The Giants men’s teams were on fire, winning four from four in their doubleheaders over the weekend to remain unbeaten in their Intercity Championships.
Defending premier two champions Giants Blue made no race of their two games, dispatching Hutt Valley Marist 8-0 in five innings on Saturday. They backed that up with the same scoreline away to Kapiti Coast on Sunday.
Blues player-coach Justin Karaitiana was in imperious form on the pitching mound, restricting the opposition to few hits over the two days, while the batters combined good hits with outstanding base running to keep the pressure on the opposition.
Giants Red had two contrasting games, easily beating Dodgers White 15–4 on Saturday before winning in a tiebreaker 10–8 over Demons on Sunday.
Matt Kawana starred with the bat in the win over Dodgers at South Park, hitting two automatic home runs deep over the centre outfield.
Gordon Wilmshurst was also in good form, with four safe hits out of five bats, while Willie Waitere hit a three-bagger. Dodgers used three pitchers to try and close Giants down, but the home side finished with 17 safe hits.
A late surge by Demons saw them force Giants Red to a tiebreaker in Sunday’s game at Fraser Park, Lower Hutt.
The Reds were leading 7–3 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Demons scored three runs and then a single in the seventh inning, sending the game to a sudden death tiebreaker.
The Reds posted three to Demon’s one to seal the victory. Again, Kawana was strong with the bat, while two of the younger players, Thomas Kawana-Hutton and Julian Elmers, got good hits and ran well between bases.
The Giants women started their Hutt Valley Premier Three campaigns with a close 4–0 loss to Stokes Valley at South Park.
The visitors took an early 3–0 lead in the top of the first innings, but as the game progressed, Giants worked into it and restricted the visitors to only one more run in the top of the fourth inning.
Giants had their chance to close the gap in the bottom of the fourth inning with loaded bases and none out but couldn’t capitalise on the prime opportunity.
Catcher Destiny Tapara took out the player of the day award with an outstanding performance, making a magnificent tag out at home and having a batting average of .666.
