Superpesis roundup

  Kempele stun the home crowd to claim 2 vital points against the league leaders Vimpelin Veto v Kempeleen Kiri 1-2s (8-2, 2-5, 1-4) This week’s featured game is a matchup between 2 teams hoping to improve on last year’s performance. Vimpeli have their sights squarely on a championship, after claiming bronze in 2020 against JoMa. Kempele are entering the next phase of the franchise model; a playoff spot. Kempele had some great positives in 2020, but still fell short of a top 8 finish. In the off-season, some key moves (including Antti Korhonen from Sotkamo) have boosted their prospects somewhat. As it stands going into this game, Vimpeli sit at he top of the table with Manse and KPL hot on their tails. Vimpeli have proven themselves this season so far with wins over Sotkamo and KPL, but some results haven’t quite gone their way (like the away game to Tahko at the beginning of the month). On the whole, Vimpeli are a formidable opponent, especially at the iconic Saarikenttä. Kempel

At the end of last week, the news came through that HP would have to self isolate due to a positive Covid result for one of their players. With the season heading towards a thrilling conclusion, who were the ones who rose to the top of our power rankings? 1st Sotkamon Jymy Sotkamo have had a few pedestrian weeks as far as the power rankings have been concerned, with little success against the top teams. Last week however they took maximum points against Tahko and IPV who have enjoyed some success so far this season. 2nd Vimpelin Veto Vimpeli’s wins over Hamina and IPV were not much of a surprise, but the crowning achievement of the week came with a 3 point win over KPL that ended their winning streak that spanned back to their 2nd game of the season. Vimpeli remain one of the strongest teams to beat, although they dropped a point against IPV and ultimately cost them top spot in the power rankings. 3rd Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe PattU managed to put together a string of great

Now that IPV are finally out of self-isolation, all the teams were back in action last week. Who were the ones who rose to the top of our power rankings? 1st Manse PP, Tampere Despite a narrow loss to KPL last week, Manse tops the power rankings because they beat Vimpeli and JymyJussit. Manse sit comfortably at the top end of the table, and appear to be striking up a rivalry with KPL; who they have narrowly lost to twice this season.   2nd Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat KPL remain in top end of the power rankings as they ride on their current wave of success; in fact their winning streak continued intact last week (despite playing Manse) to 12 games. KPL have won both of their games against Manse this season and are currently the team to beat. KPL’s other game last week was a routine win over local rivals Hamina. Curiously, young pitcher Elias Pitkänen pitched in both encounters between the two teams this season, but for different teams!  3rd Hyvinkään Tahko Tahko have had a surge in

  Haminan Palloilijat v Kiteen Pallo -90 0-2 (2-5, 7-18) This week’s featured game is a clash between two struggling sides. Hamina are desperate to avoid relegation at the end of the season and have recently parted ways with their game manager in an attempt to try something new. Kitee’s injury woes and poor performance is worlds apart from their 2020 run that saw them finish 5th in the table. Hamina came into this matchup without a win in the last 8 games, stretching back to 15th June. Kitee’s run has not been as bad, but compared to where they expected to be in the table this year, it has been disappointing; Kitee had only won a game in the last 5. Earlier in the season Hamina gave Kitee a scare taking the game to extra innings before KiPa managed take the victory.  With the table now based around points per game, Kitee are feeling the impact of their poor start to the season with more games played than any other team in the league. Kitee lie well outside the top 8 and each victor

Withe table well and truly shaken up by Coronavirus and the new “points per game” system, who were the week’s top performers? 1st Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat Last week’s number 2 goes one better and became number 1 with wins across the board. KPL are one of the teams to greatly benefit from the new points per game system, catapulting them into 2nd in the table. This boost clearly gave the players some further encouragement as they beat Joensuu, Sotkamo and Kankaanpää. Also of note was the emergence of 17 year old pitcher Elias Pitkänen, who started the season with local rivals Hamina.  2nd Vimpelin Veto Vimpeli dusted off their loss to Tahko last week and followed that up with some solid wins over JymyJussit and PattU to challenge for the top of the table. Vimpeli’s success rate at moving the point runner in both games was over 60% and their offence seems to be on fine form. The announcement of the Itä v Länsi players sees Vimpeli well represented for the west, with the maximum number

After the midsummer break the teams got straight back to it, but who were the best performers? 1st Hyvinkään Tahko Tahko’s best result this season came on Friday against the league leaders Vimpeli. Not only did Tahko win the game, but they took a full 3 points and showed a much improved defence on their 2020. Tahko’s other win was less spectacular win over Hamina; however another solid 3 points in the bank. 2nd Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat KPL were the only other team that won all their games during the week, bating IPV and Kempele, who both seem to have shown improvements on their 2020 campaigns. KPL now extend their winning streak which goes back to game 2. 3rd Vimpelin Veto Despite losing to Hyvinkää on Friday,  Vimpeli had such a significant win over reigning champions Sotkamo that they reached number 3 in the rankings anyway.  Worst performance - Siilinjärven Pesis The midsummer break did little to reset SiiPe’s performance and they were the only team last week not to pick u

  Ossi Meriläinen celebrates a bases loaded home run that defined the game Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat v Sotkamon Jymy 2-0 (3-0, 7-5) This week’s featured game is a re-run of the 2020 final, more specifically game 2 at KSS where KPL saw their first championship since 1976 slip through their fingers with a Roope Korhonen home run in extra innings. The build up to the game was a curious one - both teams were coming into this game with an extended rest; Sotkamo due to a dip in their schedule, whereas KPL had their game against PattU cancelled as a precaution after players had close contact with a player who tested positive for Covid (from IPV). This, mixed with the games IPV had to cancel has meant that the way the table will be determined has changed. The table now will be ranked by the average number of points earned per game played. The impact of this immediately shot KPL up the table into 2nd place and they overtook Sotkamo. Another element to the game was the fact that KPL’s game mana

The sun shone down on Pihkala as Tahko put on a stunning performance against the league leaders Hyvinkään Tahko v Vimpelin Veto 2-0 (2-0, 8-4) This week’s featured game is between Hyvinkää and Vimpeli. Hyvinkää are yet to find their stride this season, with some points slipping from their grasp. I’m contrast Vimpeli are on a high after a stunning 3 point victory over reigning champions and rivals Sotkamo earlier this week.  Kalle-Tapio Huusko’s move from pitcher to the infield has been a welcome relief and has seen a rise in his batting performance compared to last season. Huusko already has 2 home runs and 5 RBI this season, compared to 10 for the whole of 2020 and is batting at a success rate of 75% in 2021 compared to 53.47% in 2020. Rounding the bases has been his stronger suit, with 13 runs on the season so far, equalling last year’s tally. The problem with Tahko’s 2020 season however was never a shortage of runs scored, but how easy their opponents seemed to pick apart their