Lukkari’s injury threatens to crush the championship dream of the perennially successful Superpesis – the dangerous opponent got his number one stick back

In the quarter-finals of the Women’s Superpesis, a real treat will be seen when the reigning champion Kirittäret meets Virkiä. According to expert Antti Yli-Saunamäki, victory is decided more on the mental side than on the game side.

The Superpesis quarterfinals start today, Wednesday. One of the most interesting match pairs is the meeting between Jyväskylä Kirittärie, who finished fourth in the women’s regular season, and Lapua Virkiä, who came in fifth.

Kirittäret is a perennial success of the 21st century, who in the last 22 years has only missed out on medals twice, once was in bronze and otherwise either celebrated the championship or was in silver. Virki has also been among the successful players of this millennium with seven championships, two silvers and seven bronzes.

Sports expert Antti Yli-Saunamäki according to it is really surprising that the teams are already meeting at this stage.

– Certainly, neither team would have wanted to meet the other already in the quarter-finals. Before the start of the season, however, it was thought that there could be two potential champion candidates. Kirittäret is still the reigning champion and Lapua is on the rise, Yli-Saunamäki stated.

Virikä’s course is better than in a while

According to Yli-Saunamäki, both teams have had challenges in the game. I’m invigorating Janette Lepistö was away from the playing fields for a long time and it has affected the team’s home game. There was also turbulence in the team from the beginning of the season and the game manager changed at the beginning of June.

Virkiä is now an experienced fan Jukka Liikala, who led the team from 2008 to 2017. At that time, Virki won five championships, two silver and three bronze. Yli-Saunamäki believes that Liikala has now found the game template he wants his team to play with.

When Lepistökin returned to the field effective by hitting a home run and five runs in the last regular season game, Yli-Saunamäki thinks Lapua has the ingredients for success.

Kirittäri has had big absences and quit last season Emma Körkön patching has been a challenge. Absences have been seen above all in repatriation, but the locker room brings the biggest problem Mari Mantsinen injury.

– However, Mantsinen has been the sovereign lock of the series in recent years and the soul and embodiment of Kirittäri’s outside game. He’s probably gone for a long time now. These things affect Kirittäri’s current attack.

Mantsinen was injured at the end of July, when a hit by a player from Mailattari hit him in a foul situation.

Yli-Saunamäki believes that Kirittäret as a team has been boiled in such a tough broth that the players are able to handle the situation.

– However, Lapua’s course is clearly better than it has been for some time. Considering that, Kirittäret starts this series as a contender in my opinion.

The victory is decided on the spiritual side

In the middle of this millennium, Kirittäret and Virki have met each other in the Superpesis final match eight times. Of these, Virki has won the championship six times and Kirittäret twice. Antti Yli-Saunamäki reminds us that there have been certain kinds of tensions between the teams for years.

– This will definitely be a really hot series. Both know each other. They know what to attack and what kind of things to consider. However, I believe that the teams will start to undermine each other mentally as well, Yli-Saunamäki said.

– Lapua is aware that Kirittäret is a bit vulnerable at the moment. Accordingly, Lapua has had a lot of game-related question marks in the air. The teams have slightly different strengths and weaknesses.

Yli-Saunamäki believes that the skill level of the teams does not necessarily decide this series, but rather which one can be mentally tougher.

Will Lapua be able to attack Kirittäri’s locker room situation? Is Lepistö, experienced Iina Lehtinen or one of the team’s key players Riina Kerola Vikkien’s hero in this pair of matches? Or will solvers emerge from Kirittäri? Like the one who finished his career last fall, but has now been promoted from the coaching ladder to the joker jersey Susanna Ojaniemi or having a great season Tinja Töyrylä or credit player Jutta Myllyniemi?

– Above all, it will decide who can perform better at the moment of decision and which team has a hotter homer who can score the necessary runs, Yli-Saunamäki said and predicted a long series for this pair.

– I would think that the series will go to the fifth game, and Lapua will continue from there.