Giants through to premier league semi-finals

Gary Caffell
Defending champions Giants are through to the semi-finals of the 2008-09 Hutt Valley premier league men's softball competition .
They guaranteed their place in the top four with a comprehensive 12-1 whipping of Dodgers in the Hutt last Thursday evening.
They were also drawn to play Dodgers in an Inter-City series match on Saturday but inclement weather caused that match to be postponed until after the Christmas break.
Giants went into Thursday's encounter on the back of some indifferent form and coach Tony Nixon was delighted with their response to the call to enhance their intensity and concentration.
"We wanted to use this game to get back on track and we did exactly that," he said.
"Everything pretty much went according to plan, we were all over them."
Pitcher Ritchie Clarke was in grand form for Giants, striking out no fewer than 13 batsmen in the game which ended after five innings.
Outstanding with the bat was the consistent Ryan Shannahan, who had three safe hits from as many turns at bat, while recording two hits were Terry Waitere, Malcolm Namana, Justin Karaitiana and Campbell Gaunt.
"The batting was a lot sharper than it had been for at least a couple of weeks," Nixon said.
"We were more focused and it paid dividends"
The size of Thursday's victory bodes well for Giants to also make the top six playoffs in the Inter-City series, which features the top club sides from both Wellington and Hutt Valley.
A win in the postponed game of this weekend will be enough for that to happen.