Giants keep up with Guns

Giants achieved their goal at the prestigious Doreen Dalton men's softball tournament played in Wellington over Labour weekend.
The Masterton-based side were up against some of the best club sides in the country in this invitation event and set themselves a target of winning at least half of their games.
And they did exactly that, bouncing back to finish with a three win-three loss record after dropping their first three games.
The 3-5 loss to Hutt City United in their opening match represented Giants' most frustrating effort over the three days.
Not only did they outbat their opposition they also managed more runners on bases but lapses in the field allowed the more favoured Hutt City United to escape with a narrow win.
"We should won that one," Giants assistant coach Russell Thompson said.
"There were just a couple too many errors in the field otherwise it would have been ours."
Second up Giants took on the powerful Miramar combination and there was only one team in it with Miramar turning on a powerhouse batting display to win 10-0.
"We were never in it, they just hit the ball a lot harder than we did," Thompson said.
A shock Giants win over the star-studded Northcote team from Auckland looked a possibility when they went 1-0 up early in the game and while Northcote struck back to win 4-1 they had to work hard for their victory.
"That game was a good boost for us, "Thompson said. "They (Northcote) are a strong all round unit and we pretty well matched them all over the diamond."
Giants began what was to be a three game winning streak when they beat Dodgers of Hutt Valley 2-1.
They led 2-0 before Dodgers got one back and then kept their cool late in the game to take a couple of nice outs when Dodgers had loaded bases.
"The pressure came on the fielding effort in this game and we handled it well," Thompson said. "It was touch and go but we got what we deserved."
Stoke from Nelson was Giants' next opponent and it was here that Giants produced their best form of the tournament. The batting and fielding both clicked and they dismissed Stoke by a comprehensive 11-2.
"They (Stoke) had shown good form against the top sides and we were expecting a real tussle but everything fell into place and we were just too good," Thompson said.
But if that was the best win from a performance viewpoint the most satisfying win for Giants came in what was to be their last match of the tourney when they beat Johnsonville 8-3 in the first round of the plate section.
In three previous meetings between the two sides Johnsonville had emerged the victors but this time Giants gained their revenge, battling the wet conditions to win easily by 8-3.
"We really wanted that one and it was good to get it so comfortably," Thompson said. "It was pouring down and tough going for everyone but we stuck at it better than they did."
That win took Giants to the plate semis but the weather intervened with the organisers abandoning any further play in that section.
Individually one of the highlights of the weekend's play for Giants was the return to the pitching mound of their coach Tony Nixon in the match with Johnsonville and he was in superb form, pitching to four batters for three outs.
Blair Thompson's pitching effort against Northcote was also noteworthy and Richard Clarke and Justin Karaitiana were steady performers in that area well.
In terms of batting it was ever consistent Core Karaitiana who led the way for Giants while Mark Quinn, who has transferred back to them from Cardinals, also did well there.
Fielding-wise it was Canadians Jared Lambert and Trevor Aldred who shone.
Lambert in the unaccustomed role of catcher after fellow Canadian Curtis Ames suffered a wrist injury early in the tournament and Aldred at second base.
Russell Thompson is optimistic that Ames will be back on deck for the double leader his side have against Dodgers at their own South Park in Masterton this coming Saturday, but more doubtful is skipper Gordon Wilsmhurst who has a calf injury which could sideline him for some weeks.