that no other team felt confident playing against. For Manse, the playoffs are a distant (and in reality unachievable) goal, but the season has been a great success. All season long Manse have threatened to topple KPL and the moment finally came at the very end of the season. Manse now have a 4 point lead over Kankaanpää in the table and look certain to finish 12th or higher.
Kouvolan Pallonlyöjät
| # | Pelaaja | Up | Ly | Tu | KL | 1% | 2% | 3% | K% | KL % | P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manse PP
| # | Pelaaja | Up | Ly | Tu | KL | 1% | 2% | 3% | K% | KL % | P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elsewhere in the league
28th August
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| In desperate times PattU pull off a significant win |
PattU gave their playoff chances a much needed boost with a. 3 point win over Kempele, who are also in the hunt for the final spots in the top 8. PattU’s fate is very much in their hands, with IPV’s final 2 games being against the almost unstoppable Joensuu. Kempele and Koskenkorva are very much on the back foot now with their final 2 games and the chances of them reaching the playoffs are disappearing with every game that passes.
Vimpeli turned out a routine 2-0 win against Koskenkorva that meant little to the team other than to help solidify their place in 3rd in the table. In the past 4 games Vimpeli have not conceded a run in 6 of 8 jakso, with 7 runs in total against compared to 34 scored for. For Koskenkorva however, the loss (although expected) came with the knowledge that their chances of reaching the top 8 were fading faster than the last days of summer. Koskenkorva’s final 2 games are against SiiPe and PattU; if Koskenkorva can beat Siilinjärvi (which is far from certain) then the final game against Pattijoki could be decisive, but they will have to rely on other teams losing to find themselves in that position.
Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe v Kempeleen Kiri
2-0 (4-1, 5-3)
Vimpelin Veto v Koskenkorvan Urheilijat
2-0 (4-0, 3-0)
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