The Roundup - 17th to 23rd February 2020

Litmanen and Piirainen head to SiiPe on loan
Photograph from SiiPe Facebook (c) Siilinjärven Pesis 2020
The roundup
17th to 23rd February 2020

The big stories
Sii you soon! Litmanen and Piirainen head to SiiPe
Matias Litmanen and Tommi Piirainen of Sotkamon Jymy have been loaned to last year’s elimination series survivors Siilinjärven Pesis until the end of the season with immediate effect. The move allows Sotkamo to develop Litmanen and Piirainen without taking valuable spaces on their crowded roster. SiiPe will be delighted to add the 2 players after their start to the Halli-SM tournament showed a gulf between them and current Halli-SM and Superpesis champions Joensuu. For Litmanen, the loan to Siilinjärvi is somewhat of a homecoming, as SiiPe is his breeder club. 

“I’ll be happy to see SiiPe. The team has a lot of old teammates, but also some little unknown faces. It is nice to be back in Savo and Siilinjärvi”
Matias Litmanen (translation via Google)

Photograph from SiiPe Facebook
(c) Siilinjärven Pesis 2020
Piirainen gets a shot at a regular spot in a Superpesis team lineup, after a strong 2019 with Jyväskylä. Despite making a debut for Sotkamo on 2017, competition for spots on the 1st team roster have been hotly contested and Piirainen has spent much of his time on loan. 

“It's great to play Superpesis in the upcoming season, with last season's High season and winter training season providing a good base for the coming summer. In the future, the goal is to play Superpesis as long as possible. Of course, expectations are high for the new team and what to do together” 
Tommi Piirainen (translation via Google)

Neither player has featured in Sotkamo’s Halli-SM games this year, but are fit and able to play. The choice to loan the players to SiiPe seems to be a great developing move for the players and offers SiiPe a chance to compete in 2020 with a solid team. Following this news, both players have since had strong outings in SiiPe’s narrow loss to Kitee. A promising start, but will it be enough when the regular season ends?

SiiPe part ways with Kimmo Lukkari
SiiPe have terminated the 2020 player agreement with Kimmo Lukkari with immediate effect. Lukkari joined SiiPe in 2017 and played 46 regular season games, including 30 in Superpesis. In 2018 Lukkari had 88 runs batted in over 22 regular season games for SiiPe, which led the Ykköspesis league and saw SiiPe promoted to Superpesis. In this year’s Halli-SM Lukkari’s only appearance was 0% off 5 attempts overall in SiiPe’s opening loss to Joensuu. SiiPe wish Lukkari well in his future endeavours.

IPV Sports Director (Jani Valkeapää) wins business award
At this years South Karelian Entrepreneurship Festival, Jani Valkeapää was awarded the “New Entrepreneur of the Year” award. Here at Superpesis Roundup we want to congratulate Jani and wish him all the success for the coming yea.

Halli-SM update and standings
There is only one weekend left and 1 place still up for grabs in the Semi-finals of this year’s Halli-SM tournament. This weekend’s games focused on Group B, being held at Joensuu Areena.

Joensuun Maila v Kiteen Pallo -90
2-0 (2-0, 4-1)
Friday saw the long awaited return of JoMa, not having played since the opening match of the tournament against SiiPe. This game featured as our game of the week - check out the post for a full review of the game:

Kiteen Pallo -90 v Siilinjärven Pesis 
2-1k (2-3, 5-2, 0-0, 6-5)
SiiPe didn’t waste time in adding Matias Litmanen and Tommi Piirainen to their lineup, as they joined the team on loan from Sotkamo. Kitee on the other hand were playing for pride, as the loss to Joensuu the day before effectively spelled the end for their Halli-SM qualification hopes. Both sides had similar numbers; however Kitee just ended it in most categories. Kitee had just 1 more 3rd base situation (13 compared to 12) and 2% margin over SiiPe at moving the point runner (49% versus 47%). Kitee’s foothold in the 1st inning of the second jakso was the key moment for Kitee, but at this stage they were chasing the game, hoping for a kotiutuskilpailu. After 3 full rounds in the scoring contest, Kitee emerged victorious 6-5. The win marks 2 for Kitee in kotiutuskilpailu during the tournament. SiiPe have one final game in the tournament next weekend against IPV, before having to head back to training and waiting for the spring.

Imatran Pallo-Veikot v Joensuun Maila
0-2 (2-4, 3-10)
JoMa flexed their muscle in this game and unleashed their offence to book their place in the Semi-Finals. IPV scored more runs against Joensuu in the first jakso than SiiPe and Kitee did in their 2 games; however it was a strong outing for Juha Putimäki (4/5 with point runner on 3rd base and 71% overall), Aleksi Rautiainen (4/5 point runner on 3rd base and 83% overall) and Konsta Kettunen (4/4 with point runner on 3rd base and 71% overall). Between these 3 players, they amassed a hefty 12 runs and put the game beyond the reach of IPV. With consistent crowds of over 1000 at Joensuu Areena, pesäpallo is becoming a staple in the local’s sporting diet. Joensuu just overwhelmed IPV with pressure on 3rd base, creating 20 3rd base situations in the game. Despite some strong performances for IPV with Teemu Nurmio going 5/6 to 1st base and Mikko Kosonen 3/4 with point runner on 3rd base, they were outplayed by the current champions. IPV have one final match against SiiPe next weekend and they will hope to take away 3 points and end their tournament with a positive note. 

Standings:



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