The roundup - 10th to 17th January 2021

Ville Väliaho had a solid start in JoMa red against Kitee, but a tight game against KPL gave Kopla a narrow win

The big stories

Halli SM fixtures cancelled

After concerns that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus has started to spread across Europe, countries have introduced more public safety measures to stop the virus spreading even more. In the world of pesäpallo, this has meant that the Halli-SM fixtures (which were due to start in the coming weeks) have been cancelled and the Pesäpalloliito has suggested that a tournament could be held in March/April to replace it. Whilst this means that we will not be able to get our usual winter warmup tournament, training matches are still allowed to be played (subject to local and National rules, as well as the team’s willingness to play). One option for a warmup tournament is a knockout competition with 16 teams; the Pesäpalloliito has suggested that some creative thinking may be needed... so I will write a post shortly about my idea for a pre-season tournament.

Whilst this is another setback for pesäpallo and is a firm reminder that the global situation is far from being resolved, public health and safety must be a priority.

Around the league

15th January

Joensuun Maila v Kiteen Pallo -90

3-0 (8-1, 1-0, 2-1)

Joensuu opened the training matches with a thrilling set of fixtures - Kitee and KPL, with both games being shown on Ruutu! Sadly, the feed for the Kitee game kept cutting out, making the game difficult to watch.

The fresh faces at JoMa were eager to get on the pitch and play, with Ville Väliaho taking the Lukkari spot after Juha Puhtimäki signed for Manse PP last autumn. Despite being benched for most of the second half of the regular season in 2020, Väliaho put on a fantastic performance. Kitee were a constant thorn in JoMa’s side in 2020 and seemed to be the one team that constantly looked like they could unravel them; however this game proved that the new-look Joensuu was more than up for the challenge. Defensively, Joensuu only gave up 1 run over 2 jakso and kept Kitee to 41% success rate at moving the point runner. In offence - there were success stories up and down the lineup, with Konsta Piironen going 6/6 in the leadoff role and 3 runs, to joker Patrik Wahlsten’s 3 RBI and 5/6. It also was a great debut for Markus Tuikka, who has been away from the game since Halli-SM last year, after the COVID-19 pandemic led to him and Hyvinkään Tahko parting ways. Tuikka was 100% (4/4) with 2 runs and looked as if he had never been away. 

Whilst the second jakso was a much tighter affair, there was little doubt that Joensuu would hang on for the win. Kitee’s Sami Mikkolanaho was completely shut down in the game, going 0/8 with 6 failed attempts to bring runners from 3rd base home to score. Whilst Valentin Ikonen had a solid 83% success rate at moving the point runner, Kitee’s only run during the 2 jakso came from Lassi Vasarainen, who brought home returning veteran Sami Partanen in the bottom of the 1st inning in the first jakso. Joensuu even won the scoring contest 2-1 as a final note to their solid win.

16th January 

Kempeleen Kiri v Pattijoen Urheilijat 

2-0 (3-1, 5-3)

Kempele started their winter training games with a comfortable win over PattU. For those who remember the Halli-SM games from last year, this was quite a reversal of fortunes. Kempele continues to impress and they will certainly be confident going into the regular season if they can keep up this kind of performance. PattU on the other hand are still in need of more consistent offence - if they want to brush off their poor 2020 performance, they will need to start creating runs.

17th January

Joensuun Maila v Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat 

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

Joensuu’s second televised game of the weekend was the first meeting between JoMa and KPL since KPL knocked them out of the semifinals in 2020. KPL opted to start Elias Pitkänen as pitcher and try their luck to win 3 games in a row against JoMa. This game was really a “a game of 2 jakso”, with KPL dominating in the first jakso and Joensuu in the second. As the dust settled after the game, the statistics look fairly even between the 2 teams, who both scored 6 runs from 18 3rd base situations. All that separated the teams was Ossi Meriläinen’s RBI in the supervuoro to give KPL the win. 

Wisdom beyond their years 
The young but effective Sotkamo lineup

Sotkamon Jymy v Pattijoen Urheilijat 

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

Sotkamo fielded a young lineup against Pattijoki to open their training games; however when looking at their lineup, it was clear that virtually all of the players had featured on one or both of Sotkamo’s championship winning teams from 2020 (Superpesis and Boys A). The end result was a win for Sotkamo, as PattU are left once more trying to find their way back to their promising performances from last year’s Halli-SM group games. 

Vimpelin Veto v Koskenkorvan Urheilijat

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

As KoU start a new chapter without their 2020 star player Patrik Wahlsten, they probably would have preferred a more timid opponent than Vimpeli. The first jakso saw a solid defensive performance from both tams - which is a clear improvement for Koskenkorva. However it was clear that KoU are missing Wahlsten’s talents a bat and they only managed to score 1 run over the 2 jakso. The win is a positive start for Vimpeli, but they will be itching to play against tougher teams and really test themselves.  

Photographs

Cover - (c) Joensuun Maila 2021

Photograph 2 -  (c) Sotkamon Jymy 2021