Giants have coaches who know how to win

Giants players don't have to look any further than their coaches for advice on how to handle the pressures of playing hotpots Hutt City United in Sunday's grand final of the Hutt Valley premier division men's softball competition.
For the Masterton-based Giants club itself it will be the first time in some nine seasons of premier division play that they have made the final of one of the country's most competitive leagues, fifth being the best they have done in the past.
But both head coach Tony Nixon and his assistant Russell Thompson have tasted success in the premier division series, Nixon with Totara Park in 1990-91 and again with Hutt City in 2002 and Thompson with the now defunct Railways club in 1979.
Making the Totara Park success particularly notable for Nixon was that he was the only pitcher in their squad-most teams have two or three these days-and they won the Hutt Valley title without dropping a game.
And that in the grand final they played a star-studded Cardinals line-up and got home in a thriller 2-1.
Nixon said the secret of Totara Park's win that day was the retaining of composure in pressure-cooked situations and he will be stressing the importance of that to his Giants team as they prepare for Sunday's assignment.
" It's all about believing you can cope with anything the opposition throws at you," he said "You have to back yourself???..a positive attitude is crucial".
Nixon said Giants had that level of self belief when they hammered Cardinals 7-1 in their major semi-final match just over a week ago.
"We were right on the mark in every aspect of our game in that match and that's where we need to get to again," he said "Do that and anything is possible."
Much of the talk leading into Sunday's grand final has centred around the ability-or otherwise- of Giants to cope with the pitching skills of HCU's Jeremy Manley, a member of the current Black Sox squad.
Nixon is the ideal person to judge a pitcher's capabilities and he concedes Manley has plenty going for him.
" I can see him being part of the Black Sox for quite a few years yet, he's the sort of pitcher who can dominate a game," he said. "He's got good pace and good variations, he's classy no doubt about that."
But respectful as he is of Manley's skills Nixon firmly contends there is enough depth and power in the Giants batting line-up for enough runs to be scored to produce a victory.
He said that was evidenced the last time the two teams met with HCU winning narrowly but Giants recording a number of safe hits against Manley's pitching.
"We handled him pretty well then and that's got to be good for the confidence," he said. " Who knows, just a couple of runs could be enough to win anyway."
Who will start on the pitching mound for Giants in the grand final won't be decided until later in the week.
Giants have four very capable pitchers in their side-Justin Karaitiana, Richard Clarke, Blair Thompson and Nixon himself- and it was interesting in the semi-finals that Clarke started against Dodgers and Karaitiana against Cardinals.
Nixon said he would make that decision based on performance at this week's training sessions and possibly also on body language going into the actual match.
"Sometimes you get a gut feeling that someone is a little more charged up than the others and so you lean towards them," he said. "It's never an easy decision to make but all of our pitchers have the skills to cope so whoever we go with will do a decent job."