Community Sports
Sports Beat | Gig Harbor defeats Seahawks in game where both teams battled the sun
The Gig Harbor fastpitch team (16-3, 14-2 Puget Sound League) came from behind to defeat Peninsula (12-7, 11-5) 7-5 at Gig Harbor High School on May 1.
A large evening crowd watched the game under sunny skies — skies that contributed to a wild fourth inning in which the teams combined to score eight runs.
Peninsula led 2-1 through three and sent senior Kyla McCarthy — who reached base in all four of her at-bats and is hitting .383 on the season — to the plate. She hit one of her three singles, bringing up Ava Miranda, Peninsula’s leading hitter at .551.
Miranda hit a fly ball to right field, but the Gig Harbor outfielder lost it in the sun. The ball sailed over her head while Seahawks sprinted around the bases.
Peninsula’s Meghan Webster aimed another pop up to right field that again was impossible to catch and fell to the ground as both runners scored. Webster slid into third base, popped up and yelled, “keep it up baby!” to the next batter.
The Seahawks drove in Webster to take a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning. They appeared to be in control.
Gig Harbor pitcher Danielle Biehl during a game earlier this season. Photo by Dennis Browne
Sun sets on Seahawks
The only problem for Peninsula was that the sun hadn’t gone down yet. The Tides came to bat aiming to hit the ball to right field as well.
Gig Harbor’s Kimiko Decastro scored when junior Maddie Moritz hit a ball back into right field that was impossible for the Seahawk right fielder to see even with sunglasses on. Then senior pitcher Danielle Biehl helped herself by driving in Moritz to tighten the lead to 5-3.
The Tides’ do-it-all third baseman Gracie Carey, who is batting .467 with 28 hits, got another one to put runners on first and third. Then Abby Miller, Payton Cantrell and Willow Bonnici each had hits as the Tides took a 6-5 lead and the sun finally set. Miller drove in an insurance run later in the game.
Peninsula threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Biehl’s strong pitching and Gig Harbor’s superior defense kept the Seahawks off the board.
The Seahawks had some bad luck, too. A Peninsula hitter slapped a two-hopper that appeared likely to drive in two runs and tie the game with two outs in the seventh inning. But the ball nicked the foot of a Seahawks baserunner, an out which ended the game.
Biehl struck out 10 Seahawks.
“I feel like I get stronger as I go,” Biehl said earlier this season. “In the beginning of games I’m not as pumped up but as the game goes on, I can get mad which raises my adrenaline and I just pitch better.”
Mira Sonnen of Peninsula at the plate. Photo by Dennis Browne
Local track and field standouts
Peninsula’s Suri Sardinia broke a 31-year-old school record in the shot put on May 3 at the Puget Sound Classic at Puyallup High.
Her throw of 38 feet, 8 inches broke the Peninsula record of Nalanie Yockman. Sardinia finished third in the event at the Classic. The junior also took third in the discus, unleashing a throw of 127 feet, nine inches.
Sardinia will be one of the favorites in both categories in the upcoming Puget Sound League championships on May 13-15 at Mount Tahoma High School.
Suri Sardinia of Peninsula broke a 31-year-old school record in the shot put. Photo courtesy Peninsula High track and field
Other local track and field standouts:
Emma Young of Peninsula finished fourth in the state in the high jump last year and is peaking at the right time. Young won the high jump event versus Central Kitsap with a jump of 5 feet even and will be one to watch at the league and state championships.
Gig Harbor senior Eli Hopkins placed fifth in the javelin at the Puget Sound Classic with a throw of 160 feet, 5 inches, improving his personal best by more than 16 feet. He backed that at Bellarmine on May 7 with a throw of 161 feet, 10 inches, the best mark in the Puget Sound League this season.
The Gig Harbor girls 4×400 relay finished second at the Puget Sound Classic, with the team of Sofia Simmonds, Lejla Carlsson, Taylor Sletner and Eisley Hering running a blistering 4:05.88. Carlsson helped the Tides win a state title in the event last year while Simmonds and Sletner contributed to race wins during the 2024 regular season.
The Seahawks girls have a quick foursome as well in the 4×200 relay. The quartet of Elsie Leavengood, Ali Jacobson, Georgia Buckland and Nora Sutherland won a race on Central Kitsap’s new and fast track on May 7 in 1:51.07.
The Tides girls may have a future sprinting star in sophomore Isabelle Harruff, who won the 100 meter race against Bellarmine in 12.50 and the 200 meters in 27.08. Gig Harbor soccer star Aejanae Humphrey finished second in the 200 in 27.38.
Eli Hopkins of Gig Harbor has the longest javelin thrown in the Puget Sound League this season. Photo by Dennis Browne
Gig Harbor soccer opens district playoffs
The Gig Harbor boys soccer team (11-3-2, 6-2-2 PSL) drew the fourth seed in the district playoffs and will play fifth-seeded Heritage of Vancouver, which owns an identical record, at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at Roy Anderson Field.
The Tides finished third in the Narrows Division of the PSL, behind Silas and Bellarmine. The Tides narrowly missed winning the conference, beating and tying Bellarmine while splitting two close games with Silas.
Gig Harbor outscored opponents 69-22 this season, including a 10-1 win over Peninsula. The Seahawks recently finished their season at 1-9-5.
Gig Harbor is ranked seventh in the MaxPreps Class 3A rankings.