Giants gunning for semis at tourney

Giants coach Tony Nixon says his team are gunning for a semi-final spot at the Doreen Dalton Memorial men's softball tournament being played at Avalon's Fraser Park tomorrow and Sunday.
It's a big ask considering the eight teams, which have been divided into two pools of four, represent some of the strongest clubs in the country but Giants have managed it once before, and Nixon sees no reason why they shouldn't do so again.
"Get to the semis and anything can happen, that's the first target for us," Nixon said. "If we play consistently well we can do it, no worries about that."
Giants have been drawn in the same pool as Porirua, Johnsonville and Hutt Valley Marist and need to place in the top two there to make the semis.
Porirua are expected to have at least three Black Sox in their line-up and therefore should pose the biggest threat to Giants but Johnsonville are always a competitive unit and Hutt Valley Marist lost by just the one run to Giants when they met in an Inter-City series match a couple of weeks back.
Nixon believes his team can take huge confidence from their two Inter-City wins of last weekend when they batted powerfully against both Newlands and Poneke-Kilbirnie, registering 14 runs over the two games.
And their performance in the field was also first class with pitchers Ritchie Clarke and Justin Karaitiana leading the way there.
"We've had three games and three wins so things are ticking along quite nicely," he said.