Giants face big challenge in men's Inter-City series

Giants will put their unbeaten record in the Inter-City men's softball series on the line when they play Porirua City tomorrow and Johnsonville on Sunday, both at Fraser Park in Avalon.
Their four wins from as many games sees Giants leading the Inter-City points table with the maximum eight points but because they have played two matches more than any of the other sides except Johnsonville (who have played three) any excitement about that situation needs to be tempered.
"It's nice to have the four wins on the board but it's early days yet, a lot can happen between now and the end of the season," Giants coach Tony Nixon warned.
"The bigger challenges are still to come, all of us know that."
Porirua City certainly fits into that "bigger challenge" category. They have just had the two Inter-City games to date, winning them both and scoring 15 runs while conceding none in the process.
Nixon sees Porirua City being a handful in all departments.
"They don't have any real weaknesses, they bat well right down the order and they pitch and field well too," he said.
"They could beat any club side in the country on their day, that's how strong they are."
Three members of the Black Sox team which will tour Argentina next month, skipper Jarrod Martin and the Makea brothers, Thomas and Fabian, will be key members of the Porirua side, along with a former Black Sox in Tane Richardson.
Martin is ranked amongst the top three hitters in world softball but Nixon is confident that Giants pitchers Ritchie Clarke and Justin Karaitiana are capable of containing him.
"He (Martin) has showed he can put the ball over the fence no matter who is on the pitching mound but if you keep it tight he can be kept under wraps, that's the test for our guys," he said.
The match with Johnsonville on Sunday will also count towards the Inter-City series and they too will pose a formidable challenge for Giants.
They have two of three matches there and while Giants beat them narrowly in the Doreen Dalton tournament a couple of weeks back Nixon is not reading too much into that result.
"We played in the rain and it could have gone either way," he said. "They have similar strengths to us so there probably won't be much in it again."
Giants are the defending champions in the Hutt Valley premier men's competition and they will kick off their 2008 campaign there with a match against Hutt Valley Marist at Fraser Park tomorrow.
It will be played at 1pm with the Inter-City fixture against Porirua scheduled to start two hours later.
Nixon said he would be "pretty disappointed" if Giants did not beat HVM for his team should have the edge in both pitching and batting. "On paper it should be easy enough but we know what complacency can do, that's the biggest worry for us in this one," he said.
Meantime talks are in progress which could see a former Black Sox who was raised in the Wairarapa joining up with Giants.
Big-hitting Malcolm Namana has been out of the game for a season or two but has expressed an interest in playing for Giants in 2008-09 and a final decision could be made by the end of this week.
There will be no shortage of action at South Park in Masterton tomorrow with the Giants premier two, under-15 and President grades teams all playing their Hutt Valley inter-club matches there.