Early-season form suggests Giants deserve to start favourites in their Inter-City series men's softball match with Johnsonville at Fraser Park, tomorrow. The two sides have already clashed in tournament play over the past few weeks with Giants scoring a crushing 14-2 win. But impressive as that victory was they will be acutelyaware that pre-season games can often give the wrong messages and that with Inter-City points at stake Johnsonville is sure to provide stiffer opposition on this occasion. For Giants then the onus will be repeating the form which took them to a 10-0 win in just five innings against Newlands at South Park last Saturday. Coach Tony Nixon ? who won't be attending tomorrow's game because he is involved in a Masters tournament in Australia ? stressed the importance of Giants starting well and keeping the foot on the pedal, and he was delighted with their response. Not only did Giants batters like Justin Karaitiana, Ryan Shannahan, Travis Head and Brendan Fuge dominate the Newlands pitching staff but Karaitiana was in stunning form on the pitching mound himself, conceding just the one safe hit while taking eight strikeouts It will be interesting to see if Karaitiana is used as the first string pitcher again tomorrow. Giants have the luxury of having another top performer in that role, Ritchie Clarke, in their line-up as well and Blair Thompson is a more-than-handy pitcher too.
