Giants get artful against champs

One win from the two Inter City series matches they will play at South Park, Masterton, tomorrow would be acceptable for Cross Country Rentals Giants, but they are aiming for better than that.
Pitcher Ritchie Clarke concedes the first game against national club champions Dodgers, starting at 1.15pm, will be a testing assignment, a sentiment easy to understand when you consider the star-studded Dodgers line-up.
Led by Black Sox captain Rhys Caseley, they have several other players who are current national reps, or at least on the brink of it.
Clarke is optimistic, however, that Giants will keep them honest, and even perhaps catch them off guard.
"They are a pretty confident lot who will be coming over the hill expecting to score another big win and if we can get into their minds by scoring a few early runs you never know what might happen," he said. "The pressure is all on them and hopefully we can turn that to our advantage."
Clarke says the Giants will have the favourite's tag in their second match of the day, against Johnsonville, starting at 3.15pm, and therefore it will be their turn to ensure complacency isn't an issue.
"They [Johnsonville] are no mugs but we should beat them, and beat them well," Clarke said. South Park will be a hive of softball activity tomorrow with two Hutt Valley competition matches also being played.
The Giants under-15s team will take on Hutt City United at 10.30am and the Giants major B women will clash with Dodgers Divas at 2pm.
Giants won the major B women's title last season but have a vastly different team playing this year.