Superpesis roundup

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 ...

Topi Hurskainen showed no hesitation in his first games in a JoMa shirt Photograph from Joensuu Facebook (c) Joensuun Maila 2020 With all pesäpallo games officially cancelled, including this weekend’s semifinals and final, I decided to look back at the dream team and see how the individual players performed. The Halli-SM group games gave us a chance to see how players are warming up for the 2020 season. The dream team was chosen after carefully looking at the players statistics for 2019, how they performed in their team’s lineup and their fielding positions. The 2019 lineup was: Batting order Tommi Mäentausta (KPL) Joni Rytkönen (Sotkamon Jymy) Antti Hartikainen (KPL 2019 - Joensuun Maila 2020) Teemu Nurmio (IPV) Tuomas Jussila (Joensuun Maila 2019 - IPV 2020) Juha Puhtimäki (Joensuun Maila) Olli Heikkala (Vimpelin Veto) Sami Haapakoski (Vimpelin Veto 2019 - Pattijoen Urheilijat Raahe 2020) Antti Korhonen (Sotkamon Jymy) Jokers Jukka-Pekka Vainionpää (Seinäj...

Iiro Kuosa extends his contract with JoMa for 2 more years Photograph from Iiro Kuosa Twitter (c) Iiro Kuosa 2019 The big stories Joensuu re-sign Iiro Kuosa for 2 more years Iiro Kuosa is one of the most celebrated defensive players in the game and his hard work this Halli-SM tournament has been obvious. Joensuu had some very strong defensive games in the group stages and Kuosa’s abilities were fully on display. Sadly pesäpallo shares a common problem with baseball statistics- a lack of defensive stats that can analyse how a player impacts on a game. When you watch his highlight reel however, it all becomes clear! Kuosa continues with JoMa, where he has played since 2017 and won 2 Superpesis championships.  “ Iiro is definitely one of the best outside players in the entire series and in his place the best in Finland. The negotiations were easy in themselves, as the player and the club both hoped for a two-year extension”  Jonne Kemppainen, Managing Director...

In this post we take a look at who the best players were statistically during the group stages of Halli-SM 2020 and consider how their performances impacted on their teams success. Runs batted in Patrik Wahlsten (Koskenkorva) topped the table in runs batted in with 8, despite playing in only 2 games. Wahlsten’s success rating with runners on 3rd was a decent 61.54%  (8/13). Despite his impressive numbers Koskenkorva lost all 3 of their games. Henri Puputti (JymyJussit) was 6/6 with runners on 3rd base for the 2 games he played, leaving no doubt that he is a serious threat whenever he steps up to bat. However, as with Wahlsten, Puputti’s success did not translate into wins for his team. Out of the top 5 players in this category, the one that had the biggest impact on securing success for his team was Jari Törmänen for PattU, whose kunniajuoksu against Sotkamo was a turning point in the game and led to them winning the group. Runs Tuomas Raunio scored 7 runs ...

A big win for KaMa falls just short of what they needed to stay in the race for the last semi-final spot Photograph from KaMa Facebook (c) Kankaanpään Maila 2020 Koskenkorvan Urheilijat v Kankaanpään Maila 0-1 (1-1, 2-4) As the group stages come to a close, Kankaanpää had an outside chance to advance for the final spot in the semifinals. To get there they would have to beat Koskenkorva by winning both jakso and Vimpeli would have to lose to JymyJussit. Over the last 5 games between the two teams Koskenkorva have a slight edge, although it is worth noting that 4 of those games were decided in supervuoro or kotiutuskilpailu. Kankaanpää’s tournament started with a big win against JymyJussit, before stumbling in a low scoring loss to Vimpeli.   Koskenkorva’s 2 games in the tournament returned little, despite the fact that both losses had fairly close score lines.  First Jakso  Koskenkorva took to the plate first and Otto Kauppinen immediately found first base w...