Lisa Te Moananui was in impressive form for Giants in last week’s narrow loss to Demons. PHOTO/FILE
SOFTBALL
CHRIS COGDALE
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Giants Red take a step into the unknown when they play Tawa at Redwood Park this afternoon in a clash of the two unbeaten teams in Intercity premier three, section B.
The Reds are two from two, with big wins over Totara Park Gold and Demons, and Tawa, who finished seventh of nine teams in the first-round, thumped Dodgers White in their only outing of the second round.
Other than that, little is known about Tawa after their first-round fixture with Giants Blue in November was rained off.
Power batters Gordon Wilmshurst and Matt Kawana, promising youngster Thomas Kawana, and coach Russell Kawana are unavailable, but Giants president and Reds team member Chris Feary remains confident of a good showing.
“We’ll still have a pretty strong batting lineup, but it is always bolstered with Gordy and Matty – those two guys are phenomenal with the bat,” said Feary.
“We should still be way too strong, and with Tony [Nixon] on the mound, we should pretty much be able to tie them up.
“It depends how they come at us, they might come at us with a low-ball short game, which is always hard to defend against, but I think it will be a good game.”
Feary said the Reds and Tawa are serious championship contenders, and today’s game could be a precursor to any final in section B.
The Reds are the only Giants men’s team in action today, with Giants Blue having the bye in section A.
The Giants women are the only team at home today, up against Wainuiomata Black at South Park at 1.15pm in the top five of the Hutt Valley women’s major B championship.
Feary said the vastly improved team are in with a good chance after an encouraging first-up 6-8 loss to Demons last week.
“They only need one or two wins to seal a semifinal, and they’ve got a good opportunity after last week’s effort against Demons, which I thought was phenomenal, and I would say that the girls would be riding high.
“They’re going to have to work hard for it. Wainui is a good team from a big club, but they could get over the line here, which would be good for them.”
The Giants Under-15 side don’t have a game with the Hutt Valley junior competitions taking a break for the Waitangi Day long weekend.
