Superpesis roundup

Markus Tuikka announced his retirement this week The big stories Markus Tuikka retires On 25th January Joensuun Maila announced that Markus Tuikka had decided to announce his retirement and both he and the team were mutually terminating his contract. Tuikka made an exciting start in a JoMa shirt against Kitee the weekend before, after taking 2020 away from the sport. Last year started with Tuikka playing for Hyvinkää, which would have given them a much needed boost in the regular season; however when the COVID-19 pandemic started to effect he sport, Tuikka and Tahko parted ways by usual agreement. Tuikka started his career with Spartak Kajaani in 2010, before joining Sotkamon Jymy. Tuikka’s debut in Superpesis was against Alajärvei on 11th June 2013. Thereafter, Tuikka was a regular in the Sotkamo lineup and won 1 gold medal and 3 silver medals. I was so excited to see Markus back on the pitch in JoMa’s training games last weekend, but it seems that Markus will not be returning to

  Clear visual signals are fundamental to the game - the signal fan is the most recognisable example of this In this series of posts I will look at a number of differences between pesäpallo and other bat and ball sports (like baseball and cricket). In this first post I take a look at the emphasis on tactics in pesäpallo compared to cricket and baseball.  Games of skill Both cricket and baseball focus on skills, but to be a champion, you must also master tactics. The skill set of pitchers in baseball is a specialist area and requires pitchers to be protected and rested to avoid severe injury; batters require split second timing and reactions to beat the pitch. Anyone with such skills can succeed, but to be truly great a player will need to play tactically. Likewise, in cricket, the skills of a pace bowler or spin bowler is coveted and the ability of a good batter to spot bad deliveries (pitches), select the right batting shot and then execute it  are the hallmarks of a great playe

Ville Väliaho had a solid start in JoMa red against Kitee, but a tight game against KPL gave Kopla a narrow win The big stories Halli SM fixtures cancelled After concerns that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus has started to spread across Europe, countries have introduced more public safety measures to stop the virus spreading even more. In the world of pesäpallo, this has meant that the Halli-SM fixtures (which were due to start in the coming weeks) have been cancelled and the Pesäpalloliito has suggested that a tournament could be held in March/April to replace it. Whilst this means that we will not be able to get our usual winter warmup tournament, training matches are still allowed to be played (subject to local and National rules, as well as the team’s willingness to play). One option for a warmup tournament is a knockout competition with 16 teams; the Pesäpalloliito has suggested that some creative thinking may be needed... so I will write a post shortly about my idea for a

KPL have several players on the 2020 dream team As we finally say goodbye to 2020 I have put together my dream team for the year. Last year saw a very challenging and different season unfold; with relegation off the table, it allowed teams to play with a little more freedom. In addition to this, the crowded schedule of games saw greater opportunities for young players to find a spot in the lineup in a similar way to that seen in Major League Baseball. The teams highlighted are the teams the players played for in 2020 and are not necessarily their current club and the statistics quoted are from the regular season only. The dream team has been chosen after carefully looking at the players statistics, how they performed in their team’s lineup and their fielding positions. The 2019 lineup is: Batting order Tommi Mäentausta (KPL) Joni Rytkönen (Sotkamon Jymy) Niko Korhonen (Sotkamon Jymy) Matti Latvala (KPL) Konsta Piironen (Joensuun Maila) Juuso Myllyniemi (Manse PP) Matias Ri