Giants Red have again fallen to their bogey team Dodgers White, going down 3-0 in a dour match at Fraser Park, Lower Hutt, on Saturday.
The loss drops the Reds to third in the Intercity Premier Three Championship, with one round to play.
Reds coach Russell Kawana said all three of Dodgers runs came in the third inning, and his players couldn’t find a way back into the game.
“The sad thing for us is we only had two safe hits all game, and the young guy who pitched for them, he pitched really well,” Kawana said.
“The boys couldn’t get on to him, and halfway through the fourth inning, I said to the boys, shorten your bats, and we’ll just try and get some hits over the in-field, but that didn’t work either.”
The loss is the second time this season the Reds have gone down to Dodgers White, who won their previous encounter in November, 13-12, in a tiebreaker.
Tawa are the new leaders after their 12-7 win over Demons, leapfrogging Giants Red and previous leaders Dodgers Black.
The Reds are assured of playing semifinal softball, although the likelihood of a home playoff is remote. They complete the round-robin with a home fixture against Poneke-Kilbirnie Kowhai this Saturday.
Championship leaders Giants Blue had the bye in Intercity Premier Two.
Disappointingly the Giants women won their Hutt Valley Premier Three game with leaders Totara Park by default. They will also not take to the diamond for the final round-robin game, with their opponents, Hutt City United, having already defaulted.
