SOFTBALL
Giants Blue kick off a busy long weekend, confident of cementing their place in the top two in Intercity premier two.
The Blues host the struggling Totara Park at South Park, and Giants stalwart Chris Feary reckons a win should be straightforward for the second-placed team.
“It should be a relatively easy win for the boys,” Feary said.
“They’re at full strength, the team are batting well, and ‘Chunky’ [Justin Karaitiana] is pitching well, and they’re going to very hard to beat.”
The Blues have won five of their seven games, with one loss and a draw, while Totara Park are sixth in the seven-team competition.
The first pitch will be thrown at 1pm tomorrow.
The busy weekend for the Blues continues on Sunday and Monday, with the team heading to the Paraparaumu premier two tournament.
Feary predicts a tough battle in tomorrow’s second game at South Park, an Intercity premier three clash featuring joint leaders Giants Red and
“It should be a really good game, and I’m picking it will be tough in the first two or three innings, and then it’s just going to be who hits the ball, so I would think that once the boys start making contact with the ball, it’s usually all over
for the opposition,” Feary said.
The game starts at South Park at 3.30 pm.
The Giants women can also strengthen their claims for a semifinal spot in the Hutt Valley premier three competition with a win over Demons at Whakatiki St, Upper Hutt. Giants beat Demons 16-8 in the first round and a similar scoreline would not surprise.
Full field for charity
PETANQUE: A full field of 48 will converge on the Masterton Petanque Club for a Hospice Wairarapa charity tournament tomorrow.
Forty players are from outside Wairarapa, including some from Tauranga.
The tournament is sponsored by Masterton Mitre 10 Mega, Masterweave, and New World Masterton, with all proceeds going to Hospice Wairarapa.
Gard’ners dominate
ATHLETICS: Jamie Dennis headed the big field for the second race of the Athletics and Cycling Masterton [ACM] Wairarapa Times-Age 5km series, which attracted a record 111 runners and walkers on Sunday.
Dennis completed the course in 17 minutes and three seconds, holding off Darius Simpson by nine seconds.
Brooke Miller was the best of the woman finishing 10th overall in 21:49, with Brooke Duffy second.
The best of the younger runners who completed 2km was Jack Gard’ner [11:10]. On what was a good day for the Gard’ner family, Charlie was second.
The third race in the series is on Sunday, February 12, starting at 9 am at the ACM clubrooms and sponsored by PGG Wrightson.
Top spots for Roberts, Fuller
CYCLING: Caleb Roberts and Belinda Fuller rode off with the major trophies in the ACM WizWireles Hill Climb Championships up the demanding Te Wharau Road on Tuesday.
Roberts completed the gruelling 6.79km climb in an impressive 17 minutes 59 seconds, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Richard van der Lent.
Fuller finished in 22:51 from Donna Burkhart and Gita Van der Leek. Scarlett McCallum was the fastest of the eBike riders in 13:04.
The next race on Tuesday is the ACM club road race championships on the popular Carrington circuit.
Juniors gather
TENNIS: One hundred and sixteen players have entered this weekend’s Wairarapa junior open. The players will play singles and doubles and are guaranteed at least three singles matches. Games comprise the best of three tiebreaker sets to four games.
The boys will play at the Trust House Masterton Tennis Centre, and the girls at St Matthew’s Collegiate.
