Giants have made an excellent start towards successfully defending the Hutt Valley President's grade men's softball title they won last year.
Up against Dodgers in their first competition game of the 2013 season at South Park, Masterton, on Saturday, Giants scored a comfortable 12-7 win.
With ace pitcher Tony Nixon unavailable, veteran Ray Stratford was on the mound for Giants and kept the Dodgers batting line-up under wraps for most of the game.
Giants were also missing one of their top batters from last season, Gordon Wilmshurst, but showed pleasing consistency, the highlight coming when Terry Waitere hit the ball out of the park for an automatic home run.
