Superpesis roundup

Vimpeli won the championship with strong performances from Henri Puputti and Sami Haapakoski Photograph from Vimpeli homepage (c) Vimpelin Veto 2010 The regular season The regular season opened on 11th May with Ouluun Lippo defeating Jyväskylän Kiri 0-2 (2-5, 3-7). Over the course of 26 games, KPL finished first in the league, with Vimpeli finishing second. Bothe KPL and Vimpeli won all 5 of their remaining games and leapfrogged Sotkamo, who finished 3rd, after their poor end to the season saw them only win 2 of their final 5 games. Jyväskylä missed out on the final playoff spot despite wins over Koskenkorva, Tahko and Joensuu in their final 5 games. The final table was: Sami Joukainen of KPL led the league for runs batted in with 79 overall (including 5 kunniajuoksu) over 26 games. Sami had 8 more runs batted in than 2nd place Roope Korhonen of Sotkamo. Vimpeli held the top 2 spots in terms of runs with Sami Haapakoski (65 over 26 games) and Henri Puputti (60 over 2...

Sotkamo put on a strong performance in front of the Ruutu cameras in 2 practice games against Kempele Photograph from Sotkamo Facebook (c) Sotkamon Jymy 2020 The big stories Provincial Gala awards in Kainuu, Pohjanmaalla and North Savo In the weekend of 25th to 26th January, the annual provincial galas were held in Kainuu, Pohjanmaalla and North Savo. The provincial galas are a chance to award excellence in sport at a local level and grow the regional sporting communities. In Pohjanmaalla the attendees voted for the most thrilling sports moment of 2019 and settled on Janette Lepistö of Lapua Virkiä (Women’s league) and Jukka-Pekka Vainionpää of Seinäjoen JymyJussit (Men’s league).  In the Kainuu sports gala Joni Rytkönen of Sotkamon Jymy was awarded Team Athlete of the Year coming of the back of his league leading 71 runs scored in 2019.  SiiPe Women’s team celebrate promotion to Superpesis Photograph from Siipettäret Facebook (c) Siilinjärven Pesis 201...

Juha Puhtimäki collects another award for his outstanding performance in 2019 Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2019 The big stories Juha Puhtimäki named Pesäpallo player of the year by the Union of Sports Journalists For the second year in a row Juha Puhtimäki has been awarded the player of the year in the field of Pesäpallo by the Union of Sports Journalists. Puhtimäki has been phenomenal in 2019 and continues to bring talent and charisma in equal measure to pesäpallo.  Puhtimäki started his career in 2005 with Koskenkorva, but his career really gained momentum in 2014 with a move to Tahko. In 2014 Puhtimäki was ranked 3rd in the league in terms of successful hits (moving the point runner), with 186 over the season, including 100 successful hits moving the runner from 1st to 2nd base. In addition to this he reached home as a runner 50 times in the regular season, the 5th highest in the league.  From 2014 to 2017 Puhtimäki continued to gai...

Joensuu start 2020 with a decisive win over Siilinjärvi Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2020 Joensuun Maila v Siilinjärven Pesis 2-0 (6-0, 4-0) As the cloudy winter weather outside reminds us that 2019 has only recently ended, the Pesis season has started with the Halli SM opening game between Joensuu and SiiPe. With the teams eager to get out and play, there was a bumper crowd of 1173 fans that seemed to share the feeling. Joensuu came to this game as outright favourites - reigning Halli SM gold medalists and Superpesis Champions for the last 2 years, against SiiPe who battled bravely in the 2019 postseason to retain their spot in Superpesis. During the off-season Joensuu have added Topi Hurskainen from Kitee to bolster their already star-studded top order. In addition, KPL’s Antti Hartikainen and SiiPe’s Simo Vainikainen join Joensuu for 2020; however neither were added to the reigning champions lineup for this game. SiiPe have added Matias Häninen fro...