Karaitiana the hero as Hutt Valley snatch narrow win

Giants player Justin Karaitiana was the hero as Hutt Valley snatched a 7-6 win over Wellington in their opening match at the NPC inter-provincial men's softball tournament in Auckland on Wednesday.
Hutt Valley was 6-0 down going into the seventh and last innings and was still trailing when Karaitiana came to bat with bases loaded.
It was nervous times but Karaitiana was equal to the occasion, slamming the ball out of the park to provide the four runs required for victory
Hutt Valley coach Tony Nixon who also coaches Giants described Karaitiana's effort as "massive."
"He's always been a powerful hitter but to come up with something like that at such a vital time & it doesn't come much better than that," he said.
Nixon was not completely surprised by Hutt Valley's revival as they been consistently putting bat to ball in their previous six innings but continually finding fielders rather than gaps.
"There was always the thought that we could string a few runs together but, hell, we couldn't have left it much later to do it, could we?" he said.
Karaitiana was again to the forefront when Giants made it two from two by beating New Zealand under-19 4-1 in their second match during the first day's play. This time he had the pitching duties and showed good control in keeping the youngsters under wraps.
Another Giants player to star in that game was Michael Grant who hit a valuable three-baser during what was a relatively tight match.
Their two wins left Hutt Valley at the top of the points table as the only unbeaten team but facing three difficult assignments yesterday, the first of them against Auckland, followed by North Harbour and a second encounter against Wellington.