The roundup - 14th to 20th July 2020


One of the most prolific batters in Superpesis history reaches 1500 combined Runs and RBI

The big stories

Roope Korhonen becomes first ever player to reach 1500 power rankings

Just as PattU and Vimpeli had finished their celebrations for legendary runner Sami Haapakoski, rivals Sotkamo had something to celebrate too. Roope Korhonen is a long standing player for Sotkamo and has battled with Haapakoski many times for the championship, as a hard hitter he forms a key part of Sotkamo’s offence. This week his contributions were celebrated when Roope reached 1500 in the power points rankings. Power points are calculated by combining runs and RBI. Roope starts his 20th year in Superpesis with 11 championships, 6 silver medals and 2 bronze medals.


I want to congratulate Roope for reaching this significant milestone; he has been a powerhouse for Sotkamo and a significant factor in the championships the team has won. I want to thank  Roope for all the great memories he has given to so many people along the way and I can’t wait to see what this season and the future holds for him and Sotkamo.


Vimpeli launches its own game-day media

Sunday saw the launch of Vimpeli’s new TV format for home games. With multi-camera production and commentator analysis the quality is greatly improved and puts Vimpeli at the front of game day experiences for absent or overseas fans. The icing on the cake is the interval additional content that we will see in weeks to come. Award winning and legendary sports journalist Jari Porttila formed part of the commentary team to mark the occasion.


“This is now a huge leap towards audience-friendly content. We want to offer the audience access to the field,which is almost equivalent to being in the grandstand” Jukka-Pekka Kujala Executive director.


Around the league

Since my last featured game post last week, there have been a number of games played. I don't intend to talk about all of them, but the following games caught my eye:


Koskenkorva won their first game of the season on Friday with a scoring contest (kotiutuskilpailu) win over Manse. Patrik Wahlsten continues to carry the team and put up some monstrous numbers, yet it is telling that team remain at the lower end of the table despite his 25 RBI (2nd best in the league). Friday also saw KPL blitz Vimpeli for 3 points and Joensuu struggle past Kempele for 2 points.


On Saturday Kankaanpää shocked the high flying Seinäjoki with a 2-0 win, out scoring JymyJussit 7-3 and 6-2. In the only other game on Saturday, PattU kept Joensuu honest in a tight game, but ultimately the champions took home 2 points with some last minute heroics - scoring 9 runs in the last 2 innings of the decisive second jakso thanks mostly to Aleksi Rautiainen and Henri Litmanen’s home runs.


On Sunday Kitee journeyed to Kouvola and took on league leaders KPL. Arguably this was the toughest test so far far Kitee; Joensuu hadn’t been performing well at the start of the season, but KPL were undefeated going into this game with a mighty batting lineup. despite Kitee powering ahead in the 1st inning of the first jakso with 6 runs, KPL found a way back into the game and narrowed the gap to a single run. The deficit however was too great and Kitee won the first jakso and threatened to spoil KPL’s unbeaten record. After KPL steadied the ship and forced the supervuoro, it was hard to stop the Kopla offensive. KPL scored 5 runs in the supervuoro and won the game. Kitee have proven many critics wrong so far this season, but they have had a lot of fortune come their way, with 7 kunniajuoksu across the team in 7 games giving them an inflated score. 


Other games to end the week saw Vimpeli overpower visitors Manse in the game that debuted the new game day media experience Vimpeli has launched. Kankaanpää continued their winning ways to brush off an early 9 runs scored by IPV to beat the reds in a supervuoro.


The table as it currently stands:


O3p2p1p0pJuP
1 KPL8620087-4622
2 Sojy8521078-3520
3 PattU8061157-5613
4 KiPa7052065-5612
5 Veto8311360-5912
6 JymyJussit7310346-5011
7 JoMa6132055-4911
8 KaMa8211454-659
9 IPV7121346-398
10 KeKi7112367-687
11 Tahko7112349-567
12 Tampere8013451-785
13 KoU7020549-694
14 Siilinjärvi8011639-773


Photographs

Cover - (c) Superpesis 2020



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