Community Sports
Sports Beat | Gig Harbor wins league baseball title with another narrow win over Peninsula
Gig Harbor (15-7) won its second straight Puget Sound League baseball championship with a 5-3 victory over Peninsula (16-5) on May 6 at Lincoln High School in Tacoma.
The Tides defeated the Seahawks for the second time in a week, following a 1-0 pitchers’ duel at Sehmel Park on April 28.
The bats came alive in this contest, which was a back-and-forth nail-biter before the Tides scored single runs in the sixth and seven innings to earn the league championship.
Jason Coray of Gig Harbor celebrates with a backflip after the Tides’ 5-3 win over Peninsula. Photo by Vincent Starr
Same starters
Both teams tore through their divisions during the PSL regular season, finishing with identical 14-2 league records, so it was only fitting that they met again in the league championship game.
Pitching is paramount in baseball and the Tides seem to have a slightly better pitching staff, limiting the Seahawks to only three runs in two games.
The starting pitchers in the league title game were the same as last week: Quentin Bockhorn for the Tides and Kaleb Copeland for the Seahawks, both seniors.
Both pitchers were flawless last week, but each surrendered three runs by the end of the second inning in the championship game.
Bockhorn left the game with an apparent tight tricep during the second inning. The game was tied at three as Bockhorn trudged off the mound. Peninsula had runners on first and second base with nobody out, and the Seahawks were salivating.
Reliever to the rescue
Gig Harbor coach Ben Sleeter went to 6-foot-5 left hander Max Bergford, who came into a tough situation but was fantastic.
The sophomore stranded both Peninsula runners to get the Tides out of a tense inning, then proceeded to become the story of the game.
Bergford didn’t allow a run and struck out seven batters with fastballs, sinkers and a change-up that he feels may be his best pitch.
Gig Harbor sophomore Max Bergford shut down Peninsula for four innings. Photo by Vincent Starr
The quiet and methodical sophomore allowed just one hit in four innings of relief work.
“Max has been outstanding all year. He really has a bright future ahead of him,” Sleeter said. “He has been asking for the ball lately and has shown he is a guy that can go get outs against good teams.”
“I normally stay in the bullpen and keep myself away from the game but when Q (Bockhorn) went down I was in earlier than I expected,” Bergford said. “I was surprised but happy to get in and excited to try to help get our team a big win.”
A Payne for Peninsula
The Tides took the lead in the sixth inning when the offensive star from last weeks game, Hunter Payne, came up nails again. He smashed a deep shot off the wall that drove in the go-ahead run.
“That was a big double that Payne got for us to get the lead right there,” Bergford said of the team leader. “He’s an intense guy, he expects the younger guys to work hard. We call him ‘pissed-off Payne.’ ”
Senior Jake Cuda closed out the Seahawks in the seventh inning for Gig Harbor.
Sleeter was happy with the PSL title but not content. His team finished third in the state last year and he feels this year’s team will need to play better to move on in the postseason.
“We have been playing pretty good as of late, but still not as clean as we need to be if we want to advance,” Sleeter said. “Too many missed defensive plays, we continue to leave way too many runners stranded and that has to be cleaned up quickly.”
Peninsula also has a championship streak still alive: The Seahawks won the last two West Central District titles. They have a team capable of doing it again.
Peninsula begins district play against either Capital or Enumclaw on May 13 at Sehmel Field. The Tides will play either Bellarmine or North Thurston, also on May 13 at Sehmel. Times for both games are to be announced.
District tournament next for fastpitch teams
Peninsula (17-3, 14-2 PSL) fell a run short of climbing into a tie for first place in the Nisqually Division fastpitch standings with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in extra innings at Timberline on May 6.
The Seahawks, ranked eighth in the state, got a tremendous pitching performance from freshman Abbie Hoyt. She gave up just three hits over nine innings against the No. 9 Blazers.
