Another week, another default!
That’s the continuing saga of the season for the Giants Softball Club.
This time, Giants Blue bagged the two points in the Hutt Valley premier reserve-premier two championship without hitting the diamond after Hutt Valley Marist pulled the pin on the game on Friday night.
That brings the number of defaults by teams refusing to travel over the hill for games at South Park close to double figures across all four teams and should prompt the Giants club to ask some stern questions of Hutt Valley Softball about what the organisation is going to do stop the rot that has dogged Wairarapa’s only softball club for the last two decades.
There was some action, though, at South Park, with Giants Red cruising to a 12–5 victory over Dodgers White in five innings.
The win was set up in the Reds’ first turn at bat, when they went through all nine batters and were five batters into their second time through the lineup, scoring seven runs.
“It was single shot after single shot, and the boys just batted well, and that was the game over there and then,” pitcher Chris Feary said.
Dodgers fought back with five runs of their own, but some big hitting in the later innings, including two automatic home runs to Terry Waitere, saw the Reds home with a mercy victory in five innings to maintain their unbeaten record and lead in the Hutt Valley Premier Three Championship.
“It was just a really good all-round game by the boys, but we were phenomenal on the bats.”
The Reds were without several key players, including player-coach and pitcher Tony Nixon, but they called on Jason Herangi, Chris Cox, and Rico Hillman from the premier two side as bench players.
Ashlee Edmonds starred for the Giants women as they strolled to their first win of 2024, smashing WASC 18–5.
Edmonds hit a big home run and pitched superbly denying the opposition batters scoring opportunities. Destiny Tapara also scored a home run in a strong overall batting effort.
Sharp fielding, featuring three double plays and some very good outs at first base, was the key to the Giants under13’s 9–3 win over Cardinals. The batting stats were also encouraging, showing that everyone in the team got bat to ball, with three players hitting home runs.
Jayden Papali’i pitched his first game for the club and was deservedly named player of the day.
