Another week, another default, that’s the continuing saga of the season for Masterton’s Giants Softball Club!
This time, and for the second time since the start of the post-Christmas Hutt Valley Championship, Giants Red have been defaulted to by a visiting team [this time the Demons], meaning that after three weeks since the competition started, they have yet to play in it.
If it wasn’t for the club’s Kuripuni Tavern Classic tournament, which also included the Intercity Premier Three final, the Reds would not have had any competitive softball since December 9.
The Reds also won their first-round game by default, although that was later changed to a cancelled game after rain washed out any play. Bizarrely, no games were scheduled for last Saturday, which could have been used as a catch-up day.
With only five teams in the Hutt Valley Premier Three Championship, the likelihood is that the Reds will play no more than two games, and with a bye to come, their time on the diamond is looking rather lean.
Giants’ top team, the Blues, will get on the diamond this afternoon, and their Premier Reserve – Premier Two clash with Hutt City United [HCU] at 3.30 at Fraser Park should be a beauty.
Giants stalwart Chris Feary reckons that HCU are a classy side, with Hutt Valley under-19 pitcher Jaden Heta at the helm, and they are leading the Hutt Valley Premier-Premier Reserve midweek competitions.
“It will be a real test for our guys,” Feary said.
“If Giants Blue wins, it would be massive, and it would prove that they can foot it with the big guys.”
The Blues go into this afternoon on the back of a confidence-boosting 4–1 win over Cardinals last weekend.
The Giants women will also get to play some ball for the first time in 11 weeks [including three defaults] when they take on Petone Rugby Club in a Premier Three match at Fraser Park.
A close game is predicted, with Giants third in the championship with a four-win two loss record, just behind Petone, who have had five wins and two losses, one of which was unsurprisingly a default.
