Daniel Ranger was in outstanding batting form, hitting a grand slam home run. PHOTOS/FILE
SOFTBALL
CHRIS COGDALE
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Giants Red locked in a place in the Intercity Premier Three Section B final with a dominant 12-1 defeat of Tawa on Saturday.
In their first turn at bat, the Reds came out firing to take a 3-0 lead, with a Daniel Ranger hit to the deep centre field bringing home three runners.
The second inning was even more fruitful, with seven runs scored, starting with an automatic home run to Terry Waitere to bring home two batters. Giants’ next three batters made base, setting it up for Ranger, who delivered, clearing the fence for a grand slam home run to make the score 10-0 after two innings.
Waitere made it a day to remember with his second automatic home run in the third inning. He then made base in the fifth inning and scored his third run, coming home off a Chris Feary hit.
Feary also took over the pitching duties from Tony Nixon in the fourth inning, and a brilliant outfield catch to Thomas Kawana was the highlight of his first inning on the mound. He then closed out the game in the fifth inning with three strikeouts to book a place in next month’s final.
Giants Red were the only unbeaten team in the competition and would complete the round-robin next Saturday with a home fixture against Dodgers White.
Giants Blue had the bye and remained in a battle for a place in the Intercity Premier Three Section A final.
The Blues were locked together with Dodgers Black and Dodgers Blue on four points at the head of the table with one round to play. They would play Dodgers Blue at Fraser Park next Saturday in their last round-robin game, with the winner likely to progress to the final.
However, the other place was up in the air after the postponement of Saturday’s clash between Dodgers Black and Poneke-Kilbirnie Kowhai, who were on two points but with a game in hand.