Peninsula freshman Abbie Hoyt allowed just three hits over nine innings against Timberline. Photo courtesy of Ben Griffin
The Seahawks took a 1-0 lead on Vivian Sweet’s third-inning RBI, but Timberline went ahead on two unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning.
In the fifth inning, Izzy Michaels doubled and scored on Meghan Webster’s hit to the hole to tie the game at two.
The Seahawks were close to winning a few times, but the Timberline centerfielder made three great defensive plays and their second baseman made a diving catch of a Hoyt smash in the top of the ninth inning.
“Hoyt has been a rockstar as a freshman, both with the bat and her pitching. But without my leaders, Meghan Webster and Vivian Sweet, being rocks, we do not have the same success,” Seahawk coach Mike Paul said.
“We have no holes on defense, no holes in the lineup. This is a special group, it’s gonna be fun going forward.”
Gig Harbor an offensive juggernaut
On the other side of town, Gig Harbor (13-4) finished second in the Narrows Division fastpitch standings and averaged 15.6 runs per game.
Offensive leaders for the Tides include freshman Brooklyn Harrison (.553 average, 21 hits, 20 RBIs), senior Payton Cantrell (.542/26 hits/26 RBI), junior Willow Bonnici (.520/26 hits/26 RBI), senior Savanna Newville (.500/25 hits/26 RBIs) and freshman Bella Altman (.500/21 hits/15 RBIs).
Both teams will play in the district tournament starting May 15 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Thurston County.
Surprise individual champion
The No. 1-ranked Gig Harbor girls golf team cruised to its fourth consecutive league championship, winning the Puget Sound League title by 18 strokes over second-place Silas on May 5 at Capital City Golf Course.
But surprisingly, the individual PSL league champion didn’t come from any of the Tides’ top five sticks.
Instead it came from their sixth-seeded player, Laila Douglas, a senior golfing in the individual division of the tournament.
Douglas stole the show and the conference title with a brilliant performance that included plenty of greens in regulation and some clutch putting to post a even-par 72 on a difficult course.
Laila Douglas was Gig Harbor’s No. 6 player, but she came away with the individual league championship. Photo by Jeff Milbourn
That was only slightly better than Gig Harbor teammate Olivia Snyder’s 74, which was good for second place. Tides sophomore Myla Louch had a 76, senior Sophia Skogan and freshman Layla Louch both had 77s and Kaliya Ikei posted a solid 78 for a team total of 304.
“We played well as a team, but the highlight was definitely senior Laila Douglas winning the overall tournament medalist as our individual,” Gig Harbor coach Jeff Milbourn said. “It was a special and unforgettable moment.”
Gig Harbor won the Puget Sound League girls golf championship. Photo by Jeff Milbourn
The Tides boys also won the PSL team and individual championships. The individual champ on the boys side was no surprise, though: senior Theo Snyder was the clear favorite and shot a 65 to win the tournament by a six strokes.
Gig Harbor won their fourth consecutive team title by 27 strokes, a league record.
Freshman Zane Allred and sophomore Charles Eichenberg tied for fourth place with 2-over-par 74s. Senior Max Ferrier shot a 75 and junior August Schaumburg added a 77.
Theo Snyder of Gig Harbor won the Puget Sound League individual championship with a 7-under-par 65. Photo by Dennis Browne
Tides boys soccer on the rise
The Gig Harbor boys soccer team is up to No. 7 in the latest RPI rankings from the WIAA. The Tides are 11-2-1 on the season, with their only two losses coming at the hands of No. 1 Silas.
The Tides feature 10 seniors who have plenty of postseason games under their belt. Those seniors are Henry Blake, Jack Learned, Malachi Wilson, Ethan Trader, Eli Hanson, Matteo Soppa, Daniel Vera, Ryan Fergus, Cayden Desjardins and Elan Presson.
The Tides earned a No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the Class 3A District 3 tournament. They will play either White River or Timberline at 5 p.m. May 12 at Mount Tahoma High School, with the winner of that game qualifying for state.
Gig Harbor soccer earned the No. 2 seed into the district tournament. Photo by Vincent Starr