The Wairarapa sporting fraternity has the opportunity to watch one of the hottest men's softball club sides in the country playing at South Park, Masterton tomorrow.
Yes, it's our very own Giants, winners of the Hutt Valley premier league last season, and placed equal third at the prestigious Doreen Dalton tournament
at Fraser Park, Petone last weekend.
Giants will be hosting Newlands, in an Inter-City competition match and while the form book would suggest a comfortable win to the home side, coach Tony Nixon isn't taking anything for granted.
Nixon knows Newlands comprise of a number of up-and-coming players, and that their enthusiasm will be difficult to curb, particularly if they make a strong start.
"It's important against teams like them that you knock their confidence around a bit by scoring a few runs early on," he said.
Nixon was "pretty pleased" with Giant's batting form at the Doreen Dalton where they beat Poneke-Kilbirnie 7-3, thanks to a grand slam home run by Ritchie Clarke in the tiebreaker, and Papanui 6-1, and were scoreless in their losses against Ramblers and Richmond.
"We probably didn't work the gaps as well as we would have liked, but we were putting bat to ball consistently and that's a good sign so early in the season," he said.
Nixon was also happy with the pitching of Clarke and Justin Karaitiana, and he is hopeful the knee injury suffered by Clarke in the semi-final against Richmond won't stop him from taking diamond tomorrow.
Also on the injured list is batting star Corie Karaitiana, who dislocated a thumb while diving for a catch in that Richmond game but Nixon is optimistic that he too will be fit enough to play tomorrow.
