Ninh explains, the Rules of Pesäpallo.
The object of the game is to score more runs than the other team.
Pesäpallo sometimes referred to as ‘Finnish Baseball’, is the national sport of Finland
and is derived from American Baseball.
But a word of warning to my American friends: Do NOT assume that this is just like American
Baseball.
It’s not.
Comparing Pesäpallo with American Baseball will most likely lead to confusion and your
lack of understanding.
So keep an open mind and think of this as a completely different sport altogether.
To score a run, you must hit the ball within the area of play, and run across three bases,
and back to home.
The field of play is long and narrow, generally a maximum of 96m x 42m
The bases form a zig-zag shape and each base is further away than the last.
If you hit the ball outside the area of play, this is a foul ball and the batter is not
allowed to run.
So hitting the ball as far as you can, won’t do you much good here.
The defending team will put 9 players on the field, whilst the batting team will stand
around home base in a semi-circle.
The job of the batting team is to score as many runs as possible by hitting the ball
and running around the bases.
They will send a batter to meet the defending pitcher at the pitching plate.
The pitcher’s job is to pitch the ball vertically in the air, at least one metre above his head,
and for the ball to land on the pitching plate.
A strike is any legal pitch, and a batter is allowed three strikes before he must become
a runner.
If the pitcher throws the ball at least a metre in the air, and it lands on the plate,
it’s a strike.
If the batter swings and misses any ball, it’s also a strike.
If the batter makes contact with the ball, it’s a strike.
If you hit the ball within the area of play, you are eligible to run, but you don’t have
to.
Remember, you can use all three strikes to decide whether you want to run or not.
An illegal pitch, is known as a ball or a bad pitch.
If the pitcher misses the plate, it’s a bad pitch.
If the pitcher doesn’t throw it at least one metre in the air, it’s also a bad pitch.
Or if the pitcher does else something wrong, it’s a bad pitch.
If there are no runners on the bases, one single bad pitch is all it takes for a batter
to walk to first base.
If there are runners on base, two bad pitches will allow the point runner (who is standing
on the highest numbered base), to walk to the next base.
The job of the defending team is to remove batters from the line-up and get players out
of the game.
In Pesäpallo, being caught and being out are two different things.
If a batter hits the ball in the air and it’s caught on the fly by the defending team – anybody
trying to run for a base has been caught.
This prevents them from scoring, but this does NOT mean that they are out.
The only way the defending team can get players out, is if they throw the ball to the base
that they are running to.
If the ball that beats the batter to the base, they are out.
Also, if the batter hits a foul ball on the third strike, the batter is automatically
out.
Once three players are out, their half of the inning is over, and the other team gets
to bat.
Once both teams have batted, this is known as an inning.
The game is played in two periods of four innings each.
Winning two periods, wins the game.
If both teams have won one period, an extra period of one inning, will be played to determine
the winner.
That’s basically the rules in a nutshell, but there’s a few other things you need
to know before playing or watching Pesäpallo.
For example:
Jokers For one inning, a batting team can add three
additional players to their batting line-up.
This means that you can temporarily have 12 players in the batting order, as opposed to
the normal 9.
These are the jokers, they wear a different coloured jersey and they can play in any part
of the batting order they want.
Their job is to increase the number of runs scored, especially if they are down on runs.
Home Run If a batter manages to hit the ball legally
and run to third base, this is a home run and this scores one run automatically.
The batter then stays on third base, and can run back to home base, on a later play for
an additional run.
This means that a batter can potentially score two runs by themselves.
Inning over.
Another way for an inning to be over is if all the members of the batting line up fails
to score at least 2 runs.
If the entire batting line-up has taken their turn to bat, and has scored one run or less,
the inning is over.
Strategy.
The strategy of the batting team is the hit the ball in areas where it is difficult for
the defending team to get players out.
They generally hit the ball away from the bases that their players are standing on.
As previously mentioned, hitting the ball as far as you can won’t do you any good
here, you have to be selective where you hit the ball.
The strategy of the defending team is to predict where the ball will be hit, and position fielders
to try and get catches and outs.
Remember, do not compare it to the rules of American Baseball – treat this as a completely
different sport and it’s a lot easier to understand.
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Ninh Ly - www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK