The Women’s Superpesis season gets into full swing this week after one match played in Fuengirola. In terms of domestic games, the season starts today with the meeting between the defending champion Pori Pesäkarhuje and Pöytä Urheilijode.
Sports expert Antti Yli-Saunamäki evaluates the set-ups of the series at the beginning of the season.
Favorites
The champion favorites are familiar. Last season’s top three were Pori’s Pesäkarhut, Manse PP, Lapuan’s Virkiä, and the same teams are now also the strongest in advance.
– The biggest change in the balance of power in the Women’s Superpesis is that Lapua Virki will become a strong third favorite next to last year’s finalists Pori and Tampere, Yli-Saunamäki said.
Lapua has won its previous Finnish championship in 2015, but now it has a good chance.
– Lapua has been able to build the current team on top of the old one for a long time. They have a new playmaker Jussi Muilu. The winter season went well, they won the Winter Super Championship. Lapua is currently at the strongest end of the fitness scale.
Manse was the early favorite in last year’s final series, but lost to Pori in five games.
– They have familiar, very strong material, Virpi Hukka, Siri School, Anna Ala-Kauhaluma, Ella Korpela, Saga-Angelia Raudasoja.Certainly the top tip will be of very high quality. A well-known team with a routine of playoffs.
– The question mark is the new game manager Manu Vartia. He has done a good job with the youngsters and is now getting a spot in the top team.
There were changes in the team of the reigning champion Pori.
– Perhaps the biggest ones are that both main changers left, Emilia Eastern Light stopped and Silja Syrjälä went to Seinäjoki. This is definitely the kind of thing that gamemaster Jussi Haapakoski you have to be able to think about how to find complementors for those positions.
Follow these players
Yli-Saunamäki also highlighted a few interesting players. Not necessarily the most famous names, but ones worth following during the season. Pori got stronger Johanna Pirskas.
– Pirskanen played top seasons in Joensuu. He is really fast, a good outfielder and a future star player. Now Pori has an even better group around him. I expect a big breakthrough from him to become an elite player.
From Virkiä, Yli-Saunamäki mentions a locker Anni Heikkilänwhich was raised as the best lock of the series in the game managers’ preliminary evaluations.
– He is a really game-smart and cheeky locker who has risen to the absolute top of lockers in recent years. He is a certain embodiment of Lapua’s rise. He has made enormous progress and was able to develop Lapua’s outside game.
Challenging the top three, Seinäjoki Mailajussit got a hard returner.
– Silja Syrjälä, who won the championship in Pori last year, a few years ago the queen of top hitting, came back to Seinäjoki. He brings toughness and a hunger to win to the Seinäjoki team, which the team certainly requires to be able to take the last steps to the level of a medal team.
Topics of conversation
Is it now Lapua’s turn?
“I’m always interested in who is the best in Finland. Now the competition for the top will expand even more when Lapua joins it. They have a very good overall package. You can find a well-rounded team and the necessary pieces for different tasks. Janette Lepistö seems to be hitting harder than a while ago.
Will Lapua really be able to knock out last year’s final teams in the fall?”
The tip expands
“Seinäjoki has a realistic chance for medals. Kirittäret is a long-term success. They certainly have their own challenges in the game, especially from the beginning of the season, but a very high-quality team.
Rauma and Joensuu may not be enough to reach the very top, but they are teams ready to surprise, especially on their home fields, and they are able to take tough scalps even from the top teams.”
New responsibilities
“There must be new bearers of responsibility in the series. In the past couple of years, many big names have quit. I believe that new star players can be found through, for example, Heikkilä and Pirskanen.
Among the challenger teams, such could be, for example, Joensuu Nora Pasi or who played as a starter in the top season last year Veera Toikka. If Pasi and Toikka succeed, then Joensuukki can be surprisingly high in the league.”
‘s first TV match will be on Friday, May 10 on TV2 at 6 p.m., when KPL hosts JoMa in the men’s Super Pes. The first women’s TV game is scheduled for Sunday, May 12. From Jyväskylä, when JoMa challenges Kirittäret at Hippos starting at 4:45 p.m.