Giants pitcher Ritchie Clarke isn’t making any rash predictions about the likely outcome of his team’s Inter City series men’s softball semifinal match with Poneke-Kilbirnie at Haitaitai Park, Wellington, tomorrow.
Clarke is confident Giants are capable of causing what would be a major upset by beating the star-studded P-K line-up but he also knows what will happen if they have any lapses in concentration, particularly in the field.
“Defensively we have to be tight, we can’t afford to give them anything without a fight,” Clarke said.
“If we make mistakes they will cane us, simple as that.”
For Clarke the best chance of a Giant’s win will come if they start strongly and grab an early advantage.
“We have to rattle their cage a bit and making them play catch up is the best way of doing that,” he said.
“There’s a hell of a lot more pressure on them mentally and the more we can add to that pressure the better for us.”
Meanwhile, the Masterton Intermediate softball team have won their Super Sport tournament for the fourth consecutive time.
The 2011 tourney was played in Palmerston North this week with Masterton Intermediate scoring 50 runs and conceding just two in their four wins from as many matches.
They beat St Peters (Palmerston North) 8-2, Palmerston North Normal 21-0, Wanganui 14-0 and Ross (Palmerston North) 7-0.
Di Vante Hill-Wiremu pitched the last three games for MIS without conceding a run and Vincent Aspinall starred with the bat, recording seven hits and one walk.
Captain Jacob Elliott showed his versatility by playing at pitcher, catcher and first base and Liam Kerr made some strong plays on third base.
March 5 at 1:57pm
In reference to the article, the game between Giants and PK is Fastpitch and the level is national club level ie the top of the top in NZ. I umpired (1st base) with two of my buddies in that game yesterday, 5 March and it was a very close game all the way. Thomas Makea, lead off batter for PK in the bottom of the first inning, hits the first pitch of their turn at bat for a moon shot – One zip to PK. Giants come back in the fourth with a two run shot over centre leff – Giants go ahead 2-1. PK claw it back in the fifth and go ahead 3-2. Giants trailing in their last turn at bat (top seven), PK requiring three outs for the game, Giants requiring a run to stay in it. Lead off batter hits a speculator and it ends up going over the fence……tied ball game, 3 a piece!!!. PK go into their last turn at bat with a two base hit on the lead off batter. Sacrifice to advance the runner to third. Thomas Makea up to bat, one down and a runner of third picks up a walk. Next batter in the box with runners on 1st and 3rd………batter receives a ball and then the next pitch………called illegal. Runner on third advances to home on the illegal pitch……..game over – PK win 4-3! Regarding the rest of the article referring to an Intermediate tournament, that’s a junior grade tourney with the age range from 10 to 13 years.
March 5 at 3:13pm
In the game previous to the PK / Giants game, Miramar (Karl Gollan) played against Hutt Valley Dodgers (Rhys Caseley). Miramar went on to win that game 10-2. Next weekend Miramar and PK play in the final for the Intercity Championship. The Intercity competition showcases the best teams from Wellington and the Hutt Valley areas. Two of the strongest associations in Fastpitch Softball for New Zealand alongside Auckland, North Harbour, Canterbury, Hawkes Bay and the Southern Region.
Thanks for the info, Wu!