By Gary Caffell
South Park in Masterton will be a hive of softball activity tomorrow with four inter-club matches being played there.
Weather hassles have meant the Apache Jacks Giants under-15s have yet to make an appearance this season and they will be desperate to get on the diamond for their Hutt Valley competition game against Saints at 10.30am as a consequence.
Results of age group games can be very difficult to predict because teams can change quite dramatically from season to season but Giants have enough raw talent to expect a strong performance first up.
The Kuripuni Sports Bar Giants premier men’s two team take on Stokes Valley in an Inter-City match at 1.30pm.
Stokes Valley are a new team in this grade who have, from all accounts, picked up a number of ex-premier one players from other clubs and they will pose a serious challenge for a Giants side which have won
two from two.
The Hutt Valley President’s grade fixture between Giants and Stokes Valley at 3.15pm should produce a comfortable victory for the home team going on recent matches between those two sides but the Hutt Valley major B women’s encounter featuring Giants and Hutt Valley Marist, also at 3.15pm, is expected to be closely fought.
Their two meetings last season ended in a win apiece and they both made it into the top six playoffs.
The only Giants team not playing at home tomorrow is the under-13s who will play Saints at Fraser Park.
Giants won their only game to date and another strong effort is anticipated.
Meanwhile, six Giants players have been invited to trial for Hutt Valley age group softball teams.
Under-15 triallists are Beauleah Karaitiana, Taquin Karaitaina, Trey Ferry and Jayden-Aporo while in the reckoning for the under-17 reps are Tyson Kawana and Kurtis Krivan.
