Giants looking for a double

Anything other than two wins won't be acceptable to Giants when they play a men's softball double header against Hutt Valley Marist at South Park, Masterton tomorrow.
It's the start of a busy weekend for the local side which will also travel over the hill to Fraser Park on Sunday for Inter-City matches against Cardinals and Kapiti.
Giants coach Tony Nixon isn't under-rating Hutt Valley Marist, but he admits his team will be doing themselves a disservice if they don't beat them twice tomorrow, the first game counting towards the Inter-City series and the second the Hutt Valley premier men's competition for which Giants are the defending champions.
"They (HVM have some very good players but, quite frankly, they are a team we should beat and I'd expect that to happen," Nixon said.
Certainly Giants should lack nothing on the score of confidence after placing third behind Poririua and Metro of Auckland at the Lion Red North Island Classic at Hastings last weekend.
They won four of their six matches there, and only needed an ounce of luck to make the grand final.
In fact, if a big hit by Curtis Ames had not been brilliantly caught in the outfield during their 4-3 loss Metro in their play-off game they would probably have won that match, and bagged a final spot in the process.
Nixon was delighted with the all-round performance of his team at Hastings with Richard Clarke and Justin Karaitiana excelling on the pitching mound and with the bat and the likes of Ryan Shannahan, Blair Thompson, Curtis Ames, Travis Head, Mark Quinn, Terry Waitere , Cory Kinnon and Corie Karaitiana making an impact as batters and fielders.
"Had we made the final we were a decent chance to win it , that's how well we played," Nixon said.
The Giants coach is keeping his fingers crossed that his players will stay injury free tomorrow and that a full strength squad will be available for the Cardinals and Kapiti matches, both of which will be testing assignments.
Especially that against Cardinals, who look close to returning to the glory days where they were invariably amongst the "top dogs" in any competition or tournament they entered.
Nixon is heartened though by the knowledge that over the past couple of seasons Giants have tended to lift their game against the higher profile sides and he anticipates a similar situation against Cardinals this time round
"We have to keep mistakes to an absolute minimum and take our chances, that's what that one will be all about," he said.