Giants ?must? beat Cardinals

Giants must beat Cardinals in their Hutt Valley premier division men's softball semi-final match at Fraser Park tomorrow night to have any chance of successfully defending the title they won last year. Earlier indications were that the semi-finals were being played a repechage system which would have Giants, as second top qualifiers, another bite of the cherry should they lose to Cardinals but that is no longer the case. Now it's a matter of top qualifier Hutt City United meeting fourth qualifier Hutt Valley Marist in one-semi-final and the second and third qualifiers, Giants and Cardinals, meeting in the other with the two winners going straight through to the grand final. Adding to the pressure on Giants for tomorrow night's game is that because their players have work commitments they won't be leaving for the trip over the hill until late afternoon, and consequently their usual pre-match routine will be seriously affected. Coach Tony Nixon is concerned the latter may see Giants take a little longer than customary to settle into the game against a powerful Cardinals line-up, which is well served in both the batting and pitching departments.
"It's not the sort of game where you want to be giving the opposition a head start in the first couple of innings and a lot will depend on how we fare there," he said. "If we can keep in touch early on then we can pull it off, I'm sure of that."
Just how little there is between Giants and Cardinals is illustrated by their last encounter which Giants won 3-0. That sounds a comfortable enough win on paper but all that was between the teams was basically a two hit home run from Justin Karaitiana.
"There was just one decent strike in the whole game then and that's the type of contest we are expecting again," Nixon said. "It's going to be all about keeping a cool head and taking the chances when they come."
Giants will be without one of their star batters in Gordon Wilmshurst, who is overseas, but his absence is likely to be countered by the arrival of Canadian Jeff Ingram, who has been playing his club softball in Hawke's Bay but is about to transfer to the Giants. Ingram, who is adept at catcher or in the infield and is a proven batter, has already appearaned for Giants this season as a 'pick up" player at the recent Wanganui Braves tournament and he made a huge impression with his all-round skills. The match with Cardinals will be the first of a difficult double header for Giants tomorrow night as straight afterwards they will take on Hutt City United in an Inter-City series match. Victory there would see them guaranteed a place in the top four playoffs in that competition, something they have never managed in the past.Justin Karaitiana.